Early Research Calls

Published on Thursday, 18 October 2012 07:40 Written by Danny Miller

New York, October 18^th (TradersHuddle.com) – Following are some of the upgrades and downgrades before the market open.

American Eagle (NYSE: AEO) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

ASML Holdings (NASDAQ: ASML) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital.

Atwood Oceanics (NYSE: ATW) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Comerica (NYSE: CMA) was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee. The firm lowered its target price to $32 from $36.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was upgraded to a Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.

CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) was downgraded to a Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) was upgraded to a Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.

Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) was upgraded to a Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Lindsay Corp. (NYSE: LNN) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair.

Linear Technologies (NASDAQ: LLTC) was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Nomura.

Potash (NYSE: POT) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital.

Questar (NYSE: STR) was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Seadrill Ltd (NYSE: SDRL) was upgraded to a Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs and to a Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity. Additionally, St. Jude was downgraded to a Market Perform at William Blair.

Stryker (NYSE: SYK) was downgraded to a Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer. The firm lowered its target price to $56 from $59.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) was upgraded to a Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna.