Nuance (NUAN) (OPNT) (OXM) (DRI) (EEFT) (FAST) Ratings, Price Targets

Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN), OPNET Technologies, Inc. (OPNT), Oxford Industries (OXM), Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI), Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (EEFT) and Fastenal (FAST) ratings and price targets.

Mizuho initiated coverage on Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN). They placed a “Buy” rating and a price target of $28.00 on the company.

Evercore Partners initiated coverage on OPNET Technologies, Inc. (OPNT). They placed an “Overweight” rating and a price target of $45.00 on the company.

Brean Murray raised its price target on Oxford Industries (OXM) from $44.00 to $46.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

Argus downgraded Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI) from a “Buy” rating to a “Hold” rating.

Piper Jaffray (NYSE:PJC) reiterated its “Overweight” rating on Euronet
Worldwide, Inc. (EEFT).

UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) downgraded Fastenal (FAST) from a “Buy” rating to a
“Neutral” rating.

Nuance (NUAN) Price Targets Changed

Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) had price targets on them adjusted by analysts.

Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN) had its price target raised by FBR Capital from $25.00 to $28.00. They have an “Outperform” rating on the company.

Nuance Communications Inc. had its price target raised by Ticonderoga from $25.00 to $28.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

Nuance Communications Inc. had its price target raised by Canaccord Genuity to $28.00.

Nuance Communications Inc. had its price target raised by Stifel Nicolaus from $25.00 to $27.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

Nuance Communications Inc. had its price target raised by Wedbush to $18.00.

Nuance Communications Inc. had its price target raised by Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) to $30.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

Nuance (NUAN) Ratings, Price Targets

Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN) ratings and price targets.

Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) raised its price target on Nuance Communications Inc. to $30.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

FBR Capital raised its price target on Nuance Communications Inc. from $25.00 to $28.00. They have an “Outperform” rating on the company.

Ticonderoga raised its price target on Nuance Communications Inc. from $25.00 to $28.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

Stifel Nicolaus raised its price target on Nuance Communications Inc. from $25.00 to $27.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

Wedbush raised its price target on Nuance Communications Inc. to $18.00.

MGM (MGM) (ELS) (NUAN) (EPR) (MAA) Price Targets Changed

MGM Resorts (NYSE: MGM), Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE: ELS), Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), Entertainment Properties Trust (NYSE: EPR) and Mid America Apartment Communities Inc. (NYSE: MAA) price targets adjusted by analysts.

MGM Resorts (MGM) had its price target lowered by Citigroup (NYSE:C) to $13.50. They have a “Hold” rating on the company.

Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc. (ELS) had its price target raised by FBR Capital from $71.50 to $73.50. They have an “Outperform” rating on the company.

Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN) had its price target lowered by UBS AG to $24.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

Entertainment Properties Trust (EPR) had its price target lowered by FBR Capital from $50.00 to $45.00. They have a “Market Perform” rating on the company.

Mid America Apartment Communities Inc. (MAA) had its price target raised by FBR Capital from $69.00 to $71.50. They have a “Market Perform” rating on the company.

Price Targets on (NUAN) (ROVI) (SGMS) (SONC) (STEC) Updated

Price targets on shares of Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), Rovi Corp (NASDAQ: ROVI), Scientific Games Corp (NASDAQ: SGMS), Sonic Co. (NASDAQ: SONC) and STEC Inc (NASDAQ: STEC) were updated by analysts.

Piper Jaffray (NYSE:PJC) raised their price target on Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN) from $19.00 to $21.00. They have a “neutral” rating on the company.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) raised their price target on Rovi Corp (ROVI) from $61.00 to $63.50. They have a “neutral” rating on the company.

Brean Murray cut their price target on Scientific Games Corp (SGMS) from $14.00 to $13.00. They have a “buy” rating on the company.

Morgan Keegan raised their price target on Sonic Co. (SONC) from $10.50 to $12.00. They have a “market perform” rating on the company.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) cut their price target on STEC Inc (STEC) from $26.00 to $23.00. They have a “neutral” rating on the company.

Price Targets on (NUAN) (POT) (PTRY) (RICK) (ROVI) Updated

Analysts updated price targets on Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), Potash Corp (NYSE: POT), Pantry (NASDAQ: PTRY), Rick’s Cabaret (NASDAQ: RICK) and Rovi Corp (NASDAQ: ROVI).

Northland Securities raised their price target on Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN) from $23.00 to $25.00. They have an “outperform” rating on the company.

UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) raised their price target on Potash Corp (POT) from $66.00 to $70.00.

The Benchmark Company raised their price target on Pantry (PTRY) from $20.00 to $24.50. They have a “buy” rating on the company.

Brean Murray raised their price target on Rick’s Cabaret (RICK) from $12.00 to $14.00. They have a “buy” rating on the company.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) raised their price target on Rovi Corp (ROVI) to $60.00. They have a “neutral” rating on the company.

