Price Targets (BWA) (CAVM) (EMN) (EVR) (IMGN) Updated

BorgWarner Inc (NYSE: BWA), Cavium Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: CAVM), Eastman Chemical Co (NYSE: EMN), Evercore Partners Inc. (NYSE: EVR) and ImmunoGen, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMGN) had their price targets updated by analysts.

Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) raised their price target on BorgWarner Inc (BWA) from $75.00 to $78.00. They have a “hold” rating on the company.

Barclays Capital (NYSE:BCS) raised their price target on Cavium Networks, Inc. (CAVM) from $44.00 to $50.00. They have an “overweight” rating on the company.

Deutsche Bank raised their price target on Eastman Chemical Co (EMN) from $110.00 to $125.00. They have a “buy” rating on the company.

Barclays Capital raised their price target on Evercore Partners Inc. (EVR) from $36.00 to $38.00. They have an “equal weight” rating on the company.

Brean Murray raised their price target on ImmunoGen, Inc. (IMGN) from $11.00 to $14.00. They have a “buy” rating on the company.

Goldman (GS) Plunges in M&A Ratings

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) plunged to 10th place in M&A rating in the quarter, missing out on the two mega deals which made the difference between now and its second place finish in the last quarter.

Goldman (GS), advised on $71 billion worth of U.S. deals in the first quarter, far less than JPMorgan Chase & Co's (NYSE:JPM) chart-topping $170 billion, and even beneath much smaller banks such as Rothschild, Evercore Partners Inc (NYSE:EVR) and Lazard Ltd (NYSE:LAZ).

It is Goldman's lowest quarterly ranking since Thomson Reuters began tracking U.S. M&A deals in 1990. The drop is mainly because the firm did not advise on two mega deals: AT&T Inc's (NYSE:T) $39 billion deal for T-Mobile USA and the $59 billion restructuring of insurer American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG).

"The numbers are an example of the lumpiness of the business, particularly when you get the mega-deals," said Michael Holland, chairman of New York-based money manager Holland & Co.

Goldman closed Thursday at $159.91, gaining $0.38, or 0.24 percent.




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Moody’s (MCO) Falls on Evercore (EVR) Downgrade

Shares of Moody’s Corp. (NYSE:MCO) were down over 2 percent on the day as Evercore Partners (NYSE:EVR) downgraded them from "Overweight" to "Equal Weight."

The overall financial sector is under pressure today, as the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) was off 0.3% in recent trading.

Concerning Moody's, Evercore said they've had a "good run," and after being up 25 percent and reaching its price target of $33, they said they see a need to take a breather.

Evercore’s analysts wrote, “With the stock at our price target and some newfound choppiness in issuance, we are taking a breather and moving to an equal weight. Costs, as Moody’s management guided, are likely to remain a profit-margin issue in 2011 as Moody’s aggressively hires to prepare for new regulatory requirements.”

Moody's was trading at $32.14, falling $0.93, or 2.81 percent, as of 1:32 PM EDT.

Evercore (EVR) Lands UBS (UBS) Tech Banker Eric Mandl

Evercore Partners (NYSE:EVR) announced they've hired Eric Mandl, a top technology banker at UBS AG (NYSE:UBS), to be senior managing director, advising large technology, software and Internet firms.

Over the last several days Evercore has been a major part of highly-publicized deals, including Charles Schwab's (NYSE:SCHW) bid for OptionsXpress (NASDAQ:OXPS) and AT&T's (NYSE:T) $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile.

Mandl has also has had some major deals he was involved in, including advising Dell (NYSE:DELL) on its $960 million deal for Compellent and IBM's (NYSE:IBM) $1.7 billion bid for Netezza.

Evercore was founded by Roger Altman, former Deputy Treasury Secretary.

Evercore closed Monday at $34.06, gaining $3.66, or 12.04 percent.

Goldman (NYSE:GS) Looks at AMERITRADE (Nasdaq:AMTD), E*TRADE (Nasdaq:ETFC), TradeStation Group (Nasdaq:TRAD), Schwab (Nasdaq:SCHW), Xpress Holdings (Nasdaq:OXPS)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) gave an update on discount brokers and investment banks today, covering a plethora of companies, including AMERITRADE (Nasdaq:AMTD), E*TRADE (Nasdaq:ETFC), TradeStation Group (Nasdaq:TRAD), Schwab (Nasdaq:SCHW), Xpress Holdings (Nasdaq:OXPS) for discount brokers, and Duff & Phelps (NYSE:DUF), Evercore Partners (NYSE:EVR), Greenhill & Co (NYSE:GHL), Lazard (NYSE:LAZ), Jefferies (NYSE:JEF), Piper Jaffray (NYSE:PJC), Raymond James (NYSE:RJF), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), LPL Investment (Nasdaq:LPLA) and Stifel Nicolaus (NYSE:SF) for investment firms.

Overall Goldman believes there is a healthy outlook for the industry, although noting tailwinds could affect some of them.

Goldman noted, "Despite tailwinds, valuations appear full - The brokerage group looks poised to have a robust 2011, with our 2011 estimates implying 48% yoy EPS growth, led by boutique M&A firms EVR and GHL, as well as by PJC (given exposure to ECM issuance). Improving GDP growth (GS Global ECS Research estimates +3.4% in 2011) and higher equity markets should also lift retail-sensitive names such as SF and LPL, but sector valuations look full at 119% of 5-year average forward P/E.

