Netflix (NFLX) (DY) (MDSO) (NPSP) (EPAY) (EVEP) Get New Coverage

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), Dycom Industries, Inc. (NYSE: DY), Medidata Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDSO), Nps Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: NPSP), Bottomline Technologies (NASDAQ: EPAY) and EV Energy (NASDAQ: EVEP) getting new coverage from analysts.

Sterne Agee initiated coverage on Netflix, Inc. (NFLX). They placed a “Neutral” rating on the company.

KeyBanc initiated coverage on Dycom Industries, Inc. (DY) is now covered by analysts at . The analysts placed a “hold” rating on the company.

Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) initiated coverage on Medidata Solutions, Inc. (MDSO). They placed a “Buy” rating and a price target of $20.00 on the company.

Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on Nps Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NPSP). They placed a “Buy” rating and a price target of $11.00 on the company.

Needham & Company initiated coverage on Bottomline Technologies (EPAY). They placed a “Buy” rating and a price target of $25.00 on the company.

Morgan Keegan initiated coverage on EV Energy (EVEP). They placed an “Outperform” rating and a price target of $93.00 on the company.

Global (GPN) (HPY) (JAZZ) (KOP) (PER) Get New Coverage

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN), Heartland Payment Systems Inc (NYSE: HPY), Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAZZ), Koppers Holdings (NYSE: KOP) and SandRidge Permian Trust (NYSE: PER) get new coverage from analysts.

Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on Global Payments Inc. (GPN). They placed a “Buy” rating and a price target of $50.00 on the company.

Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on Heartland Payment Systems Inc. (HPY). They placed a “Hold” rating on the company.

Auriga initiated coverage on Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (JAZZ). They placed a “Buy” rating and a price target of $55.00 on the company.

Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on Koppers Holdings (KOP). They placed a “Buy” rating on the company.

RBC Capital initiated coverage on SandRidge Permian Trust (PER). They placed an “Outperform” rating and a price target of $24.00 on the company.

Buy Finisar (FNSR) Says Stifel Nicolaus

Even after the shares of Finisar Corp. (NASDAQ:FNSR) are getting hammered after their anemic guidance for the quarter, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Ajit Pai still has a "Buy" rating on the company.

Pai said, “FNSR remains one of the key beneficiaries of rebounding carrier spending to address bandwidth and QoS requirements as well as ramping technology adoption for increasingly agile and higher data rate (40G+) networks."

The analyst lowered his full-year estimates for earnings of $1.78 a share on sales of $1.08 billion, down from a former outlook of $2.08 a share and $1.15 billion.

Other optical stocks were getting punished as well.

Finisar was trading at $25.65, plummeting $14.39, or 35.94 percent, as of 11:38 AM EST.

Last Berkshire (BRK-a) Sell Call Removed

The last analyst having a "Sell" call on Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-A) has now removed it, as Stifel Nicolaus analyst Erik Holm maintains it was the right call at the time, although for the wrong reasons.

Dow Jones Newswires reported:

"Stifel Nicolaus analyst changed his “sell” call on Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, reports Dow Jones Newswires’ Erik Holm:

"Stifel had been the only major firm with a “sell” rating on the shares over the last several months. From the end of June through Friday, Berkshire’s Class B shares rose 6.5% compared to the 30% return of the Standard & Poor’s 500.

"Mr. Shields wrote that while the “sell” rating had been correct, it was “for the wrong reasons.”

"The recovery of Berkshire’s noninsurance units happened faster than Stifel anticipated, he said. And the company profited more from pulling funds from its insurance reserves than expected.

"In its annual report Saturday, Berkshire said its manufacturing, service and retailing operations earned $2.5 billion last year—more than double their combined profit in 2009. The firm attributed part of the increase to cuts in spending. But demand for products made and sold by many Berkshire companies is also on the rise, the company said."

Berkshire was trading at $129,848.00, up $2,298.00, or 1.80 percent, as of 11:38 AM EST.

Sell Intrepid Potash (NYSE:IPI) Says Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus recommends investors to sell Intrepid Potash (NYSE:IPI), saying the company is overvalued at this time.

Intrepid is trading at over 78x the EPS estimate of the company for 2010. That's about 105 percent above the PE of its peers in the agriculture sector.

They're also about 62 percent over the average EV/EBITDA multiple for the Ag sector.

Stifel maintains their "Sell" rating on Intrepid, which closed Tuesday at $35.03, down $1.24, or 3.42 percent.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) Weak on Municipal Bonds

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) has bee performing strongly in the equity and capital markets, according to Ticonderoga Securities, but has been weaker in the bond market.

Ticonderoga said, "Q4’10 has been a strong quarter across most business lines for SF, with retail activity picking up and equity capital markets building on what was a strong September. The one weak spot is municipal bonds, which represented 18% of long inventory at the end of Q3’10 and have accounted for roughly 16% of principal transaction revenue this year (6% of total revenues). In accordance with the improvement both during the quarter and in our outlook for 2011, we are raising our Q4’10 and 2011 adjusted EPS estimates to $0.85 and $3.65, respectively, from $0.84 and $3.21 previously."

Ticonderoga maintains a "Neutral" on Stifel Financial, which last closed at $62.20, up $0.20, or 0.32 percent.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) Crushed on Credit Card Speculation

Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) are under pressure today as speculation is swirling about the possibility fee caps on debit cards may be extended to credit cards.

Stifel Nicolaus said, “We are increasingly convinced that credit interchange will inevitably be the next target,. The now- significant disparity in payments’ costs greatly increase the risk.”

