Corning (GLW) (MN) (NNBR) (OCZ) (GD) (FFIV) Get New Coverage

Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW), NN, Inc. (NASDAQ: NNBR), Ocz Technology Group Inc. (NYSE: OCZ), Manning & Napier Inc. (MN), General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) and F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) getting new coverage from analysts.

Needham & Company initiated coverage on Manning & Napier Inc. (MN). They placed a “Buy” rating and a price target of $15.00 on the company.

KeyBanc initiated coverage on NN, Inc. (NNBR) . They placed a “Buy” rating and a price target of $10.00 on the company.

Piper Jaffray (NYSE:PJC) initiated coverage on Ocz Technology Group Inc. (OCZ). They placed an “Overweight” rating and a price target of $16.00 on the company.

Sterne Agee initiated coverage on General Dynamics (GD). They placed a “Buy” rating on the company.

Morgan Keegan initiated coverage on F5 Networks (FFIV) . They placed an “Outperform” rating and a price target of $126.00 on the company.

KeyBanc initiated coverage on Corning Inc. (GLW). They placed a “Hold” rating on the company.

Frontline (FRO) (GD) (GDI) (GDP) (PAY) (RVBD) Upgraded

Frontline Ltd. (NYSE: FRO), General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), Gardner Denver (NYSE: GDI), Goodrich Petroleum Co. (NYSE: GDP), Verifone (NYSE: PAY) and Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) were upgraded by analysts.

Frontline Ltd. (FRO) was upgraded by Dahlman Rose from a “Sell” rating to a “Hold” rating.

General Dynamics (GD) was upgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) from a “Neutral” rating to an “Overweight” rating.

Gardner Denver (GDI) was upgraded by MKM Partners from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating. They have a price target of $93.00 on the company.

Goodrich Petroleum Co. (GDP) was upgraded by CapitalOne to an “Add” rating.

Verifone (PAY) was upgraded by RBC Capital from a “Sector Perform” rating to an “Outperform” rating. They have a price target of $48.00 on the company.

Riverbed Technology, Inc. (RVBD) was upgraded by Oppenheimer from a “Perform” rating to an “Outperform” rating. They have a price target of $30.00 on the company.

EPS of (DWA) (FLEX) (GD) (NSC) Updated

Analysts EPS estimates of DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA), Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX), General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) and Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) updated.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) cut their EPS estimates on DreamWorks Animation (DWA). They have an “underweight” rating on the stock.

UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) cut their EPS estimates on Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX). They have a “buy” rating and a price target of $9.50 on the company.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) cut their EPS estimates on General Dynamics (GD). They have a “neutral” rating and a price target of $77.00 on the company.

Goldman Sachs raised their EPS on Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC). They have a “sell” rating and a price target of $69.00 on the company.

General Dynamics (GD) Plunges on Crash of G650 Model

The crash of the new G650 model business jet crash while undergoing tests, killing four employees on board, sent the share price of the company General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE:GD) plummeting by the most in 11 months.

Crash of the business jet took place on April 2 during takeoff-performance tests at the Roswell International Air Center airport in Roswell, New Mexico.

Robert Spingarn, an analyst at Credit-Suisse (NYSE:CS) wrote in a note, “We expect a meaningful negative reaction to shares, at least in the short term.” Spingarn maintains an "Outperform" on the stock, acknowledging the share price will be tied to results from an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The jet has close to 200 orders at this time. Tests are being performed in order to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.

General Dynamics was trading at $73.67, falling $3.75, or 4.85 percent, as of 1:45 PM EDT.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) Likes Lockheed (LMT), General Dynamics (GD), Northrop Grumman (NOC), Raytheon (RTN), Boeing (BA), Goodrich (GR), Precision Castpar

Being more positive on aerospace and defense than its colleagues, Citigroup (NYSE:C) said they see Lockheed (NYSE:LMT), General Dynamics (NYSE:GD), Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC), Raytheon (NYSE:RTN), Boeing (NYSE:BA), Goodrich (NYSE:GR), Precision Castparts (NYSE:PCP) benefiting from the current spending environment in the sectors.

Citi said, “We think investors are pricing zero to negative growth into defense stocks indefinitely. In a nutshell: The DoD has to spend money to refresh and update equipment.”

The giant bank sees defense moving away from R&D spending and moving spending to the procurement of existing weapon systems. That could boost margins for companies serving the sector, said Citigroup analysts Jason Gursky and Jonathan Raviv.

They also noted that companies could also focus more on selling to foreign and adjacent markets, boosting earnings there as well.

