Citigroup (C) (IBM) (INTC) (GOOG) (AOL) (EBAY) Ratings Reiterated

Citigroup (NYSE: C), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), AOL (NYSE: AOL) and eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) had ratings on them reiterated by analysts.

Oppenheimer (NYSE:OPY) reiterated its "Outperform" rating on Citigroup (NYSE: C). They have a price target of $47.00 on the company.

Collins Stewart reiterated its "Buy" rating on IBM (IBM). They have a price target of $210.00 on the company.

Nomura (NYSE:NMR) reiterated its "Reduce" rating on Intel (INTC).

Needham & Company reiterated its "Buy" rating on Google (GOOG).

Needham & Company reiterated its "Buy" rating on AOL (AOL).

BGC Financial reiterated its "Buy" rating on eBay (EBAY).

IBM (IBM) (JNPR) (NWE) (CELG) (CRUS) (CVS) Price Targets Changed

IBM (NYSE: IBM), Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR), NorthWestern Co. (NYSE: NWE), Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG), Cirrus Logic, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS) and CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) had price targets on them adjusted by analysts.

IBM (IBM) had its price target lowered by Barclays Capital (NYSE:BCS) from $205.00 to $195.00. They have an “Equal Weight” rating on the company.

Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR) had its price target lowered by Barclays Capital from $26.00 to $24.00. They have an “Overweight” rating on the company.

NorthWestern Co. (NWE) had its price target raised by DA Davidson to $37.00.

Celgene (CELG) had its price target raised by Mizuho from $72.00 to $86.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

Cirrus Logic, Inc. (CRUS) had its price target raised by Needham & Company from $23.00 to $25.00. They have a “Strong-Buy” rating on the company.

CVS Caremark (CVS) had its price target raised by Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) to $48.00. They have an “Outperform” rating on the company.

IBM's (IBM) Future Looks Bright

As measured by sentiment from brokerages, analysts, and leading mutual funds, International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) is among the favorites in looking ahead to 2012.

IBM garnered a lot of attention this year when it was discovered Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) had been acquiring shares in the company throughout 2011.

Buffett's realization IBM was now a service company with a big moat and growth potential, put the tech giant on everyone's radar again, although many investors have stayed with IBM through the years.

IBM was trading at $185.56, down $0.62, or 0.33 percent, as of 10:34 AM EST.

IBM (IBM) (DNR) (DRYS) (E) (GNW) Ratings Reiterated

IBM (NYSE: IBM), Denbury Resources Inc. (NYSE: DNR), DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS), Eni S.p.A. (NYSE: E) and Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE: GNW) had ratings on them reiterated by analysts.

Denbury Resources Inc. (DNR) had its “neutral” rating reiterated by Zacks Investment Research. They have a price target of $16.00 on the company.

DryShips Inc. (DRYS) had its “neutral” rating reiterated by Zacks Investment Research. They have a price target of $2.25 on the company.

Eni S.p.A. (E) had its “neutral” rating reiterated by Zacks Investment Research. They have a price target of $42.00 on the company.

Genworth Financial, Inc. (GNW) had its “neutral” rating reiterated by Zacks Investment Research. They have a price target of $6.25 on the company.

IBM (IBM) had its “neutral” rating reiterated by Zacks Investment Research. They have a price target of $191.00 on the company.

Ecolab (ECL) (IBM) (NVLS) (DG) (ETR) (FFIV) Price Targets Changed

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS), Dollar General (NYSE: DG), Entergy Corp. (NYSE: ETR) and F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) had price targets on them adjusted by analysts.

Ecolab Inc. (ECL) had its price target raised by Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) to $62.00. They have a “Neutral” rating on the company.

IBM (IBM) had its price target raised by Barclays Capital from $190.00 to $205.00. They have an “Equal Weight” rating on the company.

Novellus Systems, Inc. (NVLS) had its price target raised by Barclays Capital from $34.00 to $39.00. They have an “Equal Weight” rating on the company.

