Orion (OESX) (AIXG) (ALTR) (NKE) (ORCL) (PNNT) Ratings, Price Targets

Orion Energy Systems, Inc. (NYSE: OESX), Aixtron AG (NASDAQ: AIXG), Altera (NASDAQ: ALTR), NIKE, Inc. (NYSE: NKE), Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) and PennantPark Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: PNNT) ratings and price targets.

Orion Energy Systems, Inc. (OESX) is now covered by Capstone. They have an “Outperform” rating on the firm.

Aixtron AG (AIXG) is now covered by Needham & Company. They have a “Hold” rating on the firm.

Altera (ALTR) is now covered by MKM Partners. They have a “Neutral” rating and a price target of $33.00 on the firm.

NIKE, Inc. (NKE) had its “Hold” rating reiterated by Canaccord Genuity.

Oracle (ORCL) was downgraded by Credit Agricole from a “Buy” rating to an “Underperform” rating.

PennantPark Investment Corp. (PNNT) was downgraded by FBR Capital from an “Outperform” rating to a “Market Perform” rating.

DuPont (DD) (IHG) (ALTR) (LSCC) (XLNX) (ONXX) (COLM) (FRAN) (AMTG) Get New Coverage

DuPont (NYSE:DD), Intercontinental Hotels Group (NYSE:IHG), Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR), Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC), Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX), Onyx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ONXX), Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM), Francesca’s (NASDAQ:FRAN) and Apollo Residential Mortgage (NYSE:AMTG) getting new coverage from analysts.

Barclays initiated coverage on DuPont (DD). They have an "Equal Weight" rating on the company.

Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) initiated coverage on Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG). They have a "Buy" rating on the company

Pacific Crest initiated coverage on Altera (ALTR). They have an "Outperform" rating on the company and a price target of $50.

Pacific Crest initiated coverage on Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC). They have an "Outperform" rating on the company and a price target of $9.

Pacific Crest initiated coverage on Xilinx (XLNX). They have a "Market Perform" rating on the company.

Brean Murray initiated coverage on Onyx Pharmaceuticals (ONXX). They have a "Hold" rating on the company.

FBR Capital initiated coverage on Columbia Sportswear (COLM). They have a "Market Perform" rating and price target of $61 on the company.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) initiated coverage on Francesca’s (FRAN). They have a "Neutral" rating and price target of $32 on the company.

JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) initiated coverage on Apollo Residential Mortgage (AMTG). They have a "Neutral" rating on the company.

Taubman (TCO) (OAS) (TI) (ALTR) (NMM) (BAM) Upgraded

Taubman Centers Incorporated (NYSE: TCO), Oasis Petroleum Inc. (NYSE: OAS), Telecom Italia (NYSE: TI), Altera (NASDAQ: ALTR), Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (NYSE: NMM) and Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (NYSE: BAM) upgraded by analysts.

Taubman Centers Incorporated (TCO) was upgraded by UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating.

Oasis Petroleum Inc. (OAS) was upgraded by SunTrust (NYSE:STI) from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating.

Telecom Italia (TI) was upgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) from an “Underweight” rating to a “Neutral” rating.

Altera (ALTR) was upgraded by Barclays Capital from an “Equal Weight” rating to an “Overweight” rating. They have a price target of $46.00 on the company.

Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (NMM) was upgraded by Cantor Fitzgerald from a “Hold” rating to a “Buy” rating.

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (BAM) was upgraded by TD Newcrest from a “Hold” rating to a “Buy” rating.

Southern (SO) (ALTR) (CSCO) (RF) (SMH) (TTO) (UFPI) Upgraded

Southern Co. (NYSE: SO), Altera (NASDAQ: ALTR), Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF), Semiconductor HOLDRs (NYSE: SMH), Tortoise Capital Resources Corp. (NYSE: TTO) and Universal Forest Products, Inc. (NASDAQ: UFPI) upgraded by analysts.

Altera (ALTR) was upgraded by Miller Tabak from a “Hold” rating to a “Buy” rating. They cited valuation as the catalyst behind their call.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) was upgraded by Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) from an “Equal Weight” rating to an “Overweight” rating.

Regions Financial Corporation (RF) was upgraded by Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating.

Semiconductor HOLDRs (SMH) was upgraded by Barclays Capital to a “Positive” rating.

