Analyst Actions: MET, MSFT, KING, KLM, SLA, KREM
UBS Warburg and J.P. Morgan started coverage of MetLife (MET) - Get Report with buy ratings and price targets of 20. Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette also started coverage with a buy and a 12-month target of 22.
Credit Suisse First Boston
started coverage with a buy, while
Morgan Stanley Dean Wittter
started coverage with an outperform and a target of 22.
Merrill Lynch
started coverage with a near-term accumulate, long-term buy.
Upgrades
Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette said
King Pharma
(KING)
replaced
Wells Fargo
(WFC) - Get Report
on its focus list.
SG Cowen
said it named
Scientific-Atlanta
(SFA)
as number one action idea for this week.
Downgrades
ING Barings
downgraded
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
(KLM)
to sell from hold after the carrier cancelled its alliance with
Alitalia
. ING said KLM would lose about 200 million euros' worth of synergy gains over a three-year period.
Thomas Weisel
analyst David Readerman lowered his
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
"bust-up" price target to the 50 to 55 range, down from the previous 65 following the November 1999 findings of fact by U.S. Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson.
Solectron
(SLR)
: DOWN to buy from strong buy at SG Cowen.
Initiations
Alamosa PCS
(APCS)
: NEW market perform at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown.
Krispy Kreme
(KREM)
: NEW buy at
Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown
.
Oratec Interventions
(OTEC)
: NEW buy; price target: 45 at J.P. Morgan.
Vyyo
(VYYO)
: NEW buy at
W.R. Hambrecht
; price target: 35.
Group Actions
Banc of America
made rating changes on four retail companies:
- Jones Apparel (JNY) : DOWN to market perform from buy.
Liz Claiborne (LIZ) : DOWN to market perform from buy.
GAP (GPS) - Get Report: UP to strong buy from buy.
Payless Shoesource (PSS) : DOWN to market perform from buy.