Dollar General (DG) had its price target raised by RBC Capital from $45.00 to $48.00. They have an “Outperform” rating on the company.

Entergy Corp. (ETR) had its price target raised by ISI Group to $75.00.

F5 Networks (FFIV) had its price target raised by Wunderlich from $93.00 to $110.00. They have a “Hold” rating on the company.

Berkshire (BRK-A) Plows $10.7 Billion into IBM (IBM)

Throughout 2011, Warren Buffett revealed holding company Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-A) has acquired about 10.7 billion to acquire shares of IBM (NYSE:IBM). That is over a 5 percent stake in the services company.

Along with IBM, Berkshire also invested in General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE:GD), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and DirecTV (NASDAQ:DTV), among others.

After moving from a hardware to a services business, IBM has become the largest provider of technology services in the world.

The stake held by Berkshire in IBM is apparently even larger, as some of the shares were acquired in the fourth quarter.

Presumably the moat Buffett sees in IBM is the stickiness of their services once they are hired by companies, as they are very slow to change, if at all, once IBM gets its foot in the door.

Buffett says the company paid approximately $170 an IBM share on average.

EMC (EMC) (FCX) (FTNT) (HPQ) (IBM) Get New Coverage

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX), Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) getting new coverage from analysts.

Evercore Partners initiated coverage on EMC Corp. (EMC). They placed an “Equal Weight” rating and a price target of $33.00 on the company.

Barclays Capital initiated coverage on Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. (FCX). They placed an “Overweight” rating and a price target of $63.00 on the company.

UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) initiated coverage on Fortinet, Inc. (FTNT). They placed a “Neutral” rating and a price target of $24.00 on the company.

Evercore Partners initiated coverage on Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). They placed an “Underweight” rating and a price target of $29.00 on the company.

Evercore Partners initiated coverage on IBM (IBM). They placed an “Overweight” rating and a price target of $210.00 on the company.

VMware (VMW) (IBM) (GCI) (EP) (BEXP) (JNPR) Ratings Reiterated

VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Gannett (NYSE: GCI), El Paso Corporation (NYSE: EP), Brigham Exploration (NASDAQ: BEXP) and Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR) had ratings on them reiterated or downgraded by analysts.

Oppenheimer reiterated its "Market Perform" rating on VMware, Inc. (VMW).

Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) reiterated its "Buy" rating on IBM (IBM).

Barrington Research reiterated its "Outperform" rating on Gannett (GCI).

El Paso Corporation (EP) was downgraded by Howard Weil from an “Outperform” rating to a “Market Perform” rating.

Brigham Exploration (BEXP) was downgraded by RBC Capital from an “Outperform” rating to a “Sector Perform” rating.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) reiterated its "Neutral" rating on Juniper Networks (JNPR).

IBM (IBM) (BEXP) (EPB) Downgraded

IBM (NYSE: IBM), Brigham Exploration (NASDAQ: BEXP) and El Paso Pipeline Partners (NYSE: EPB) were downgraded by analysts.

Brigham Exploration (NASDAQ: BEXP) was downgraded by analysts at Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) to a “Neutral” rating.

El Paso Pipeline Partners (NYSE: EPB) was downgraded by analysts at Wunderlich from a “Buy” rating to a “Hold” rating. They have a price target of $37.00 on the company, down from $42.00.

IBM (IBM) was downgraded by FBN Securities from an “Outperform” rating to a “Sector Perform” rating.

IBM (IBM) (VMW) (HAS) (HUBG) (IM) (LNCR) Price Targets Changed

IBM (NYSE: IBM), VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS), Hub Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HUBG), Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM) and Lincare (NASDAQ: LNCR) had their price targets adjusted by analysts.

IBM (IBM) had its price target raised by Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) to $205.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

VMware, Inc. (VMW) had its price target lowered by UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) from $125.00 to $115.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

Hasbro, Inc. (HAS) had its price target lowered by Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) to $44.00.

Hub Group, Inc. (HUBG) had its price target lowered by Piper Jaffray (NYSE:PJC) to $49.00.