Southern Co. (SO) was upgraded by Macquarie to an “Outperform” rating.

Tortoise Capital Resources Corp. (TTO) was upgraded by Ladenburg Thalmann from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating.

Universal Forest Products, Inc. (UFPI) was upgraded by DA Davidson from an “Underperform” rating to a “Neutral” rating. They have a price target of $27.00 on the company.

Intel (INTC) (QCOM) (BRCM) (NXPI) Top Barclays Semi List

Going against the grain on the outlook for the semiconductor market, Barclays Capital analyst C.J. Muse said in a long report this morning that he has raised his rating on the sector from "Neutral" to "Positive." His favorites in the sector are Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Broadcom (NASDAQ:BRCM).

Muse said he sees the downward trend in the industry as a “mid-cycle correction” rather than a long-term downturn in the semiconductor industry.

While acknowledging the industry won't perform as in the past, Muse sees it growing at an annual rate of 6 percent to 8 percent going forward. He cites a 0.97 correlation between the semi market and global GDP growth rate, which appears to be headed for 7 percent in 2011 and 2012, according to the calculations of Muse.

Along with his positive outlook on Intel, which he boosted its rating to "Overweight," Muse also did the same for Altera (ALTR) and Spansion (CODE). Top picks include NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), Qualcomm (QCOM), and Broadcom (BRCM), which are also rated "Overweight."

On the negative side, Muse lowered his rating on Xilinx (XLNX), Analog Devices (ADI), Micron Technology (MU) and Nvidia (NVDA), dropping them to "Equal Weight."

He reiterated his "Equal Weight" ratings on Texas Instruments (TXN), Freescale Semiconductor (FSL) and Linear Technology.

Dividend Yields for (XLNX) (AMAT) (NSM) (TXN) (ALTR)

Indicated dividend yields for Standard & Poor's 500 Index companies Xilinx Inc (XLNX), Applied Materials Inc (AMAT), National Semiconductor Corp (NSM), Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) and Altera Corp (ALTR) .

These dividend data indicate dividend yields of companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index as of Saturday, April 30. The yield is determined by taking the latest declared dividend, annualized and divided by the price of the stock. Payout ratios are calculated based on latest quarterly dividend paid divided by earnings.

Xilinx Inc (XLNX) has a dividend yield of 2.18 percent on a declared dividend of $0.19. The payout ratio is 26.4 percent.

Applied Materials Inc (AMAT) has a dividend yield of 2.04 percent on a declared dividend of $0.08. The payout ratio is 18.2 percent.

National Semiconductor Corp (NSM) has a dividend yield of 3.36 percent on a declared dividend of $0.10. The payout ratio is 40.7 percent.

Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) has a dividend yield of 1.46 percent on a declared dividend of $0.13. The payout ratio is 22.8 percent.

Altera Corp (ALTR) has a dividend yield of 0.49 percent on a declared dividend of $0.06. The payout ratio is 8.6 percent.

Roper (ROP) (PNRA) (HUM) (APKT) ALTR) get Ratings Initiations

Roper (NYSE:ROP), Panera Bread (NASDAQ:PNRA), Humana (NYSE:HUM), Acme Packet (NASDAQ:APKT) and Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR) had analysts initiate coverage on them.

Roper (ROP) was started off with an "Overweight" rating by Barclays Capital, which has a price target of $99 on the company.

Panera Bread (PNRA) was started off with an "Equal Weight" rating by Barclays Capital, with a price target of $122.

Humana (HUM) was initiated with a "Buy" rating by UBS (NYSE:UBS), with a price target of $88 on them.

Acme Packet (APKT) was initiated at a "Buy" rating by Miller Tabak, with a price target of $85.

Altera (ALTR) was started off with a "Sector Perform" rating by RBC Capital, which placed a price target of $39 on the company.