Price Targets on (NUAN) (ROVI) (SGMS) (SONC) (STEC) Updated

Price targets on shares of Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), Rovi Corp (NASDAQ: ROVI), Scientific Games Corp (NASDAQ: SGMS), Sonic Co. (NASDAQ: SONC) and STEC Inc (NASDAQ: STEC) were updated by analysts.

Piper Jaffray (NYSE:PJC) raised their price target on Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN) from $19.00 to $21.00. They have a “neutral” rating on the company.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) raised their price target on Rovi Corp (ROVI) from $61.00 to $63.50. They have a “neutral” rating on the company.

Brean Murray cut their price target on Scientific Games Corp (SGMS) from $14.00 to $13.00. They have a “buy” rating on the company.

Morgan Keegan raised their price target on Sonic Co. (SONC) from $10.50 to $12.00. They have a “market perform” rating on the company.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) cut their price target on STEC Inc (STEC) from $26.00 to $23.00. They have a “neutral” rating on the company.

Price Targets on (RDA) (MDC) (NUAN) (PRIM) (PTRY) Updated

Price targets on shares of Rda Microelectronics Inc (NYSE: RDA), MDC Holdings (NYSE: MDC), Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), Primoris Services Corp (NASDAQ: PRIM) and Pantry (NASDAQ: PTRY) were updated by analysts.

Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) raised their price target on Rda Microelectronics Inc (RDA) from $17.00 to $18.00. They have an “outperform” rating on the company.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) cut their price target on MDC Holdings (MDC) from $31.00 to $28.00.

Wedbush raised their price target on Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN) from $17.00 to $17.50. They have an “underperform” rating on the company.

Wedbush raised their price target on Primoris Services Corp (PRIM) from $10.00 to $11.00. They have a “neutral” rating on the company.

Benchmark Co. raised their price target on Pantry (PTRY) from $20.00 to $24.50. They have a “buy” rating on the company.

Price Targets on (NUAN) (LRN) (LSTZA) (MDC) (NLSN) Updated

Price targets on shares of Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ: LSTZA), MDC Holdings (NYSE: MDC) and Nielsen Hldg (NASDAQ: NLSN) were updated by analysts.

Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) raised their price target on Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN) from $24.00 to $26.00. They have a “buy” rating on the company.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) raised their price target on K12 Inc. (LRN) from $38.00 to $40.00. They have a “buy” rating on the company.

Deutsche Bank raised their price target on Liberty Media Corp (LSTZA) to $71.00. They have a “hold” rating on the company.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) cut their price target on MDC Holdings (MDC) from $29.00 to $28.50. They have an “underweight” rating on the company.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) raised their price target on Nielsen Hldg (NLSN) from $32.00 to $35.00. They have an “overweight” rating on the company.

Ratings on (NUAN) (OMER) (PEP) (SD) Reiterated

Ratings on Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), Omeros Corp (NASDAQ: OMER), PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE: PEP) and SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE: SD) were reiterated by analysts.

Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN). They have a price target of $25.00 on the company.

Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) reiterated a “hold” rating on Omeros Corp (OMER). They have a price target of $6.00 on the company.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) reiterated an “overweight” rating on PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP). They have a price target of $82.00 on the company.

Global Hunter Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on SandRidge Energy Inc. (SD).

Sprint (S), (ERIC), (NOK) (SI) Losers in AT&T (T), T-Mobile Deal

There could be some significant fallout from the deal by AT&T (NYSE:T) to acquire T-Mobile, with analysts citing LM Ericson (Nasdaq:ERIC), Nokia (NYSE:NOK), Siemens (NYSE:SI), Research in Motion (Nasdaq:RIMM), Neutral Tandem (Nasdaq:TDMN) and Nuance (Nasdaq: NUAN) as those likely to lose the most.

Wedbush noted this on Nokia, Research in Motion, Neutral Tandem and Nuance:

“We also see a slight negative impact for Nokia and RIM on the device front as the iPhone will likely take some share.”

For "Neutral Tandem will likely see AT&T route T-Mobile calls to its own tandem switches in markets it has a presence."

“Nuance provides mobile care and has a good speech presence on T-Mobile devices while AT&T is starting to use more of its own speech software and Vlingo for speech application on mobile devices.”

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) said on Sprint: "This deal will likely be a negative for Sprint, as it was the company perceived to "need" a combination with TMobile more than any other. This also remove the other viable option that CLWR (Nasdaq: CLWR) had (T-Mobile)."

Deutsche Bank on LM Ericson:

“We estimate T-Mobile US's Capex is $2.9bn p.a. or 12% of total US Tier 1 carrier Capex. The incumbent suppliers to TMOB are Ericsson & NSN in radio access and Tier 2 and 3 vendors in backhaul (we estimate ~70% is fibre/optical). It is likely that over time AT&T will integrate T-Mobile's cell sites into its own network and cut back spending on radio access and backhaul in areas with significant overlap."

Jefferies on Nokia, Siemens:

"Besides the long-term market share issue we highlighted above, we note that NSN is the major supplier of wireless infrastructure to LightSquared. That 4G network deployment, of course, is still getting off of the ground (many industry participants have concerns about the viability of the network). We note that LightSquared was pursuing a wholesaling strategy to other wireless operators without a 4G network plan. One of those prospective customers was TMobile USA. Now, in the wake of this deal, T-Mobile USA won’t require LightSquared’s services and the viability of Light Squared gets a bit more uncertain."

