Morgan Stanley

StreetInsider.com Notable Analyst Rating Changes:

UPGRADES:
Soleil upgrades Suntech Power Holdings (NYSE: STP) from Sell to Hold, price target increased to $13.50. Click Here for more color.

Morgan Stanley upgrades Hess Corp (NYSE: HES) from Equalweight to Overweight.

Deutsche Bank upgrades Dillard's (NYSE: DDS) from Hold to Buy with a $28 price target, saying Q3 sets a new trajectory. Click Here for more color.

Citi upgrades Liberty Media Interactive (NASDAQ: LINTA) from Hold to Buy ...

From Notable Calls

Merrill Lynch/BAM is out with a rather significant Semicondutor sector downgrade, downgrading 4 large players to Neutral and 4 to Underperform:

Firm notes they are downgrading their view on the sector given unfavorable indications from our cyclical framework suggesting a modest inventory correction, even in the face of improving electronic demand and a more constructive outlook for the global economies. They are also downgrading shares of (Nasdaq: INTC), (NYSE: TXN), (Nasdaq: MRVL), and (NYSE: LSI) to Neutral, and (Nasdaq: MXIM), (NYSE: NSM), (Nasdaq: POWI) and (Nasdaq: MCHP) to Underperform. Merrill now rates a modest 5 stocks (Nasdaq: BRCM), (Nasdaq: XLNX), (Nasdaq: ALTR), (NYSE: ADI) and (Nasdaq: LLTC) as Buys within their coverage group (19 stocks in total).

In particular, Merrill's industry model suggests that following a normalization of semiconductor IC shipments to “true” consumption levels, inventories in the supply chain are approaching a level suggesting a modest ...

Morgan Stanley downgraded U.S. semiconductor stocks to Cautious today, saying we are in the final innings of the ...

Morgan Stanley revised its investment ratings on numerous tech names this morning.

Upgrades:
Altera (Nasdaq: ALTR) from Equalweight to Overweight
PMC-Sierra (Nasdaq: PMCS) from ...

Basic Blocking and Tackling

It was widely expected that earnings from Goldman Sachs (GS) would spark the market yesterday. After all, with the Wall Street firms at the epicenter of the credit crisis, word on how they are faring gives investors a feel for how the game is going in this new world. However, after Meredith Whitney effectively stole Goldman’s thunder on Monday, the actual announcement left traders unenthused. So, with a mixed bag of economic indicators and a boatload of earnings reports still on the horizon, the markets wound up doing little yesterday.

According to the company’s CFO, it was “basic blocking and tackling” that got the job done for Goldman to the tune of $4.93 per share, which easily exceeded the Reuters estimate for EPS of $3.48. However, the results were close to the whisper numbers that had been floating around as well as the number that Ms ...