Upgrades: Merrill upgrades Assurant (AIZ 51.30) to Buy from Neutral. Downgrades: Jefferies downgrades Mentor (MNT 26.99) to Hold from Buy and cuts their tgt to $31 from $36 saying while they think that MNT's current share price underestimates its long-term value as a one of two key players in the breast implant market and pipeline (PurTox), near-term economic conditions and the prospect of lowered guidance drive their ratings change. Miscellaneous: Piper Jaffray initiates Calgon Carbon (CCC 20.86) with a Neutral and a $23 tgt... Piper Jaffray initiates Pentair (PNR 38.74) with a Neutral... Piper Jaffray initiates Lindsay Manufacturing (LNN 73.01) with a Buy.
Upgrades: Credit Suisse upgrades Research in Motion (RIMM 97.53) to Neutral from Underperform and cut their tgt to $80 from $100 following the co's Q2 results. The firm says given that their margin concerns (now evident), are likely to force Street numbers toward their already below consensus estimates, they are upgrading the stock. The firm says concerns over volume growth slowdown remain, and valuation is reasonable, but too early to buy. Downgrades: Citigroup downgrades CF Industries (CF 110.20) to Hold from Buy... Citigroup downgrades Agrium (AGU 74.85) to Hold from Buy... Citigroup downgrades Terra Industries (TRA 37.90) to Hold from Buy... Merrill Lynch downgrades Torchmark (TMK 62.14) to Neutral from Buy... Merrill Lynch downgrades PACCAR (PCAR 39.70) to Neutral from Buy... Credit Suisse downgrades Canon (CAJ 40.11) to Neutral from Outperform... Deutsche Bank downgrades Research In Motion (RIMM 97.53) to Sell from Hold.
Miscellaneous: Caris initiates AngioDynamics (ANGO 16.64) with a Buy and sets a $20 tgt, as they believe the current $204 mln FY09 consensus revenue forecast is conservative, and doesn't adequately account for contributions from the acquired Diomed business (firm forecast $19 mln) or 28 new sales reps to be added 1H09 (firm forecast $25 mln)... SunTrust initiates IDEXX Laboratories (IDXX 57.55) with a Neutral, based on organic revenue growth that has decelerated to low-double-digits with the three main Companion Animal Group business units reporting less than 11% organic revenue growth in Q208, shares trading at a slight premium to its historic NTM P/E multiple, and a slowing lab business... Baird initiates Ecolab (ECL 49.42) with a Neutral and sets a $54 tgt, as they believe the co is well positioned to reap the benefit of outsourcing trends as companies look for ways to offset rising costs and improve operational efficiencies yet have concerns with valuation and signs of sustainable profitability improvement in Europe and GCS... Jefferies initiates Urban Outfitters (URBN 34.29) with a Hold and sets a $33 tgt, based on valuation despite attractive and highly visible long-term growth... Jefferies initiates J. Crew (JCG 28.69) with a Hold and sets a $28 tgt, based on high inventories, slowing retail comps, and lowered EPS guidance that temper the near-term outlook.