Nucor (NUE) (PCX) (STJ) (BTU) (CENX) (CLD) Get New Coverage

Nucor Co. (NYSE: NUE), Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX), St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE: STJ), Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU), Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ: CENX) and Cloud Peak Energy (NYSE: CLD) getting new coverage from analysts.

Barclays Capital initiated coverage on Nucor Co. (NUE). They placed an “Equal Weight” rating and a price target of $46.00 on the company.

Barclays Capital initiated coverage on Patriot Coal Corp. (PCX). They placed an “Equal Weight” rating and a price target of $15.00 on the company.

Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) initiated coverage on St. Jude Medical, Inc. (STJ). They placed a “Neutral” rating and a price target of $43.00 on the company.

Barclays Capital initiated coverage on Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU). They placed an “Overweight” rating and a price target of $61.00 on the company.

Barclays Capital initiated coverage on Century Aluminum Company (CENX). They placed an “Overweight” rating and a price target of $17.00 on the company.

Barclays Capital initiated coverage on Cloud Peak Energy (CLD). Theys placed an “Equal Weight” rating and a price target of $27.00 on the company.

Century (CENX) (RS) (DROOY) (FUN) (TSO) (TEF) (DHI) (LEN) (MSL) Upgraded

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX), Reliance Steel (NYSE:RS), DRDGOLD (NASDAQ:DROOY), Cedar Fair (NYSE:FUN), Tesoro (NYSE:TSO), Telefonica S.A. (NYSE:TEF), DR Horton (NYSE:DHI), Lennar (NYSE:LEN) and Midsouth Bancorp (AMEX:MSL) get upgraded by analysts.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) upgraded Century Aluminum (CENX) from a "Neutral" rating to a "Sell" rating.

Goldman Sachs upgraded Reliance Steel (RS) from a "Neutral" rating to a "Buy" rating.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) upgraded DRDGOLD (DROOY) from an "Underweight" rating to an "Equal Weight" rating.

Keybanc Capital upgraded Cedar Fair (FUN) from a "Hold" rating to a "Buy" rating.

RBC Capital upgraded Tesoro (TSO) from a "Sector Perform" rating to an "Outperform" rating.

Sandord Bernstein upgraded Telefonica S.A. (TEF) from an "Underperform" rating to a "Market Perform" rating.

UBS (NYSE:UBS) upgraded DR Horton (DHI) from a "Neutral" rating to a "Buy" rating.

UBS upgraded Lennar (LEN) from a "Neutral" rating to a "Buy" rating.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) upgraded Midsouth Bancorp (MSL) from a "Market Perform" rating to a "Strong Buy" rating.

Century (CENX) (DHI) (FUN) (LEN) (NUS) (RS) (TSO) Upgraded

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX), D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI), Cedar Fair (NYSE:FUN), Lennar (NYSE:LEN), Nu Skin (NYSE:NUS), Reliance Steel (NYSE:RS) and Tesoro Corporation (NYSE:TSO) upgraded by analysts.

Century Aluminum (CENX) was upgraded by Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) from a "Sell" rating to a "Neutral" rating. They cited valuation as the catalyst behind the call.

D.R. Horton (DHI) was upgraded by UBS (NYSE:UBS) from a "Neutral" rating to a "Buy" rating. They have a price target of $13 on the company.

Cedar Fair (FUN) was upgraded by KeyBanc from a "Hold" rating to a "Buy" rating. They have a price target of $25 on the company.

Lennar (LEN) was upgraded by UBS from a "Neutral" rating to a "Buy" rating. They have a price target of $21 on the company.

Nu Skin (NUS) was upgraded by Wedbush Securities from a "Neutral" rating to an "Outperform" rating. They have a price target of $48 on the company.

Reliance Steel (RS) was upgraded to a "Buy" rating by Goldman Sachs.

Tesoro Corporation (TSO) was upgraded by RBC Capital Markets from a "Sector Perform" rating to an "Outperform" rating. They raised their price target on the company from $28 to $30.

Anadarko (APC) (CENX) (TXN) (NFLX) (JEC) (BAC) Ratings Reiterated

Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC), Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ: CENX), Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN), Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), Jacobs Engineering (NYSE: JEC) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) ratings reiterated by analysts.

Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) reiterated its "Buy" rating on Anadarko Petroleum (APC). They have a price target of $94.00 on the company.

Dahlman Rose reiterated a "Hold" rating on Century Aluminum Company (CENX).

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) reiterated an "Overwight" rating on Texas Instruments (TXN).

Piper Jaffray (NYSE:PJC) reiterated an "Overwight" rating on Netflix, Inc. (NFLX). They have a price target of $330.00 on the company.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) reiterated a "Neutral" rating on Jacobs Engineering (JEC).

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) reiterated an "Overwight" rating on Bank of America (BAC). They have a price target of $18.00 on the company.

Alcoa (AA) (ACH) (RS) (CENX) (KALU) Jump as Aluminum Prices Rise

Aluminum prices for 3-month contracts climbed $55 to $2,556 a ton, pushing up the share price of Aluminum Corp of China (NYSE:ACH), Reliance Steel and Aluminum (NYSE:RS), Alcoa (NYSE:AA), Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) and Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU) on Wednesday.

That happened even as aluminum inventories were up in LME warehouses, adding 1,325 tons to a new record high of 4.71 million tons.

Several weeks ago the U.S. International Trade Commission voted 6-0 to impose duties on Chinese goods made of aluminum. Specifically targeted were aluminum extrusions, which are used in sills, door frames and window frames, as well as in solar power frames and gutters.

