Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL): Goldman Sachs resumed coverage on Oracle with a Buy rating and $40 price target. In a research note to clients, the firm said that it expects the company's cloud portfolio to drive upside and is modeling FY2012 revenue growth slightly north of 10%, versus the consensus of 8.5%. Upside will be driven by Exadata and Exalogic ramp. Goldman also said Oracle is gaining share in the data center, while large-cap peers struggle to maintain relevancy. Offerings from the company position it strongly to benefit from "big data" secular tailwinds.The consensus view of 130bp of margin expansion in FY12 may prove conservative, according to the firm. They expect the comapny to maintain an EPS growth rate of 15-20%. Results in late-September and announcements of additional cloud solutions at OpenWorld in October are near-term catalysts for the shares.
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU): Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy. The firm lowered its price target to E4 from E4.5. In a research note to clients, the firm said, "After significant outferformance, we believe ALU' share price now largely reflects an anticipated margin recovery to 6+% by 2012. With revenue and margin momentum likely starting to slow in H2 into 2012, we believe the stock could be rangebound from here."
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on the stock with a Neutral rating.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL): Jeffries & Co. initiated coverage on Dell with Hold rating. In a research note to clients, the firm said that despite near-term benefits from falling PC component prices and the enterprise PC refresh cycle, we believe Dell has longer-term disadvantages in a tablet and cloud world.
Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI): RBC Capital on Tuesday upgraded its rating on the company to outperform from sector perform. The firm retained its price target of $40.
Full Disclosure: None.
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU): Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy. The firm lowered its price target to E4 from E4.5. In a research note to clients, the firm said, "After significant outferformance, we believe ALU' share price now largely reflects an anticipated margin recovery to 6+% by 2012. With revenue and margin momentum likely starting to slow in H2 into 2012, we believe the stock could be rangebound from here."
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on the stock with a Neutral rating.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL): Jeffries & Co. initiated coverage on Dell with Hold rating. In a research note to clients, the firm said that despite near-term benefits from falling PC component prices and the enterprise PC refresh cycle, we believe Dell has longer-term disadvantages in a tablet and cloud world.
Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI): RBC Capital on Tuesday upgraded its rating on the company to outperform from sector perform. The firm retained its price target of $40.
Full Disclosure: None.
