Time Warner Telecom Inc.  (TWTC) Trade Now »     Rate TWTC  -  Discuss TWTC  -  Add to Watch List        

Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Pfizer (PFE), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Whole Foods Market (WFMI), Abercrombie and Fitch (ANF), Analyst initiations

• Jefferies upgraded shares of Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) to Hold from Underperform on valuation. The stock has gone down 40% since they initiated coverage on September 19. The firm maintains a $29 target.
  
• Citigroup upgraded EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG), Quicksilver (NYSE: KWK) and Southwestern Energy (NYSE: SWN) to Buy from Hold on their belief U.S. natural gas-

Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Novartis AG ADS (NVS), Tyson Foods'A' (TSN), Analyst initiations, Symantec Corp (SYMC), Teva Pharm Indus ADR (TEVA)

Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman upgraded shares of Novartis (NYSE: NVS) to Buy from Neutral as they believe the Alcon (NYSE: ACL) acquisition has diversified the company's business.
  
• Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight on valuation.
  
• JP Morgan raised Albermarle (NYSE: ALB) to Overweight from Neutral.
  
• BMO Capital upgraded Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ: WYNN) to Outperform from Market P

Filed under: After the bell, Market matters, Lehman Br Holdings (LEH)

TW Telecom (TWTC), provider of managed telecom services, indicated in an 8-K filing with the SEC late Monday that weakness in its business appears to be spreading.

The company said it is seeing “strong sales, which have increased for the first 8 months of the year over the same period last year.” TWTC also said it “continues to pursue and win” larger and more complex customers with longer sales and installation cycles.

However, TW also said that, as it has previously indicated, it has “experienced pressure on its revenue growth in the first half of the year from disconnects by customers in th

Concerned about the impact of the softening economy, Oppenheimer analyst Timothy Horan this morning turned cautious on the “emerging telecom sector.” He cut his ratings on both Level 3 (LVLT) and Cogent Communications (CCOI) to Underperform from Perform, while chopping TW Telecom (TWTC) to Perform from Outperform.

Horan notes that in the second quarter, the company saw slowing demand and decreases in pricing power from both Cogent and Paetec Holding (PAET). He said Level 3 showed “anemic revenue growth” in the quarter, “but great expense controls.” Horan says that while the sector has alread