Starwood Hotels (HOT) (JNPR) (MHS) (PVH) EPS Estimates Changed

Starwood Hotels (NYSE:HOT), Juniper (NASDAQ:JNPR), Medco (NYSE:MHS) and PVH (NYSE:PVH) EPS estimates adjusted by analysts.

Starwood Hotels (HOT) EPS estimates were cut by Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS). They have a price target of $64 and an "Outperform" rating on the company.

Juniper (JNPR) EPS estimates were cut by UBS (NYSE:UBS). They have a price target of $24 and a "Neutral" rating on the company.

Medco (MHS) EPS estimates were slashed through 2012 by JMP Securities. They have a "Market Outperform" rating on the company.

PVH (PVH) EPS estimates were raised by Piper Jaffray (NYSE:PJC) through 2011. They have a price target of $75 and an "Overweight" rating on the company.

Lorillard (LO) (MHS) (ERTS) (ATVI) (EXPE) (SYMC) Ratings Reiterated

Lorillard Inc. (NYSE: LO), Medco Health Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MHS), Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: ERTS), Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ: ATVI), Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) and Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) have ratings reiterated by analysts.

Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) reiterated a "Buy" rating on Medco Health Solutions Inc. (MHS).

BMC Equities reiterated a "Hold" rating Research Electronic Arts Inc (ERTS).

Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) reiterated a "Buy" rating on Expedia, Inc. (EXPE).

BMC Equities Research reiterated a "Buy" rating on Activision Blizzard Inc (ATVI). They have a price target of $15.00 on the company.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) reiterated a "Buy" rating on Lorillard Inc. (LO). They have a price target of $122.00 on the company.

Oppenheimer reiterated an "Outperform" rating on Symantec (SYMC). They have a price target of $21.00 on the company.

Diamond (DO) (DISH) (CREE) (GNW) (MHS) (SNDK) Price Targets Changed

Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (NYSE: DO), DISH (NASDAQ: DISH), Cree, Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE), Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE: GNW), Medco Health Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MHS) and SanDisk Co. (NASDAQ: SNDK) price targets adjusted by analysts.

Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (DO) had its price target lowered by Global Hunter Securities from $71.00 to $68.00. They have a “Neutral” rating on the company.

DISH (DISH) had its price target raised by Collins Stewart from $30.00 to $37.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

Cree, Inc. (CREE) had its price target lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) to $48.00. They have an “Overweight” rating on the company.

Genworth Financial, Inc. (GNW) had its price target lowered by Citigroup (NYSE: C) to $8.00. They have a “Sell” rating on the company.

Medco Health Solutions Inc. (MHS) had its price target raised by UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) to $73.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

SanDisk Co. (SNDK) had its price target lowered by Wedbush from $52.00 to $45.00. They have a “Neutral” rating on the company.

Medco (MHS) Downgraded by Several Analysts

There was a mixed reaction from analysts on the proposed merger between Express Scripts and Medco (NYSE: MHS), with the majority viewing it as highly risky for Medco, and suggesting shareholders to take their profits now rather than wait for another possible 9 percent gain when the deal closes, which isn't a certainty.

Another impetus for selling quickly, and one that was lost in the news cycle, was the fact that Medco announced that it was losing the UnitedHealth pharmacy benefits business. That happened on the same day the potential merger was announced, masking the negative side of the news.

Add that to the possibility the deal could be nixed, and you have a lot of risk in hanging onto Medco.

FBR Capital downgraded Medco Health Solutions from an “Outperform” rating to a “Market Perform” rating.

Davenport downgraded them from a “Buy” rating to a “Neutral” rating.

Medco was downgraded by Argus from a “Buy” rating to a “Hold” rating.

BMO Capital Markets downgraded them from an “Outperform” rating to a “Market Perform” rating.

Maxim Group health care analyst Anthony Vendetti may have been the most negatively aggressive on Medco, recommending investors get out of the company as soon as possible.

His reasoning is if the deal falls through and the market pays more attention to the loss of business from UnitedHealth, the stock will take a beating. He sees it being much better to take the 19 percent gains and run.

At stake is a spread of 9 percent, which in the eyes of these analysts isn't enough of an upside to justify staying in the company after the run up in share price over the last two trading days.

Medco closed Friday at $65.96, gaining $2.13, or 3.34 percent.

