FBR Capital is upgrading MEMC Electronic (NYSE:WFR) to Outperform from Market Perform and raising their price target to $22 (prev. $16). Firm notes their checks last week in Taiwan indicated that MEMC Electronic Materials not only has been able to gain considerable market share in the solar side, it also has been able to regain some of the semi market share lost a few years ago in Korea and Taiwan. Yes, such share gains have come at the expense of lower margins (versus historical trends, especially following past recoveries in the semiconductor industry). However, FBR Capital believes the gains are already baked into expectations and share price, as the company, in their view, set guidance low enough to be able to execute successfully. Moving forward, and consistent with FBR's solar industry thesis, they expect the overall GM to ...

• Novellus (NASDAQ:NVLS) CEO Rick Hill provided optimistic outlooks for the current quarter and next. He narrowed the gain in bookings to an expected 40-55% rise from 20-50%, the range of shipments to $150 -$170 million from $140-$170 million, with earnings expected to range between a nine cent loss and breakeven, up from a 15 cent loss and breakeven

• Citigroup (NYSE:C) analysts lowered their rating on Abercrombie and Fitch (NYSE:ANF) to "sell" from "hold" and cut the price target to $24 from $33

• Costco (NASDAQ:COST) received an upgrade from JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM)

• H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) reported fiscal first quarter loss from continuing operations of 39 cents a share, a bit worse than the Zacks expectations of a 37 cent loss, as revenues grew 1.3% to $275.5 million, off estimates of $281 million. The firm, however, maintained full year projections of $1.60-$1.80

• Cooper Companies (NYSE:COO) reported third quarter earnings of 54

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One of the more interesting calls today comes from FBR Capital:br /div style="text-align: justify;"br /FBR is raising their tgt on span style="font-weight: bold;"Freeport-McMoRan Copper amp; Gold, Inc. (NYSE:FCX)/span to $87 from $69 and reiterating their Outperform rating on the stock.br /br /According to the firm the higher price target primarily reflects their view that FCX would raise its overall 2010 copper sales guidance by about 12% (or, approximately, a 45% increase in North America) after recent improvement in leading economic indicators for the developed economies, such as the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Furthermore, FBR believes the economics of increased production are also justified at current copper prices and with the strong outlook in 2010. Based on their revised commodity price deck and increased production estimates (2010 only), they also increase their 2009 and 2010 EPS/EBITDA estimates by about 24%/16% and 26.5%/12%. Firm recommends that investors take advantage of market volatilty ...

US stocks started the holiday-shortened trading week on a positive note as energy, technology and industrial shares pulled equity markets higher.  Although stocks seesawed in early trading, a gain in oil prices buoyed sentiments on the Street and investors raced to put money in the stock market. 

The Down Jones industrial average advanced 91 points or 1.1% and the S&P 500 increased 0.9%.  NASDAQ edged up 0.3%.  Volume on the NYSE was light with only 1.07 billion shares exchanging hands and advancing issues outpacing declining stocks by a three-to-two margin.  The measure of market volatility, the CBOE Vix, retreated 2.2% to 25.35%, its lowest level since mid-September.  Treasury prices jumped, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note declining to 3.48%.  Crude prices jumped to more than $71 per barrel on higher demand expectations and reports that Nigerian militants partly shut down an offshore oil facility.    

Trading

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* FBR Capital downgraded Alcoa (NYSE:AA) to "underperform" from "market perform," citing valuation and oversupply concerns

* According to an unidentified report of a clinical study out of Europe, insulin users of long-acting drugs showed increased cancer risks. Manufactures of such drugs include Sanofi Aventis (NYSE:SNY) and Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO), while Amylin (NASDAQ:AMLN) manufactures a non-insulin-based treatment

* According to news reports, Novartis (NYSE:NVS) is in talks to acquire parts of Elan (NYSE:ELN), including its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri and its pipeline of Alzheimer's drugs

Zacks Investment Research

Stocks struggled yesterday as better-than-expected results from Treasury's $40 billion auction of 2-year notes eased concerns that government borrowings to help fund various measures will spike interest rates.  The S&P 500 index, which had fallen 3.1% on Monday, edged up 0.2% and the tech heavy Nasdaq lost 0.1%, or 1.27 points, to 1,764.92.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2% lower to 8322.91 as Boeing (NYSE:BA) once again postponed the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner.  The plane-maker declined 6.5% and offset strength in banking components Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM). Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners by a narrow margin on volume of 1.21 billion shares. Meanwhile, Moody's advised that US government's credit rating of triple-A remains intact.

Among the number of economic posts that are due today, investors are likely to take a cue from Federal

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div style="text-align: justify;"FBR Capital is out with a stingy call onspan style="font-weight: bold;" First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) /spandowngrading their rating to Underperform from Market Perfrom ($100 tgt).br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"Polysilicon prices taking a nose dive. /spanChecks over the past week suggest (quality) spot poly prices have declined to $65/kg, down 35% year to date, driven by: 1) weak end-market demand for si-based modules, and 2) an aggressive attempt by industry leaders like Hemlock, MEMC, and Wacker (all enjoying average fully loaded cost of $40/kg) to further increase their lead over the new entrants (which are estimated to have $80-plus/kg cost structure).br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"- From inexpensive but “quality” poly to inexpensive but “quality” si-based modules./span Checks also suggest six inch solar wafer prices (in the spot market) have declined to US$3.50/piece, implying that finished solar wafers are now US$1/watt. Assuming US$0.80/watt for turning wafers into modules, we estimate ...

For you high high octane fans, FBR Capital is upgradingspan style="font-weight: bold;" Talbots (NYSE:TLB)/span to Outperform from Market Perform while raising tgt to $4 from $2.br /br /The upgrade comes since they believe:br /br /1) the risk/reward from current levels is attractive, as they believe the stock already discounts the ongoing challenging business;br /br /2) the looming threat of bankruptcy has been greatly reduced; andbr /br /3) merchandise improvements continue in the company’s spring product flows.br /br /To be clear, FBR is recommending shares of TLB to more speculative investors with a high tolerance for risk. They fully appreciate the ongoing issues with the company’s balance sheet but note the company has made tremendous progress in stabilizing its liquidity situation. Firm also points out that the company is in the process of selling the J. Jill division, which could potentially be a positive catalyst to shares. They have noted three ...

span style="font-weight: bold;"TW Telecom (NASDAQ:TWTC)/span gets two downgrades this morning:br /div style="text-align: justify;"br /span style="font-weight: bold;"- Merrill Lynch/BAM /spandowngrades TWTC to Underperform from Buy with a $10 tgt on the realization of their thesis, strong stock performance and valuation. TW Telecom shares are discounting a view that the company can maintain its current revenue trajectory and margin profile throughout the economic downturn. Firm's projections are more cautious, as they believe TW Telecom’s contractual business model creates a lagged effect regarding changes in economic activity. TW Telecom faces regional economic pressure.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"- FBR Capital /spannotes TWTC reported better-than-expected 1Q09 results but provided a cautious outlook for 2009, reflecting macro trends, weak enterprise demand, product substitution, and pricing pressure. Results for 1Q09 were largely ahead of consensus and FBR expectations, driven by solid execution amid a difficult environment and reflecting the relative resiliency of the telecom services subscription-based business ...