Isilon Systems, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:ISLN) was hanging out at around $4.50 a share yesterday. Today it’s up to $5.11 and after downgrades, target price reductions, it only took one mention to boost shares. How? It was featured last night on PBS’s Nightly Business Report.

Toan Tran, Equity Strategist at Morningstar said during the “Street Critique” segment that Isilon was beat up but worth looking at. Here’s the conversation:

KANGAS: OK. Now your last choice is small cap play. Give me the name and symbol on that one.

TRAN: Sure. This is definitely a very small cap play. The company is called Isilon Systems and the ticker is ISLN. And what Isilon does is it provides storage hardware for things like digital video and digit music, all the things that everyone is producing more of every day. The company became public in late 2007 and it had just a horrid 2007 with a management change and an accounting restatement. But the company’s put things behind it and has a great growth opportunity ahead of it. And the shares are exceptionally cheap right now.

KANGAS: OK, very interesting indeed, Isilon. I’ll have to remember that one. Toan, do you own any of the stocks personally or have any other disclosure to make?

TRAN: Yes I own both Apple and Isilon personally.

Just look at the chart on this failed IPO of 2007:

Use caution if you are thinking about playing Isilon Masters, the Street really has it out for the company.

Via Seattle.Bizjournals.com - On April 4th, two analysts downgraded Isilon Systems Inc. and shares in the Seattle data systems company fell more than 11 percent in Friday trading.

Caris & Co. downgraded Isilon (NASDAQ: ISNL) from “below average” to “sell” and McAdams Wright Ragen downgraded the company from “buy” to “hold.”

Earlier that week, Isilon restated its financial statements for the fourth quarter of 2006 and for the first and second quarters of 2007.

Analyst Sid Parakh of Seattle’s McAdams Wright Ragen said in a note to investors that the company “may be dead money in the near term as the company works through operational challenges and attempts to reinvigorate investor sentiment.”

Parakh said he expects Isilon to lose 32 cents per share in fiscal 2008 and lose 22 cents per share in fiscal 2009.

Just check out the analyst ratings via NewRatings.com:

Name Symbol Exchange Last trade Change
Isilon Systems. Inc. ISLN NASDAQ $ 5.13 +0.43 (+9.15%)
Time Company Symbol Action Rating Target Price Analyst
04/08/08 Isilon Systems Inc. — downgraded strong sell - Matrix Research
04/07/08 Isilon Systems Inc. — downgraded Hold $ 6.50 McAdams Wright Ragen
04/07/08 Isilon Systems Inc. — downgraded Sell $ 3.50 Caris & Company
04/04/08 Isilon Systems Inc. — downgraded Hold $ 6.50 McAdams Wright Ragen
04/04/08 Isilon Systems Inc. — downgraded Sell $ 3.50 Caris & Company
04/04/08 Isilon Systems Inc. — TP reduced Sector Perform $ 5.00 RBC Capital Markets
04/03/08 Isilon Systems Inc. — TP reduced Below Average $ 4.00 Caris & Company
03/03/08 Isilon Systems Inc. — TP reduced Below Average $ 5.00 Caris & Company

Disclaimer: The author has no positions in ISLN.

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