JPMorgan (JPM) Down on (NAV) (PFG) (VLY)

Even though JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) downgraded the consumer discretionary sector from "Overweight" to "Neutral," that didn't stop stocks like Ford (NYSE:F) from jumping, as they surpassed General Motors (NYSE:GM) in sales for the month of March. Gambling businesses like Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) also went against the grain, as they have been rising on news gambling revenue in Macau soared.

The reasoning JPMorgan had behind the downgrading of the consumer discretionary sector, which they view as a short-term event, was that it has been overall "structurally weaker" for some time. They also see economic momentum starting to slow down while the sector continues to have high valuations.

As for other sectors, they pointed out some of their favorites and least favorite stocks, with their worst ones including Valley National (NYSE:VLY), Navistar (NYSE:NAV) and Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG).

Stocks that found favor with JPMorgan, among a number of them, include Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN), Gilead (NASDAQ:GILD), Aetna (NYSE:AET), Cigna (NYSE:CI), Delta Airlines (NYSE:DAL), UAL (NYSE:UAL), Medco Health Solutions (NYSE:MHS) and Life Technologies Corp (NASDAQ:LIFE).

Medco Health (NYSE:MHS), Healthways (Nasdaq:HWAY) Quality Systems (Nasdaq:QSII), Omnicell (Nasdaq:OMCL), Kindred Healthcare (NYSE:KND) FBR's Top Healt

FBR Capital released its healthcare services outlook for 2011 in various segments of the sector, and their favorites are Medco Health (NYSE:MHS), Healthways (Nasdaq:HWAY) Quality Systems (Nasdaq:QSII), Omnicell (Nasdaq:OMCL) and Kindred Healthcare (NYSE:KND).

FBR said, "Healthcare services remains an attractive area for investment in 2011 as strong momentum in the back half of 2010 is likely to be carried forward into the new year. Investors are in a better position in 2011 than they were in 2010 as utilization of services is more stable and healthcare reform is a reality. Assessing the impact of healthcare reform remains a difficult task, but at least there is less uncertainty than a year ago. Our focus tends to be on areas that have considerable benefits that help to drive demand for those services, and that has not changed. We are particularly bullish on the pharmacy benefit management (PBM) sector, as prospects remain bright and the industry is positioned to reap the benefits from the wave of branded drugs going off-patent. Healthcare IT investment appears to be seeing steady improvement, although we are unsure if this will be enough to satisfy the momentum investors, who have made this sector a favorite. We remain cautious on the post–acute care environment, as pricing pressure and regulatory uncertainty continue to weigh on valuations as investors try to determine a reasonable baseline from which these companies can grow. The potential for earnings growth exists, but obstacles still appear to be in the way of that growth.

"Positive on the PBM space...Our best long ideas for 2011 are Medco Health Solutions, Inc. (Outperform) for the large-cap space and Healthways Inc. (Outperform) for the small-cap space.

"Healthcare IT has time to prove its worth...Our best long idea for 2011 is Quality Systems, Inc. (Market Perform), while our best short idea is Omnicell, Inc. (Underperform), which we believe has little to no exposure to the benefits that are boosting the valuations of the healthcare IT space.

"2011 remains a challenge for the post–acute care space...Among our coverage universe, we are most bullish on Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (Market Perform), as the company has shown an ability to navigate difficult regulatory waters and challenging pricing environments in the past."

Medco Health Solutions (NYSE:MHS) Recommended as Long-term Play

While in the short term, especially 2011, Medco Health Solutions (NYSE:MHS) increase its SG&A expense, putting pressure on margins and earnings, going forward into 2012 and the next decade, they look like at strong long-term play with a variety of streams of revenue.

FBR said, "We continue to recommend MHS shares. The company introduced its long-term ten year outlook at its recent investor day in New York City and it verifies to us that the company has many avenues by which it can generate profitability. While 2011 is a year that lacks gross margin expansion and has a sizeable increase in SG&A expense, our expectation is that earnings can continue to grow considerably. As we look to 2012 and beyond, the prospects for continued growth from generic drug availability and specialty pharmacy is considerable. We have factored in a sizeable $3 billion of share repurchase over the next 12–15 months, but our new estimate is at the top end of the company’s guided range for non-GAAP EPS. The company does expect to roll its international operations into the Medco Celesio joint venture in 4Q10, but prospects remain promising as the United Biosource transaction has begun to contribute to results."

Medco closed at an even $61 Monday, gaining $0.38, or 0.63 percent. FBR maintains an "Outperform" rating on the company.