Analyst Comments

Today, Piper Jaffray upgraded Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) to Buy and raised its price target from $36 to $48. Piper Jaffray upgraded shares of Hasbro after announced increased sales and earnings. Piper increased its EPS target for CY09 from $2.35 to $3.00 and Piper thinks the Street estimates appear low.

Additionally, Piper Jaffray said that Hasbro has the most attractive portfolio. It is also taking market share, cash flows are strong and operating model continues to improve.

Piper thinks that Hasbro represents the best-in-class opportunity in the toy segment.
Sign up at EasyStockAlerts.com & Make Money Today!

American Technology Research is out with a research note previewing MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE: WFR) Q2 earnings, which are expected out after the close today, with a corresponding conference call at 5:30 PM ET. The firm maintains a Buy rating on MEMC and has a $105 price target on the stock.

The firm's Q2 estimates are currently in-line with the Street estimates: AmTech sees revs of $2.36 billion and EPS of $4.30. AmTech notes that these estimates are slightly below MEMC's guidance of $2.4-$2.5 billion in sales and EPS in the range of $4.50-$4.60. Considering MEMC's guidance, the firm believes the company will reaffirms its outlook due to "strength in solar end markets and increasing capacity."

As MEMC's gross and operating margins were modestly depressed during Q1, AmTech expects the company to report gross margins up 280 basis points and operating margins up 370 basis points. Notably, the firm points out that "the poly market has yet to ease with the majority of incremental capacity being accounted for through long-term contracts."

Notably, AmTech believes shares of MEMC have limited downside from current levels as consensus estimates are below guidance.

MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells silicon wafers for the semiconductor industry worldwide.

Shares of robotic surgery player Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISRG) are up 16% today after the company reported strong Q2 results and provided a solid outlook. Wall Street was out positive on the stock following the news.

Notable Comments:

- Deutsche Bank bumped its price target from $360 to $365 and reiterated their Buy rating on the stock. DB said better-than-expected da Vinci placements and utilization drove upside in the second quarter and said growth remains robust across surgical specialties. DB also said, "Importantly, the company raised its total procedure growth guidance and revenue forecasts materially—which highlights the fact that da Vinci is increasingly being used outside of prostate." The firm also raised estimates on ISRG.

- Wachovia said ISRG is "Still a Port in the Strong" and they raised thier estimates. Wachovia noted that management lowered their guidance on dVP procedure growth from 40% yoy to 35%-39% yoy, but this was offset by an increase in the guidance for other procedures. The firm has a Market Perform rating and $290-$320 valuation range, saying the stock is fully valued.

- Cowen & Co. raised estimates and reiterated their Outperform rating, noting that new markets are "blooming." Cowen boosted 2008 sales growth est. from 47% to 50% and raised 2008 EPS est. by $0.23 to of $5.18. Cowen noted rapid growth for emerging indications in Uro, GYN and Cardio. Cowen thinks the stock can outpace the market by 25% over the next 12 months.

American Technology Research raises its price target on Broadcom (Nasdaq: BRCM) from $26 to $29 and maintains a Buy rating.

Commenting on its June quarter results, the firm said that "There may be some concerns that Broadcom is too aggressive in its outlook, but at this point, we are giving management the benefit of the doubt."

AmTech raised its Q3 sales and EPS estimates from $1.17 billion and $0.19 to $1.28 billion and $0.24, respectively. The Street estimates are $1.16 billion for sales and $0.38 for EPS. FY08 and FY09 sales estimates move from $4.5 billion and $5.1 billion to $4.8 billion and $5.5 billion. The Street is expecting FY08 revs of $4.51 billion and FY09 revs of $5.07 billion. EPS move from $0.75 to $0.88 for FY08 and from $0.85 to $1.00 for FY09. The analyst estimates are $1.50 for FY08 and $1.56 for FY09.

Broadcom Corporation designs, develops, and supplies semiconductors for wired and wireless communications markets.

American Technology Research reiterates its Buy rating and $33 price target on Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO).

The firm calls Yahoo!'s results yesterday, "not as bad as feared" and believes that the announcement could be a good opportunity for Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) or Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). As Microsoft reported last week that growth of its online services business is slowing, AmTech believes Microsoft could now have a great incentive to do a deal with Yahoo!. The firm said, "Whether this is the highest probability outcome or not, we find the risk/reward on 54% upside from yesterday’s close very compelling."

AmTech values several Yahoo! assets in order to arrive at a conclusion about the possibility for Microsoft to see a deal through: based on revenue and cost synergies in Yahoo!'s Search market, the firm feels this asset could be worth $17-$20 billion for Microsoft. Further, the firm sees Yahoo! Japan worth $7.2 billion, its investments in Alibaba.com TaoBao and AliPay worth $4-$5 billion and cash, investments and NOL carry-forward worth another $4 billion. With a $33 offer, AmTech's valuations would imply that "Microsoft would be buying the non-Search businesses and any strategic/financial upside from Asian assets for $11B-$15B."

Yahoo! Inc. provides Internet services to users, advertisers, publishers, and developers worldwide.