Analyst Actions: Merrill Upgrades DuPont and CSFB Launches Coverage on Four ISPs

Merrill Lynch upgraded semiconductor company Altera (ALTR - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) to long-term buy from accumulate and set a 12- to 18-month price target on the stock of 110.

Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Tim Newington launched coverage of Internet service providers Digex (DIGX - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Earthlink (ELNK - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Verio (VRIO - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) with buy ratings and Exodus Communications (EXDS - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) with a strong buy.

Exodus also announced a 2-for-1 stock split this morning.

Merrill raised its near-term rating on DuPont (DD - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) to accumulate from neutral and reiterated its long-term buy rating on the stock.

Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown initiated coverage of management consulting firm eLoyalty (ELOY - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) with a buy rating and a 50 price target.

Warburg Dillon Read upgraded Intuit (INTU - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) to strong buy from buy.

Warburg also initiated coverage of forestry and wood company Louisiana-Pacific (LPX - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) as a hold.

ABN Amro analyst Daniel Ford upgraded NiSource (NI - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), an energy/utility-based holding company, to buy from hold and set a 12-month price target of 19 on the shares.

CSFB upped Teradyne's (TER - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) price target to 120 from 95.

CSFB raised Texas Instruments' (TXN - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) price target to 200.