Visa (NYSE:V) and Mastercard (NYSE:MA) both plummeted last week on the proposition by the Federal Reserve that the companies' debit fees should be slashed by up to 84 percent; much higher than the market was looking for.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) was trading at $41.35, down $2.66, or 6.04 percent, as of 12:59 PM EST. Visa was at $67.61, up $0.71, or 1.06 percent. Mastercard was trading at $223.55, up $2.29, or 1.03 percent.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) Crushed after Macau Rejection, Wynn (Nasdaq:WYNN) Wins

Investors punished Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) later in the trading day Thursday on news their request to develop land in Macau was rejected.

UBS Global Equity Research analyst Robin Farley commented, “Our assumption is the parcel will not go to LVS…While no reasoning was given, it is possible the Macau government would like to see all 6 concessionaires well represented on Cotai in a limited supply environment.”

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Steven Wieczynski said the "sell-off is a bit extreme as we don’t believe most investors expected LVS to actually go through and develop these two parcels."

Evidently enough did to push the share price of the stock hard.

Wieczynski added, “With the Macau government getting more vocal/concerned about additional supply, we wouldn’t be surprised if the government sits on the land for the time being.”

The company has 15 days to apply for a review from the government, and an additional 30 days to make an appeal via Macau courts.

Most think this is good news for competitor Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq:WYNN) who should benefit from the decision, assuming it holds.

Las Vegas Sands closed Thursday at $49.17, plunging $2.17, or 4.24 percent.

Stifel has a "Hold" rating on the Sands and UBS maintains a "Neutral" rating.

Natural Resource Partners (NYSE:NRP) Achieves Record Revenue

Natural Resource Partners LP (NYSE:NRP) enjoyed one of their best quarters ever, breaking revenue records with over $80 million for the quarter while cutting operating costs by 34.5 percent.

That didn't impress Sandler O’Neill, as production guidance was lowered going forward, which may cut into the revenue and earnings of the coal miner. Sandler downgraded them from "Buy" to "Hold."

On the other hand, Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on Natural Resource with a "Buy" today.

The coal company is trading at $30.00, gaining $0.83, or 2.85 percent at 12:07 PM EST.

Natural Resource primarily leases properties to coal miners in return for royalty payments.

Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) Soars and Scores in Third Quarter

Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) soared over 5 percent by the close of trading Thursday, ending the session at $44.29, after a stunning performance in the third quarter.

What was most impressive was its management of costs, even though the reported story will probably be the fact they increased profits y four times the same quarter last year, reaching $4.66.5 million, or 63 cents a share. That's up from $114.2 million, or 16 cents a share, in 2009.

To add a little icing on the cake, they also doubled their dividend to 36 cents a share.

"Our confidence in the Company's financial position and ability to generate strong future cash flows led us to announce a 100% increase in our dividend," CEO Chuck Jeannes said.

Revenue for the quarter also rose nicely, increasing by 28 percent to $885.8 million.

While gold prices are an obvious benefit to every gold miner, it is those who have the discipline and knowledge to control costs who will survive and thrive, as the gold bull market won't last forever, and eventually gold prices alone won't be able to drive performance, which poor ones can be hidden because of the gold price climate we are now experiencing.

To show Goldcorp's ability and determination to control costs, in their first month of operations at their new flagship Penasquito mine, they were able to enjoy a negative cash cost in the first month of production. That's not an easy task to accomplish.

Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Goldcorp from "Hold" to "Buy," saying they see earnings and production growth to continue on.

Goldcorp gained $2.21, or 5.25 percent in Thursday trading. Stifel placed a price target of $53 on them.

Newmont (NYSE:NEM) Downgraded by Stifel Nicolaus

Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) was downgraded from "Buy" to "Hold" by Stifel Nicolaus, as concerns over the lower production at the Boddington mine in Australia by analyst Heather Douglas was the reason for the downgrade.

Valuations seem to be too high after the approximate 30 percent increase in share price this year, and with Boddington not producing at levels it was expected to, expectations are it could drop in price.

Douglas consequently removed her $80 price target on the giant gold miner as well.

As the company moves toward full production at Boddington, the grade of ore has been lower than anticipated, and that could dramatically affect guidance and revenue if that doesn't change.

In the first half of 2009, through the end of June, Boddington brought in just under $500 million in combined gold and copper sales.

The market largely shook off the downgrade, with Newmont closing at $64.23, gaining $1.58, or 2.52 percent.

Stifel Nicholas Initiates Coverage on IAMGOLD (NYSE:IAG), Eldorado (NYSE:EGO), Kinross (NYSE:KGC), Others

Stifel Nicholas initiated coverage on a large number of gold mining companies today, including IAMGOLD (NYSE:IAG), Eldorado (NYSE:EGO), Kinross (NYSE:KGC), Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX), Goldcorp (NYSE:GG), Osisko Mining (TSE:OSK), European Goldfields (TSE:EGU) and Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM).

Eldorado Gold, Barrick Gold, Kinross Gold and Goldcorp were all started off with "Holds" by Stifel.

While Iamgold, European Goldfields, Osisko Mining and Newmont Mining received a "Buy" from the financial institution to begin with.

Even though Stifel was bullish over the gold sector, only two of these companies were in the positive Monday, Goldcorp in New York and European Goldfields in Toronto.

Gold prices were down again today, as they continue to linger at about the $1,200 an ounce mark.