Ingram Micro Inc. (IM) had its price target lowered by Citigroup (NYSE:C) to $22.00.

Lincare (LNCR) had its price target lowered by Jefferies to $25.00.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) (HGSI) (TTWO) (RIMM) (IBM) (KR) EPS Estimates Changed

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ), Human Genome Sciences (NASDAQ:HGSI), Take Two Interactive (NASDAQ:TTWO), Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM), IBM (NYSE:IBM) and Kroger (NYSE:KR) had EPS estimates adjusted by analysts.


Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) had its EPS estimates cut by Citigroup (NYSE:C). They have a price target of $15 on the company.

Take Two Interactive (TTWO) had its EPS estimates raised by Sterne Agee through 2013. They reiterated a "Buy" rating and price target of $21 on the company.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) had its EPS estimated cut by Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS). They have a price target of $30 on the company.

Research In Motion (RIMM) had its EPS estimates cut by Credit Suisse through 2013. They have a "Neutral" rating and a price target of $30 on the company.

IBM (IBM) EPS estimates were cut by Credit Suisse. They have a "Neutral" rating and a price target of $175 on the company.

Kroger (KR) EPS estimates lowered by Jefferies (NYSE:JEF). They have a "Buy" rating and price target of $27 on the company.

Staples (SPLS) (PG) (JDSU) (IBM) (ANF) EPS Estimates Changed

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS), JDS Uniphase Co. (NASDAQ: JDSU), IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) have EPS estimates adjusted by analysts.

Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) lowered its EPS estimates on Procter & Gamble (PG). They have a “Hold” rating and a price target of $69.00 on the company.

Jefferies boosted its EPS estimates on Staples, Inc. (SPLS). They have a “Hold” rating and a price target of $14.00 on the company.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) cut its EPS estimates on JDS Uniphase Co. (JDSU). They have a “Buy” rating and a price target of $14.50 on the company.

Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) slashed its EPS estimates on IBM (IBM). They have a “Neutral” rating and a price target of $175.00 on the company.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) raised its EPS estimates on Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF). They have a “Buy” rating and a price target of $90.00 on the company.

Tyson (TSN) (GM) (TPCG) (IBM) (PNM) (SEE) (SUN) (SYK) Upgraded

Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN), General Motors (NYSE: GM), TPC Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TPCG), IBM (NYSE: IBM), PNM Resources, Inc. (NYSE: PNM), Sealed Air Corp. (NYSE: SEE), Sunoco Incorporated (NYSE: SUN) and Stryker (NYSE: SYK) upgraded by analysts.

Tyson Foods, Inc. (TSN) was upgraded by BMO Capital Markets from a “Market Perform” rating to an “Outperform” rating.

General Motors (GM) was upgraded by Ticonderoga from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating. They have a price target of $42.00 on the company.

TPC Group, Inc. (TPCG) was upgraded by Macquarie from a “Neutral” rating to an “Outperform” rating.

IBM (IBM) was upgraded by Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating. They have a price target of $195.00 on the company.

PNM Resources, Inc. (PNM) was upgraded by Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) from a “Hold” rating to a “Buy” rating. They have a price target of $16.00 on the company, up from $15.00.

Sealed Air Corp. (SEE) was upgraded by Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating. They cited valuation as the catalyst behind the call.

Sunoco Incorporated (SUN) was upgraded by Macquarie from a “Neutral” rating to an “Outperform” rating.

Stryker (SYK) was upgraded by Rodman & Renshaw from a “Market Perform” rating to an “Outperform” rating. They have a price target of $56.00 on the company.

Microsoft (MSFT) (AMZN) (CSCO) (INTC) (AAPL) Leading NASDAQ Back Up

Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon.com (AMZN), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Intel (INTC) and Apple (AAPL) pushing NASDAQ up after the tech sector took a pounding yesterday.

Tech stock futures are also enjoying a resurgence, with the Nasdaq 100 rising from the close yesterday of $2060.29, to 2067.50 for the September contract. Even so, it has started to pull back as the trading day continues.

