div style="text-align: justify;"Deutsche Bank is upgrading their rating on span style="font-weight: bold;"Saks (NYSE:SKS)/span shares to BUY, from HOLD (with $7 tgt), as they now have conviction that SKS has solid initiatives amp; strategies currently in place that will drive FY12 EBIT margins toward FY07 levels (+4.39%). There appears to be more drivers to achieve this goal than previously anticipated, though it is clear that sales acceleration, which is highly correlated with the stock market, will be the key driver in achieving sustained long-term improvement. Mgmt’s initiatives to rationalize the business will create a substantial margin benefit to the upside.br //divdiv style="text-align: justify;"br /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YzBo7Kz5y1M/SjI7Pu5w3iI/AAAAAAAAAGI/V8GpnFQQUzw/s1600-h/SKS_comps.GIF"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 245px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YzBo7Kz5y1M/SjI7Pu5w3iI/AAAAAAAAAGI/V8GpnFQQUzw/s400/SKS_comps.GIF" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346400849116585506" border="0" //abr /span style="font-weight: bold;"Market Stabilization to Drive Sales; Substantial Expense Leverage to Follow/spanbr /Saks’ comps are highly correlated to the stock market (0.83 since ...

div style="text-align: justify;"For the third day in a row, I'm going to highlight a call from Keybanc Capital Markets.br /br /Keybanc is upgrading span style="font-weight: bold;"International Flavors amp; Fragrances (NYSE:IFF)/span to Buy from Hold with a $39 tgt. According to the firm the changes is based on confidence that their 2009 EPS outlook remains intact, noticeable underperformance relative to the specialty chemical sector and its major consumer products customers, comfort that the Flavors segment can generate some growth this year, and the potential for Fine Fragrances to bottom soon.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"KEY INVESTMENT POINTS/spanbr /span style="font-weight: bold;"REASONS FOR A MORE POSITIVE VIEW/spanbr /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"- 2009 Outlook Intact:/span They believe their 2009 EPS estimate of $2.50 remains intact although they now see lower interest expense and taxes offsetting weaker Fragrance results.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"- Flavors – Remain in Positive Territory:/span Firm suspects Flavor segment growth is sustainable ...

div style="text-align: justify;"Citigroup is out with a major call on span style="font-weight: bold;"Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) /spanto Buy from Hold while raising their tgt to $100 from $65.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"Thesis — /spanCiti notes their Sept 2008 downgrade was based on concern over deteriorating gross margins (50% Aug '08, 46% Nov '08, 40% Feb '09). However, they now have increased confidence that GM% has stabilized in 42-44% range. Stable GM% combined w/RIMM's still stellar topline growth from strong consumer uptake should drive a positive EPS revision cycle, historically a positive catalyst for RIMM shares. $100 TP based on ~20x P/E applied to above consensus FY11 $4.78. While they recognize RIMM shares’ outperformance since Apr 2 earnings call, they see add'l gains as RIMM offers rare growth in wireless sector. Firm adds RIMM to CIRA's Top Picks Live for best new money ideas.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"Edge — /spanCiti believes ...

div style="text-align: justify;"UBS is out with a major call on span style="font-weight: bold;"RF Micro (NASDAQ:RFMD)/span upgrading the stock to a Buy with a $3 tgt.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"The firm upgrades RFMD to Buy from Neutral for the following reasons: /span1) They significantly raise estimates as recent checks show strengthening momentum 2) With major restructuring measures complete, RFMD is likely to see sizeable margin expansion due to increased utilization, and 3) They expect more positive action to reduce debt burden. Upgrade to Buy amp; raise PT to $3, equal to P/S of ~1.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"March marks the trough in fundamentals; Multiple drivers going forward/spanbr /Checks confirm that March was the tough, and strong momentum during the current restocking phase could support a high single digit (possibly low double digit) sequential growth in June qtr, compared to consensus view of +3% seq for June. Also, impact from recent restructuring ...

div style="text-align: justify;"Jefferies is out with an interesting upgrade on span style="font-weight: bold;"Red Had (NYSE:RHT)/span taking their rating to Buy from Hold with a $16 tgt.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"OK November. /spanChecks indicate steady demand for the core RHEL products (AP, RHN, etc.), while Jboss sales continue to outperform. It seems like Red Hat is picking up some share in middleware dueto BEA/Oracle (ORCL, $16.13, Buy) dislocation and because open source solutions become relatively more attractive as budgets tighten.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"Cisco relationship on tap./span Industry sources indicate that Cisco's (CSCO, $16.01, Buy) upcoming line of blade servers is likely to offer RHEL as an option, perhaps even as the default OS. The KVM (non-bare metal) virtualization features in RHEL would allow any type of virtualized container to run on the Cisco blades.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"Upgrade to Buy. /spanWith 100% recurring revenue including 80% off the balance sheet ...

Citigroup is out with a big call on Southern Copper Company (NYSE:PCU) upgrading the shares to Buy from Sell, with a $20 price target.According to Citi, PCU fits their current recommended profile of low cost miners with strong balance sheets. They had listed PCU as a Sell with copper at $3.75/lb given huge downside potential.This scenario has unfolded ($1.85 copper, PCU down 74% from peak) and upside now outweighs downside.5 reasons to buy:#1: The Worst Is Over For Copper — Industry studies suggest that $1.70/lb is the 90th percentile on the copper cost curve, i.e. less than 10% below current prices. This is where copper has settled during previous global recessions.#2: Structural Shortages Not Resolved — Copper is Citi's preferred base metal given structural supply constraints. The price was $4/lb only six months ago.#3: High Quality Assets + ...