Chips Pushing Novellus (NVLS), (NETL) (ALTR), (AMSL), (ADI), (LRCX) toward New Highs

Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR), ASML (NASDAQ:AMSL), Analog Devices (NYSE:ADI), Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX), NetLogic (NASDAQ:NETL) and Novellus (NASDAQ:NVLS) are all being pushed towards new highs, as VCs pour money into social networks, mobile connectivity, the Cloud and energy efficiency, demand for chips old and new is back, leading the electronic components and capital equipment sectors to a strong growth path. They were already turning back to the plus column last fall as a mild inventory adjustment was quickly bracketed.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) just concluded its annual analyst meeting in New York ringing a bullish note for the next several years’ outlook for highly sophisticated, ultra complex machines sold to Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Samsung, TSMC and other global chipmakers. Echoing ASML CEO Eric Meurice’s remarks three weeks ago, Applied’s head said rising chip complexity, raw unit demand and a decade of underinvestment meant an above trend outlook for his company this year and next. After years of underperforming, such public confidence suggests something big is on the way at the world’s largest semiconductor equipment supplier.

Long lagging Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) just reported a couple of pennies in profit in its typically seasonally weak second fiscal quarter, notable because it’s the first time since the company’s magnificent 1990s run that it hasn’t lost money in the trough of the highly volatile dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) pricing cycle and also because it is now positioned to cash in on booming NAND Flash demand. The opposite of Wall Street’s purported glut, Apple’s iPad (NASDAQ:AAPL) refresh is elevating this newly ubiquitous form factor to Olympian proportion, drawing millions of new users into its Smartphone and PC ecosystems at the same time AT&T upgrades its network through a wireless carrier megadeal. Memory chips are one of the key winners.




Source

Wells (WFC) Top Semi Picks are Intel (INTC), Qualcomm (QCOM), Linear Technology (LLTC), Analog Devices (ADI), Xilinx (XLNX), Altera (ALTR)

Even though Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) chip analyst David Wong downgraded his outlook on semiconductor stocks from "Overweight," he still likes Intel (INTC), Qualcomm (QCOM), Linear Technology (LLTC), Analog Devices (ADI), Xilinx (XLNX) and Altera (ALTR) in the sector.

Wong said, “We continue to expect solid semiconductor industry growth in 2011, of 10-15%, with many chip companies maintaining the high levels of profitability demonstrated in 2010.”

“The trend for worldwide semiconductor sales continues to track roughly in line with to somewhat above our expectations,” added Wong, who also said inventory levels are "appropriate" at this time.

Wong considers less desirable Broadcom (BRCM), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Microsemi (MSCC) and Micron Technology (MU), citing high valuations, low profit and company-specific risk.

Wong maintains Market Perform ratings on Maxim (MXIM), Texas Instruments (TXN) and National Semiconductor (NSM).

Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR) Will Grow Market Share, but Margins Under Pressure

Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR) will gain market share, according to Jefferies (NYSE:JEF), but added that R&D investment will put pressure on margins at this time.

Jefferies said, "we believe Altera is well positioned to gain additional share near-term driven by 60nm and 40/45nm ramps in new customer products but expect the higher R&D investment for 28nm to slow earnings growth."

They dropped their full year 2011 EPS estimate on Altera from $2.82 to $2.63, adding revenues will probably fall short of prior estimates.

Jefferies reiterates a "Hold" rating on Altera, which was trading at $36.50, down $1.41, or 3.72 percent, as of 2:14 PM EST. Jefferies raised their price target on Altera from $35 to $40.

Ticonderoga on Cogo (Nasdaq:COGO), Huawei

Fresh off their first day at the China Tech Investor Tour, Ticonderoga Securities came away with their take on Cogo (Nasdaq:COGO) and Huawei.

Ticonderoga said, "Cogo Still in Ramp Mode, We See More Upside Potential. After our Cogo (Buy-rated) meeting, we remain confident in the growth path at the company and believe our estimates for 2011 remain very conservative. With the momentum we see at Cogo, we would not be surprised if the company is able to reach $1 billion in revenue over the next few years. After today's meetings, we believe the company is well positioned to benefit from the continued investment in telecom infrastructure, combined with the ramp of China's mobile Internet, which remains in the early stages of development and ultimately will shift from 3G to 4G networks. Additionally, we remain intrigued by the ramp of new tablet customers, and the industrial business continues to have momentum into 2011.

