Aixtron (AIXG) (VPHM) (ALNY) (AMCX) (ANDE) (ANF) Ratings, Price Targets

Aixtron AG (AIXG), ViroPharma Incorporated (VPHM), Alnylam Pharma (ALNY), AMC Networks (AMCX), The Andersons, Inc. (ANDE) and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) ratings and price targets.

WBB Securities upgraded ViroPharma Incorporated (VPHM) from a “Buy” rating to a “Strong Buy” rating. They have a price target of $31.25 on the company, up from $24.50.

WestLB upgraded Aixtron AG (AIXG) from a “Reduce” rating to a “Neutral” rating.

JMP Securities initiated coverage on Alnylam Pharma (ALNY). They placed an “Outperform” rating on the company.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) initiated coverage on AMC Networks (AMCX). They placed an “Overweight” rating on the company.

Piper Jaffray (NYSE:PJC) raised its price target on The Andersons, Inc. (ANDE) to $55.00.

Piper Jaffray reiterated its “Overweight” rating on Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF). They have a price target of $70.00 on the company.

Dell (DELL) (UBSI) (STRA) (DV) (AIXG) (AYR) Get New Coverage

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), United Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: UBSI), Strayer Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: STRA), DeVry Inc. (NYSE: DV), Aixtron AG (NASDAQ: AIXG) and Aircastle Limited (NYSE: AYR) getting new analyst coverage.

BB&T (NYSE:BBT) initiated coverage on United Bankshares, Inc. (UBSI). They placed a “Hold” rating on the company.

Ticonderoga initiated coverage on Dell Inc. (DELL). They placed a “sell” rating and a $9.25 price target on the company.

Wunderlich initiated coverage on Strayer Education, Inc. (STRA). They placed a “Hold” rating and a price target of $110.00 on the company.

Wunderlich initiated coverage on DeVry Inc. (DV). They placed a “Hold” rating and a price target of $52.00 on the company.

Ticonderoga initiated coverage on Aixtron AG (AIXG). They placed a “Buy” rating on the company.

Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) initiated coverage on Aircastle Limited (AYR). They placed a “Neutral” rating on the company.

Agrium (AGU) (MSG) (VVTV) (BCSI) (AIXG) (TXN) Downgraded

Agrium Inc. (NYSE: AGU), Madison Square Garden, Inc. (NYSE: MSG), ValueVision Media, Inc. (NASDAQ: VVTV), Blue Coat (NASDAQ: BCSI), Aixtron AG (NASDAQ: AIXG) and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) downgraded by analysts.

Madison Square Garden, Inc. (MSG) was downgraded by Stifel Nicolaus from a “Buy” rating to a “Hold” rating. They have a price target of $28.00 on the company.

ValueVision Media, Inc. (VVTV) was downgraded by Feltl & Co. from a “Strong Buy” rating to a “Buy” rating. They have a price target of $5.75 on the company, down from $8.00.

Agrium Inc. (AGU) was downgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) from an “Overweight” rating to a “Neutral” rating. They have a price target of $89.00 on the company.

Blue Coat (BCSI) was downgraded by Sterne Agee from a “Neutral” rating to an “Underperform” rating.

Aixtron AG (AIXG) was downgraded by Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) to a “Hold” rating.

Texas Instruments (TXN) was downgraded by ThinkEquity from a “Buy” rating to a “Hold” rating. They have a price target of $30.00 on the company.

Veeco (VECO) (ADLR) (AIXG) (AMAT) (DG) (KLAC) Get New Coverage

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO), Adolor (NASDAQ: ADLR), Aixtron AG (NASDAQ: AIXG), Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT), Dollar General (NYSE: DG) and KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC) getting new coverage from analysts.

Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Veeco Instruments Inc. (VECO). They placed a “Perform” rating and a price target of $45.00 on the company.

William Blair initiated coverage on Adolor (ADLR). They placed an “Outperform” rating on the company.

Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Aixtron AG (AIXG). They placed a “Perform” rating and a price target of $32.00 on the company.

Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT). They placed a “Perform” rating and a price target of $15.00 on the company.

BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Dollar General (DG). They placed an “Outperform” rating and a price target of $40.00 on the company.

Oppenheimer initiated coverage on KLA-Tencor (KLAC). They placed an “Outperform” rating and a price target of $50.00 on the company.

