Early Research Calls

Published on Tuesday, 19 June 2012 07:40 Written by Danny Miller

New York, June 19^th (TradersHuddle.com) – Following are some of the upgrades and downgrades before the market open.

AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Body Central (NASDAQ: BODY) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer and to a Neutral at Robert W. Baird.

Brinker (NYSE: EAT) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James.

Central European Distribution (NASDAQ: CEDC) was upgraded to a Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.

Citi Trends (NASDAQ: CTRN) was upgraded to a Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna.

Elster (NYSE: ELT) was downgraded to a Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity and Keybanc Capital Markets.

Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) was downgraded to a Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray.

First Community Bancshares (NASDAQ: FCBC) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette. 

Kennametal  (NYSE: KMT) was upgraded to a Neutral from Underperform at Bank of America Merrill.

Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) was upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at Credit Agricole.

Synacor (NASDAQ: SYNC) was downgraded to a Hold from Buy at Needham.

Timken (NYSE: TKR) was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Bank of America Merrill.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE: GWW) was upgraded to a Buy from Hold at BB&T.

Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) was upgraded to a Buy from Neutral at UBS.