The biggest gainers in tech so far today are NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), which was trading at $16.05, soaring $2.02, or 14.40 percent, as of 11:10 AM EDT. Silicon Motion (SIMO) was trading at $9.64, climbing $1.28, or 15.31. LCD maker Universal Display (PANL) is leading the way for tech, jumping to $28.71, up $5.91, or 25.92 percent.

Other major techs like IBM (IMB) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) are also trading higher.

The NASDAQ is up about 3 percent so far on the day.

IBM (IBM) (HOG) (SCHW) (WYNN) (MAN) Price Targets Changed

IBM (NYSE: IBM), Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG), Charles Schwab (NASDAQ: SCHW), Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ: WYNN) and Manpower Inc (NYSE: MAN) had price targets adjusted by analysts.

Barclays Capital lowered its price target on Charles Schwab (SCHW) from $18.00 to $17.00. They have an “equal weight” rating on the company.

Barclays Capital increased its price target on Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN) from $125.00 to $160.00. They have an “equal weight” rating on the company.

Wedbush raised its price target on Harley-Davidson, Inc. (HOG) from $50.00 to $54.00. They have an “outperform” rating on the company.

Barclays Capital raised its price target on IBM (IBM) from $176.00 to $190.00. They have an “equal weight” rating on the company.

Barclays Capital lowered its price target on Manpower Inc (MAN) from $80.00 to $75.00. They have an “overweight” rating on the company.

News Corp. (NWS) (IBM) (EMC) (FRX) (VMW) Have Ratings Reiterated

News Corporation (NYSE: NWS), IBM (NYSE: IBM), EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), Forest Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: FRX) and VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) had ratings reiterated on them by analysts.

Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a "Buy" rating on EMC Corp. (EMC).

Stifel Nicolaus maintains a "Buy" rating on IBM (IBM).

Citigroup (NYSE:C) reiterated a "Buy" rating on News Corporation (NYSE: NWS). They have a price target of $21.00 on the company.

Wunderlich reiterated a "Hold" rating on VMware, Inc. (VMW).

Citigroup maintains a "Hold" rating on Forest Laboratories, Inc. (FRX). They have a price target of $35.00 on the company.

EMC closed Wednesday at $27.00, gaining $0.07, or 0.26 percent. IBM ended the day at $174.32, rising $0.27, or 0.16 percent. News Corp. closed at $16.36, climbing $0.28, or 1.74 percent. VMware, Inc. closed at $100.28, falling $0.12, or 0.12 percent. Forest Laboratories, Inc. closed at $39.02, up $0.41, or 1.06 percent.

Buy Cisco (CSCO) Now Says Stern Agee

Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) was the topic of conversation of Stern Agee analyst Shaw Wu, who recommends acquiring the stock at this time before they fix most things the company.

Even trading where it is now, below $17 a share, Wu sees the company as a $27 to $28 per share company.

He reiterated a "Buy" rating on the stock today, with a price target of $29 on it.

Here's Wu's breakdown of the Cisco share price:

The router business at the same 20 times P/E as Juniper Networks (NASDAQ:JNPR), citing Cisco’s “high barriers to entry” and high profitability in that segment. That would equal 20 times 36 cents a share for this year, or $7 a Cisco share.

Switches should be valued at an 11 times P/E, below Netgear’s (NASDAQ:NTGR) 14 times P/E. That would be about 11 times 63 cents, or $7 a Cisco share.

New products are collectively valued at $5, using a 12 times multiple of the 45 cents those products generate in EPS, which is “conservative” according to Wu, relative to the multiples of some younger networking companies, such as F5 Networks (NASDAQ:FFIV), which has a 23 times multiple.

The Cisco services segment is valued $4 a share, a multiple of 10 times, below IBM’s (NYSE:IBM) 12 times P/E.

Add to that the $4 a share for Cisco’s cash after taxes, and you reach the $27 Wu sees.