Goldman Sachs on Convergys Corporation (NYSE:CVG), CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL), Frontier Communications (NYSE:FTR), Windstream Corporation (NYSE:WIN):

"We see the transaction as a potential long-term headwind for CVG as it currently generates a material percentage of revenues from AT&T and a small percentage from T-Mobile mostly for customer support and call center work."

RLECs - CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL), Frontier Communications (NYSE:FTR), Windstream Corporation (NYSE: WIN):

Goldman Sachs "As part of its $39 bn planned agreement to acquire T-Mobile USA, AT&T is committing to significantly expand its 4G LTE coverage. Previous plans included intentions to cover roughly 80% of the US. Under the proposed merger, AT&T intends to deploy to 95% of the US population, or 46.5 mn incremental pops. The increased coverage is expected to primarily target rural markets."

Nuance Communications (NASDAQ:NUAN) Looks Solid for 2011, May Start Slow

While the trends appear to project a good year for Nuance Communications (NASDAQ:NUAN), they could start off slow for seasonal reasons.

UBS says, "PT to $25 as roll-fwd 1 qtr and up P/E to 16x. NUAN is poised to see sequentially improving trend this FY as: (1) speech adoption accelerates in handsets, cars, and among mobile health care workers, (2) smartphones grow rapidly and gain advanced speech functionality thanks to faster processors and 3G/4G speeds, (3) automotive end-markets recover and design-win momentum translates to shipments/royalties, (4) Healthcare segment benefits from HITECH Act and new pdts, (5) Enterprise rebounds from negative comps, and (6) SaaS model matures.

"While we believe trends were solid, FQ1s can start off seasonally slow. We expect NUAN to post in-line to slight upside to our ests: rev UBSe $320M, Street $319M, guide $312-325M; EPS USBe $0.31, St. $0.31, guide $0.28-0.32. Date: early Feb."

UBS reiterates a "Buy" rating on Nuance Communications, which closed Thursday at $20.51, up $0.03, or 0.15 percent. UBS raised their price target on Nuance from $20 to $25.

Nuance Communications (NASDAQ:NUAN) to be Led by Mobile, Healthcare

After attending the first annual analysts day of Nuance Communications (NASDAQ:NUAN), FBR came away with their take that the company will be led by Healthcare and Mobile segments.

FBR said, "Yesterday (Thursday) we attended Nuance's much anticipated inaugural analyst day in Boston. This half day event was primarily focused around the company's strategic initiatives for 2011 and digging deeper into the TAM and penetration rates for Nuance's core markets (healthcare, mobile, enterprise). As evidenced during its presentations throughout the day, it is clear that the healthcare and mobile verticals are green field market opportunities for Nuance over the coming years in our opinion. In addition to its strategic overview, management finally gave (drum roll please) its on-demand bookings number, which adds more visibility into the Nuance story in our opinion. To this point the company gave the Street a three year estimated value of on-demand contracts ($1.14 billion) heading into FY11 and is expecting 30%+ growth from a bookings perspective for the upcoming fiscal year; an impressive figure that was above our expectations. Equally important, Nuance also reiterated its strong cash flow outlook for the next year, which combined with a strong bookings number, should add more credibility to the name over the coming quarters in our opinion. In a nutshell we believe Nuance did a commendable job yesterday by allowing investors to see the massive strategic value and strong fundamental story that is evolving at the company."

FBR Capital maintains an "Outperform" rating on Nuance Communications, which closed Friday at $18.73, up $0.57, or 3.13 percent.

Nuance Communications (NASDAQ:NUAN) Strong Even with Wozniak Misspeaking

The soaring interest in shares of Nuance Communications (NASDAQ:NUAN) by traders because of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) co-founder Steven Wozniak wrongly saying Apple had acquired the company, generating a run on the stock, with volume trading at almost seven times the 3-month average on Tuesday.

This was after a solid quarterly report on Monday. FBR said they're maintaining their "'Outperform/Top Pick" on Nuance.

FBR Capital said, "Last night, Nuance posted a very solid F4Q as the company beat the Street on both the top and bottom line. Importantly Nuance generated very strong cash flow in the quarter that handily beat Street expectations and should help send the bears back into their caves for a long hibernation.

"For F1Q11 (December), we are raising our total revenue estimate to $317.6 million versus our prior estimate of $312.1 million, while maintaining our pro forma EPS estimate of $0.31. For FY11, we are raising our total revenue and pro forma EPS estimates to $1.34 billion and $1.34 versus our prior estimates of $1.32 billion and $1.30. For FY12, we are introducing our total revenue and pro forma EPS estimates of $1.49 billion and $1.50."

Nuance closed Tuesday at $17.75, gaining $0.64, or 3.74 percent. FBR increased their price target on them from $21 to $22.