Ratings on (AIXG) (ALTH) (BCON) (ATHR) (BMY) Downgraded

Ratings on shares of Aixtron AG (NASDAQ: AIXG), Allos Therapeutics Incorporated (NASDAQ: ALTH), Beacon Power Corp. (NASDAQ: BCON), Atheros Communications (NASDAQ: ATHR) and Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) were downgraded by analysts.

Canaccord Genuity downgraded Aixtron AG (AIXG) from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating.

Needham & Company downgraded Allos Therapeutics Incorporated (ALTH) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating.

FBR Capital downgraded Atheros Communications (ATHR) from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating. They have a price target of $45.00 on the company.

Ardour Capital downgraded Beacon Power Corp. (BCON) from an “accumulate” rating to a “hold” rating. They have a price target $1.50 on the company, down from $3.00.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) downgraded Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) to a “neutral” rating. They have a price target of $77.00 on the company.

Cree (CREE) Pulls Down (LEDS) (VECO) (AIXG) on Warning

The LED sector is getting crushed today on the warning from Cree Inc. (Nasdaq:CREE) that demand was weak and it's taking longer than expected to work through its inventory.

Plunging along with Cree today are Veeco Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq:VECO), SemiLEDs Corporation (Nasdaq:LEDS) and Aixtron AG (Nasdaq:AIXG).

Cree lowered its guidance for the third quarter, citing lower sales of LED chips and LED components.

The company now sees revenue for the quarter in a range of $215 million to $220 million, down from the $245 million to $265 million previously projected and below the Wall Street consensus of $254.8 million.

Chuck Swoboda, Cree’s CEO and chairman said, "The LED components business appears to be turning the corner. Despite the challenges we faced in Q3, distributor sell-through has improved and we target solid growth next quarter. Based on our preliminary outlook for Q4, we are currently targeting revenue to increase 10 to 12% in fiscal Q4 led by growth in LED components."

Cree was trading at $43.16, plunging $5.84, or 11.92 percent, as of 11:49 AM EDT. Veeco was at $47.57, down $1.76, or 3.57 percent. SemiLEDs Corporation was trading at $15.70, falling $0.79, or 4.79 percent. Aixtron AG was at $40.44, declining $1.25, or 3.00 percent.

Cree (NASDAQ:CREE), Rubicon Technology (NASDAQ:RBCN), AIXTRON (NASDAQ:AIXG), Veeco (NASDAQ:VECO) And Chinese Policy

It appears the Chinese may be changing their policy strategy for energy and power, and may push subsidies from upstream manufacturing toward downstream segments, which would have an impact on Cree (NASDAQ:CREE), Rubicon Technology (NASDAQ:RBCN), AIXTRON (NASDAQ:AIXG) and Veeco (NASDAQ:VECO), among others.

Canaccord said, "We are providing an update on the LED space following some recent noise, rumors and what we perceive as overall confusion in the space regarding the subsidy situation in China. For months now, our view is and has been that the Chinese Central Government is not pulling its subsidies but instead on the verge of a policy change, as part of the 12th 5-year plan to move government funds from upstream manufacturing subsidies toward downstream demand-based subsidies. We view this change as a long-term positive for the LED ecosystem as a whole, including volume LED component pure plays such as Cree (HOLD), Epistar, Formosa Epitaxy and material volume plays such as Rubicon Technology (BUY). In the near term, we also acknowledge the volatility this may cause for the incumbent tool suppliers AIXTRON (HOLD) and Veeco (HOLD) given the current Street expectations and general view that these companies are secular and not cyclical – which is not our view."

"We believe that there still remains a fundamental disconnect between Street expectations of equipment and likely shipments. As such, we feel stock valuations have run up beyond the supporting fundamentals. Given the increase in expectations over past year and the dependence on China to meet these expectations, the subsidy change could serve as a negative catalyst for the upstream tool suppliers. To be clear: we believe 2010 will represent a historical peak for MOCVD orders. Given the share appreciation on misinformation regarding the scale and scope of the Second Cycle and timing of the Third Cycle, we would not be averse to investors using both incumbent MOCVD suppliers as a short-term source of funds – even after recent pullbacks."

Cree, Inc. was trading at $66.48, down $0.78, or 1.16 percent, as of 12:05 PM EST. Rubicon Technology was at $20.01, down $0.33, or 1.62 percent. Aixtron was trading at $33.13, losing $0.82, or 2.42 percent. Veeco was at $40.53, dropping $1.23, or 2.95 percent.