Cisco was trading at $16.67, up $0.02, or 0.12 percent, as of 1:55 PM EDT.

Dividends of (UGI) (PH) (CFR) (JNJ) (COH) Boosted

Chevron Corporation (CVX), W.W. Grainger Inc. (GWW), Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC), Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) and International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) all have boosted their dividends recently.

Chevron Corporation (CVX) raised its quarterly dividend on April 27th 8.3 percent or $0.78 a share. The dividend is payable June 10, 2011, to holders of common stock as shown on the transfer records of the corporation at the close of business on May 19, 2011. The new payout has a yield of 2.9 percent.

W.W. Grainger Inc. (GWW) raised its quarterly dividend on April 27th 22 percent to $0.66 a share. The dividend is payable on June 1, 2011, to shareholders of record on May 9, 2011. The new payout has a yield of 1.8 percent.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) raised its dividend on April 27 6.4 percent to $0.50 a share. The dividend is payable June 11, 2011, to shareholders of record as of the close of business May 31, 2011. The new payout has a yield of 3.2 percent.

Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) raised its dividend on April 26th 6.4 percent to $0.13 a share. The dividend is payable June 23, 2011, to shareholderss of record on June 10, 2011. The new payout has a yield of 1.8 percent.

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) raised its dividend on April 26th 15 percent to $0.75 a share. The dividend is payable June 10, 2011 to stockholders of record May 10, 2011. The new payout has a yield of 1.8 percent.

IBM (IBM) (ADBE) (NVDA) Shrug Off Earthquake, Trading Up

Shares of top tech companies IBM Corp. (NYSE:IBM), Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) have mostly shrugged off the effects of the response to another earthquake in Japan, and are all trading higher on the day.

This time it was a magnitude-7.4 earthquake, which includes a tsunami warning in the area that experienced the carnage from the 8.9 earthquake on March 11.

The broader market and other tech companies did reverse direction on the day after the news came out that there was another earthquake.

Nvidia was trading at $18.13, up $0.67, or 3.84 percent, as of 12:33 PM EDT. Adobe was at $34.50, gaining $0.26, or 0.76 percent. IBM was trading at $164.23, rising $0.19, or 0.12 percent.

Are Techs (IBM) (ONNN) (LAVA) (GLW) Undervalued?

Shares of ON Technologies (Nasdaq:ONNN), IBM (NYSE:IBM), Magma Design Automation (Nasdaq:LAVA) and Corning Inc. (NYSE:GLW) appear to be undervalued, as the tech sector continues to roll, even in the midst of concerns it could be approaching bubble proportions again.

Technology is well beyond peak earnings from late 2007 - proof that these companies are getting the job done despite doubts.

IBM (IBM) is an example of that assertion. 2010's EPS of $11.58 beat 2009's $10.01, both of which were better than 2007's $7.13. In fact, IBM is working on its seventh year in a row of bottom line growth.

Semiconductor maker ON Technologies (ONNN) is just coming off its best year in its history. Without using any accounting tricks, it has a trailing P/E of 15.5 and forward-looking (12-month) one of 7.71, making it desirable for investors.

Strongest Earnings Growth

If Magma Design Automation (LAVA) hadn't already posted a significant improvement in earnings on a rolling year-over-year basis, it might be hard to believe it could grow income by 59 percent in fiscal 2012, which it probably will.

Corning Inc. (GLW) with its PEG ratio of 0.96 appears to have found the best balance profit growth and current valuation. GLW is priced under 10 times its past and future earnings. It grew earnings by 41 percent, and is on pace for modest growth this and next year. With more beats than misses over the last couple of years though, the G in the PEG ratio may end up being bigger than expected.

IBM was trading at $162.81, up $1.44, or 0.89 percent, as of 1:14 PM EDT. ON Semiconductor was at $9.99, up $0.01, or 0.10 percent. Magna was trading at $6.585, down $0.055, or 0.83 percent. Corning was at $21.19, down $0.26, or 1.19 percent.




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