The analysts say stocks in the two sectors are trading at historically low valuations. Measured by earnings over the next 12 months, the companies are trading at 0nly 9 times expectations, below the 10 to 15 times in the past. The 9 times earnings is 35 percent below the broader market.

General Dynamics' (NYSE:GD) Aerospace Exposure Should Drive EPS Growth

General Dynamics Corp.'s (NYSE:GD) exposure to aerospace is an advantage their peers don't have, according to Barclays (NYSE:BCS), and should drive the EPS growth of the company going forward.

Barclays says, "GD's aerospace exposure provides a financial benefit other defense peers don't have and at best should drive significantly higher EPS growth (ex pension), and at worst offset significant declines in GD's defense EBIT (which we don't forecast). If GD shares stay at current levels we'd expect the unlocked value from Aero to grow unsustainably large, forcing multiple expansion. The hard part is getting the timing right, as catalysts are hard to define and improvements are for multiple years. That said, for those with patience, we think GD shares offer a very attractive risk/reward."

Barclays maintains an "Overweight" rating on General Dynamics Corp. (GD), which closed Tuesday at $74.17, up $1.43, or 1.97 percent. Barclays has a price target of $87 on GD.

Gleacher on General Dynamics (NYSE:GD), Raytheon (NYSE:RTN), Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT)

After the briefing by Secretary of Defense Gates gave a road-map to the strategy of Pentagon spending over the next five years, Gleacher says they see large caps like General Dynamics (NYSE:GD), Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) on solid footing.

Gleacher said, "Yesterday, Secretary of Defense Gates outlined how the Pentagon will reprioritize $100 billion in savings towards modernization, as well as an additional $78 billion in defense cuts over the next five years. The fiscal realignment recognizes the fact that defense budgets are not immune to the broader budget realities facing the nation. However, in prioritizing funding in favor of turnkey programs, the Gates program ensures that the past is not repeated where military capabilities are gutted. Rather, by proactively addressing the pending budgetary issues Gates has preempted Congress from making any irrational cuts to key programs due to mounting deficit pressures. Further, as we had anticipated, the briefing came with very few surprises, and in fact, the strong support toward modernization was actually better than expected.

"Given the slight growth provided by the Gates roadmap, solid balance sheets, strong cash flows and a potential for buy-backs, the large-cap defense group appears to have regained solid footing. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that valuations of the group could lift from current levels at less than 10x P/E back to spring 2010 levels closer to 12x P/E. We reiterate our Buy ratings on General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) and Raytheon (NYSE: RTN), and while Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is Neutral rated, we expect the entire group to participate in this relief rally."

General Dynamics was trading at $72.16, up $0.77, or 1.08 percent, as of 1:21 PM EST. Raytheon was trading at $50.24, up $1.52, or 3.12 percent. Lockheed was trading at $73.81, gaining $0.63, or 0.86 percent.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC), Boeing (NYSE:BA), General Dynamics (NYSE:GD), Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) and Defense Budget

Secretary of Defense Gates gave his input on the programs which will effect defense contractors like Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC), Boeing (NYSE:BA), General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT).

FBR gave their take on the companies and how they'll be effected by the comments Gates made.

FBR said, "Secretary of Defense Gates just held a briefing outlining changes to programs related to the budget environment, which we talked about when we downgraded the group in December. Our initial take is that Northrop Grumman, Boeing and General Dynamics come out of this in the best shape. Everyone is going to have an opinion but here is how we established ours.

Northrop Grumman: Gates talked about funding a long range strike bomber and NOC has been doing work in this area / for this platform for a long time and they are likely best positioned to win it. Also they will be well positioned for a new Army vertical take off UAV since, we believe, Honeywell’s (NYSE:HON) vertical take-off UAV has been defunded. Finally, it looks like the Navy will develop and new electronic warfare jammer which NOC will likely compete for."

Boeing: It looks like DOD will fund additional evolved expendable launch vehicles (EELV) which Boeing builds. Additionally, as a hedge against F-35 delays, DOD will buy more F/A-18s’.

General Dynamics: DOD is killing the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, which is bad but known. However they have identified funding to extend the life of the Abrams Main Battle Tank and Bradley Fighting Vehicle, which is positive. Additionally the Army putting more money towards "tactical networks" which is GD’s part of JTRS. Plus they have WIN-T.

Lockheed Martin: Cutting 122 aircraft from JSF to fund more R&D. We thought the number would have been closer to 200 but we have heard some estimates for a cut that was much great then that. All in positive relative to expectations.