"4Q10 may be tough, but 2011-12 look better - With the notable exception of LAZ, we lower our 4Q10 estimates for the Smid-cap Brokers due to muted trading activity levels and challenging muni market conditions. That said, we raise our 2011-12 estimates to reflect the favorable environment for M&A and ECM activity in 2011. We also raise our price targets for the group by an average of 11%, which are now based on our 2011 EPS targets or 4Q11 tangible book value estimates for the investment banks (JEF, MS, PJC, RJF, and SF)."

For Discount Brokers:

Goldman raises its price target on AMERITRADE (AMTD) (Buy) from $20 to $23, E*TRADE (ETFC) (Neutral) from $17 to $18, TradeStation Group (TRAD) (Neutral) from $6 to $7 and Schwab (SCHW) (Neutral) from $17 to $19. But, Goldman lowers options Xpress Holdings (OXPS) (Sell) from $16 to $15.

For Investment Firms:

Goldman raises its price target on Duff & Phelps (DUF) (Neutral) from $13 to $16, Evercore Partners (EVR) (Buy) from $35 to $41, Greenhill & Co (GHL) (Neutral) from $72 to $82, Lazard (LAZ) (Neutral) from $42 to $46, Jefferies (JEF) (Sell) from $23 to $24, Piper Jaffray (PJC) (Neutral) from $32 to $40, Raymond James (RJF) (Neutral) from $31 to $36, and Stifel Nicolaus (SF) (Buy) from $65 to $73.

Goldman maintains a Neutral rating on Morgan Stanley (MS) and $30 price target. LPL Investment (LPLA) stays a 'Buy' and $40 price target.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ), Greenhill (NYSE:GHL), Evercore (NYSE:EVR) Previewed by Ticonderoga

Boutique brokers and asset managers Lazard (NYSE:LAZ), Greenhill (NYSE:GHL) and Evercore (NYSE:EVR) were previewed by Ticonderoga Securities for the fourth quarter.

Here's their outlook on the three:

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Q4 Preview. We expect EPS of $0.65 driven by seasonal strength in merger revenues and performance fees. In conjunction with appreciating asset levels, we are raising our 2011 EPS estimate to $2.52 from $2.48. We are also instituting a 2012 EPS estimate of $2.75. Our quarterly revenue estimate is $533 million with advisory comprising $297 million. We do believe the bi-annual conference call could provide more color around the outlook as well as improving cost efficiency. We remain bullish on shares. We reiterate our Buy rating and $45 price target. We note that LAZ's coverage ratio—estimated fees from current public backlog/our forward three-quarter (Q4'10, Q1'11 & Q2'11) M&A & restructuring revenue estimate—was 85% at the end of December vs. 87% on October 30, 2010.

Lowering Greenhill (NYSE:GHL) Q4, 2011 and Implementing 2012. We are lowering our Q4 EPS estimate to $0.35 from $0.57. The revision is reflective of negative valuation adjustments on Iridium, a slightly higher compensation ratio, and weaker than previously estimated advisory revenues. We are expecting Q4 advisory revenues of $61 million. We estimate that GHL completed 11 deals in the public backlog this quarter worth $17.3bn; this compares to 15 deals worth 28bn last quarter. We are also lowering our 2011 EPS estimate to $3.09 from $3.29 previously. The revision is reflective of a higher compensation ratio. Our full-year ratio is now 48.4% compared with 46.4% previously. We are instituting a 2012 estimate of $3.62. For full-year 2011 and 2012, we are modeling advisory revenue growth of 54% and 8%, respectively. Backlog coverage ended the period at 62% vs. 36% on October 30, 2010. We reiterate our Neutral rating.

Lowering Evercore (NYSE:EVR) Q4 and Raising 2011. We are lowering our Q4'10 EPS estimate to $0.20 from $0.35; our 2011 EPS estimate goes to $1.73 from $1.61, and we are instituting a 2012 EPS estimate of $2.27. The downward revision to our Q4 estimate is primarily driven by fewer than expected deal closings during the period; we expect i-banking revenues to be $59.4mm for the quarter, down from ~$100mm last quarter. For 2011, we are estimating a 43% increase in i-banking revenues vs. our 2010 estimate and an overall comp ratio of 59.6%, down from an estimate of 61.2% for 2010. EVR's backlog coverage ended the quarter at 88%, an improvement from 80% on October 30, 2010, and the best in the group.

Lazard closed Tuesday at $39.42, down $0.25, or 0.63 percent. Greenhill closed at $79.85, down $1.84, or 2.25 percent. Evercore closed at $34.19, down $1.37, or 3.85 percent.

Greenhill (NYSE:GHL) Backlog Weakened After Dynegy (NYSE:DYN) Decision with Blackstone (NYSE:BX)

After Dynegy (NYSE:DYN) decided to end their deal with Blackstone (NYSE:BX), Greenhill's (NYSE:GHL) backlog was weakend, although news they were hired by the Treasury Department to consult them on getting rid of their stake in AIG helped them a lot.

Ticonderoga said, "This morning, Dynegy announced its decision to terminate its pact with Blackstone and seek other offers. GHL was advising Dynegy and may continue to do so, but the deal was an estimated 18% of the backlog. Excluding the Dynegy deal, we estimate the backlog coverage ratio (est. fees from the current backlog/our forward 3Q revenue est.) drops to roughly 30% from 36%; this compares to 87% for Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) and 80% for Evercore (NYSE:EVR).

"While there is still time for GHL to build the backlog, consensus 2011 EPS estimates call for a 97% increase vs. 2010. This compares to 26% for LAZ and 77% for EVR. If we do not see a material improvement in deal activity over the next few months, we would expect 2011 EPS estimates to be negatively impacted."

Greenhill closed Tuesday at $75.57, falling $0.38, or 0.50 percent. Ticonderoga maintains a "Neutral" rating on them.