"Huawei Sticks Its Head Into the Clouds; ZTE Handsets Rebound. Our meeting with Huawei highlighted the company's evolution from a telecom equipment vendor to a broader IT vendor with an aggressive cloud computing ramp. As such, we would not be surprised if the company is able to double its business in areas such as Ethernet switch and computing-related (e.g., storage, server) in 2011. Cisco (Nasdaq:CSCO)(Buy-rated) appears to be the target for Huawei in the near term and HP (NYSE:HPQ)(NR) over the longer term, while the company also plans to be a player in the cloud services market. On the supplier front, we sensed Huawei is positioned to ramp Altera (Nasdaq:ALTR)(NR) at a much faster pace than Xilinx (Nasdaq:XLNX)(NR) in 2011. During our ZTE meeting, we felt the company is satisfied with a strong ramp for the India 3G market and expects this to represent the fastest growth area in 2011. Also, the PTN business is expected to continue to enjoy strong growth in 2011, while we believe the handset business will enjoy a significant uptick in 4Q10 and terminals could top 100 million in 2011."

Cogo closed Monday at $7.73, up by $0.13, or 1.71 percent.

Qualcomm (Nasdaq:QCOM), Broadcom (Nasdaq:BRCM), Atheros (Nasdaq:ATHR), Altera (Nasdaq:ALTR), Omnivision (Nasdaq:OVTI), Spreadtrum (Nasdaq:SPRD) and Semiconductor Rally

Commenting on a number of companies in the semiconduction industry, FBR Capital openly questioned how long companies like Qualcomm (Nasdaq:QCOM), Broadcom (Nasdaq:BRCM), Atheros (Nasdaq:ATHR), Altera (Nasdaq:ATHR), Omnivision (Nasdaq:OVTI) and Spreadtrum (Nasdaq:SPRD), among others, can continue to move up as they have.

FBR said Our latest 4Q production start checks were largely stable versus our prior month checks in aggregate, with slight production improvements by Qualcomm; Broadcom, and Atheros fully offset by production cuts from Altera and Mediatek. On a sequential basis, we still think 4Q production starts will grow by roughly 3%-4% QOQ due to production increases from Qualcomm, Broadcom, Omnivision, and Spreadtrum, and largely offset by sequential production decreases from AMD (NYSE:AMD), Atheros, Marvell (Nasdaq:MRVL), Silicon Labs (Nasdaq:SLAB), Nvidia (Nasdaq:NVDA), and others. Clearly Qualcomm is prepping its basebands for the launch of the CDMA iPhone, and possibly the rest of Apple's (Nasdaq:AAPL) iPhone and iPad product lineup. Our first look at 1Q'11 production starts is surprisingly resilient, with 1Q starts set to grow about 1% QOQ in aggregate. For 1Q'11, a large sequential increase in production starts from Qualcomm and modest production increases from PC chip suppliers AMD, Nvidia, and Marvell are more than fully offsetting traditional seasonal declines in production starts from others. Regarding the sector, we note that chip stocks have had a powerful rally since September 1 with meaningful rallies in stocks like BRCM, QCOM, Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN), MXIM (Nasdaq:MXIM), Fairchild Semi (NYSE:FCS), Int'l Rectifier (NYSE: IRF), Microsemi (Nasdaq:MSCC), and others. So, while chip stocks seem to want to rally into the end of the year, we wonder how long a straight move higher can continue."

Altera closed Monday at $37.40, down $0.31, or 0.81. Qualcomm closed at $48.32, falling $0.50, or 1.02 percent. Broadcom finished at $45.57, losing $0.19, or 0.42 percent. Atheros finished the day at $34.33, gaining $0.52, or 1.54 percent. Omnivision ended Monday at $31.49, up by $0.37, or 1.19 percent. Spreadtrum closed at $17.39, losing $0.08, or 0.46 percent.

Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR) Should Gain Share Short Term

Jefferies, which maintains their "Hold" rating on Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR), said in the near term they should increase share from its wireless infrastructure customers.

"Altera is well positioned to gain additional share near-term driven by new product ramps from its wireless infrastructure customers, but expect these gains to moderate as Xilinx ramps its wireless infrastructure products and both companies have similar timelines for 28nm product ramps," said Jefferies.

Full year 2011 EPS estimates were lowered from $2.92 to $2.82.

Altera closed Tuesday at $35.09, dropping $0.38, or 1.07 percent. Jefferies has a price target on them of $35, raising it from $29.