Alcoa (AA) closed Wednesday at $16.69, gaining $0.24, or 1.46 percent. Aluminum Corp of China (ACH) closed at $22.22, up $0.80, or 3.73 percent.

Losers (CENX) (OPEN) (NXTM) (CTCM) (HMPRD) on May 4

Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX), OpenTable Inc (NASDAQ:OPEN), NxStage Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTM), CTC Media, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTCM) and Hampton Roads Bankshares Inc (HMPRD) were among the big losers on Wednesday, May 4.

Century Aluminum Company (CENX) closed at $16.52, plunging $3.22, or 16.31 percent. Missing revenue and earnings estimates in the latest quarter was the major catalyst.

OpenTable Inc (OPEN) closed Wednesday at $89.35, dropping $15.65, or 14.90 percent. The switching of CEOs was behind driving the share price down.

NxStage Medical, Inc. (NXTM) closed the trading session at $20.43, falling $3.25, or 13.76 percent. Trading volume was about 6 times the daily 3-month average.

CTC Media, Inc. (CTCM) ended the day at $20.00, down $2.69, or 11.86 percent. Shares dropped after the company reported non-GAAP EPS of $0.16, missing estimates by 1 cent.

Hampton Roads Bankshares Inc (HMPRD) closed Wednesday at $11.72, dropping $1.56, or 11.75 percent. Volume was just under 5 times the daily 3-month average. It traded in a range of $11.62 - $12.99 on the day.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Turns it Around in Fourth Quarter

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) generated a profit in the fourth quarter, turning things around after a lost in the same quarter last year.

Net income surged to $59.94 million, or $0.64 a share, far above the $24.35 million, or $0.28 a share the company lost last year in the same quarter. Analysts had been looking for earnings of $0.22 a share.

Revenue for the quarter increased to $316.85 million, soaring above the $256.81 million last year. Analysts estimated revenue of $306.13 million.

Net profit was $65.3 million, or 64 cents a share, against a loss of $24.4 million, or 28 cents a share, in the same quarter of 2009

Increased demand and higher aluminum prices boosted the results for the company.

Century Aluminum closed Tuesday at $15.45, dropping $0.38, or 2.40 percent.

Aluminum Corp (NYSE:ACH), Alumina (NYSE:AWC), Alcoa (NYSE:AA), Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) in 2010

Most of the companies with strong aluminum exposure like Aluminum Corp (NYSE:ACH), Alumina (NYSE:AWC), Alcoa (NYSE:AA) and Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) got knocked down near the first part of January 2010, and most of them are still struggling to recover, although over the last several months they have rebounded some.

Aluminum Corp. ended the year at $22.79, gaining $0.23 on December 31, up 0.09 percent. The company had a 52-week trading range of $18.03 to $34.27. They ended the year with a market cap of $12.34 billion.

Alumina (NYSE:AWC) closed the year out at $10.18, losing $0.02 on the last trading day, down 0.20 percent. The trading range for 2010 was from $4.76 to $10.35. They ended the year with a market cap of $6.21 billion. Alumina was one of the more consistent and profitable performers in the aluminum sector in 2010.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA finished off the year at $15.39, gaining $0.18 on Friday, up 1.18 percent. The 2010 trading range for them was $9.81 to $17.60. They closed off the year with a market cap of $15.72 billion.

Century Aluminum ended 2010 at $15.53, down $0.18 on the final trading day of the year, losing 1.15 percent. Their trading range for the year was $8.25 to $18.77. Their market cap heading into 2011 is $1.44 billion.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Gets "Sell" Rating from Goldman (NYSE:GS)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) has begun coverage on Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX), and started the company off with a "Sell" rating and a price target of $14.

Cited for 2011 is the weak fundamentals related to aluminum supply and demand, along with the heavy leverage Century has to aluminum.

Also noted was the loss of the power contract refund which was one-time event for the company; which they won't have in 2011.

It appears those heavily exposed to aluminum will be range bound for some time, and there are few if any catalysts that can be seen to change that assessment at this time.

Century Aluminum closed Friday at $16.11, down $0.02, or 0.12 percent.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA), Alumina (NYSE:AWC), Reliance (NYSE:RS), Century (NASDAQ:CENX), Kaiser (NASDAQ:KALU) Plunge on Aluminum Oversupply Concerns

Alcoa (NYSE:AA), Alumina (NYSE:AWC), Reliance (NYSE:RS), Century (NASDAQ:CENX), Kaiser (NASDAQ:KALU), along with other aluminum-exposed companies, are getting hit hard today on news oversupply could push down prices.

The aluminum industry has attempt to create a narrative of strong demand over the next decade or so, but in the short-term that probably won't be the case, and depending on economic conditions, could be under pressure in the mid-term as well.

Today's downward pressure is from the announcement premiums on shipments to Japan will probably fall in the first quarter of 2011 on oversupply in the market.

A growing number of analyst also believe pressure on pricing is a trend and not a temporary situation; bad news for an already struggling aluminum sector.

Alcoa was trading at $13.13, falling by $0.16, or 1.20 percent at 1:22 PM EST. Alumina was at $7.81, dropping $0.34, or 4.17 percent. Reliance was down to $44.37, losing $1.00, or 2.20 percent. Century was at $14.09, declining $0.35, or 2.42 percent. Kaiser plummeted to $46.60, falling $0.82, or 1.73 percent.