S&P Analyst Clara Van Der Elst rates ALCATEL-LUCENT a SELL:

Track her picks at:

http://trackthepros.com/stocks/category/1228

We are positive on the appointment of Ben Verwaayen as CEO and Philippe Camus as chairman. We believe Verwaayen has an excellent track record and solid industry background and we regard as favorable that, unlike prior CEO Russo, Verwaayen speaks French, as he will be based in France. While we expect Verwaayen’s arrival to help lift morale, we believe he will need to further optimize ALU’s product portfolio, improve post-merger integration and continue to cut costs. Based on relative and intrinsic analyses, we are keeping our 12-month target price at $5.50.

GOLDMAN analyst Matthew Fassler rates Lowe’s a BUY:

Track Goldman’s picks at:

http://trackthepros.com/stocks/category/1614

Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Fassler says there are three drivers behind his upgrade of Lowe’s Companies (LOW): 1) Housing data is stabilizing; 2) Company and Street estimates still appear reasonable after a strong second quarter; Street expectations about likely store growth appear reasonable as well, with investors prepared, he thinks, for a modest cut; 3) His normalized EPS assessment has crept higher based on recently resilient margins, and he sees an increasingly fixed (vs. variable) cost structure helping LOW leverage to a greater degree when sales recover.

Fassler sees $1.53 fiscal year 2009 (January) EPS, $1.60 fiscal year 2010, and $1.80 fiscal year 2011. He raises his target price by $1 to $28.