Buy - Price 22.83 on April 14 by Sterne, Agee & Leach We're initiating coverage of Bally with a Buy rating and a 55 target, a 141% increase from [the recent trading price]. Bally holds the keys to the kingdom as the leading casino-management-systems supplier, due to an increasing convergence of systems and games...We see a slot-replacement-cycle rebound in [calendar-year] '10 and CY11, further benefiting Bally...Bally historically trades at about 25 times forward earnings. It is currently trading at 9.8 times our CY09 [earnings-per-share] forecast....Our 55 target is based on a combination of 24 times CY09-forecast EPS and 20 times CY10-forecast EPS. Market cap: $1.2 billion.

Buy/High-Risk - Price C$3.62 on April 14 by Dundee Securities [Recent events' currency is in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated; one Canadian dollar is worth about U.S. 82 cents]. Bombardier shares currently trade 22% below the price they traded at on Dec. 31, at a [price/earnings ratio] of six times, despite reporting record net income of $1 billion. The shares have been knocked down over investor fears of a decline in the market for business jets. The Paris transit authority [recently] awarded a major contract to Al-stom and Bombardier. We estimate the value to Bombardier of the base contract at C$442 million; this is the first of a series of major transit orders anticipated. On April 22, the Toronto Transit Commission is expected to award a light-rail contract valued at around $1 billion. Bombardier's transport business should generate over $630 billion in Ebit [earnings before interest and taxes] this year. Given that the group has no debt and several billion in tax-loss carry-forwards, we would value the business at a minimum of 10 times Ebit, or $6.3 billion. Target: C$7. Market cap (A plus B shares): C$6.4 billion.

Outperform - Price 77.12 on April 14 by William Blair & Co. We're initiating coverage of Bard, a diversified provider of medical products essential for delivery of therapy for primarily acute or life-threatening conditions, with an Outperform...We estimate Bard will generate earnings of $5.08 a share in 2009 and $5.73 a share in 2010. Bard sells more than 10,000 products, [and] 80% of revenue is generated by products with No. 1 or No. 2 market share. The need for its [for example, surgery and oncology] products, coupled with relatively low prices, should shield Bard from reimbursement pressure or economic downturns. While many markets in which Bard competes are growing in the mid- to high-single digits, we believe...a strong and growing sales force and a continuous flow of innovative new products will allow it to grow modestly faster on a constant-currency basis for several years...With the stock trading at a premium [to peers, with a P/E of 19]...the market is clearly paying for the predictability of Bard's business and sizable cash flow. We believe...[its] diversified portfolio and strong [research-and-development] pipeline will continue to generate solid financial results. Market cap: $7.7 billion.

Buy - Price 49.17 on April 13 by Jefferies & Co. ESRX announced its intention to acquire NetRx, WellPoint's PBM [pharmacy-benefits manager] arm, for $4.675 billion (cash and up to $1.4 billion of stock). The deal is expected to close in second-half '09. ESRX's proposed acquisition could result in near-term volatility in the stock, as investors parse out details of the transaction and interpret the strategic rationale and financial implications of the proposed acquisition (which is projected to be earnings-neutral to slightly accretive in FY09 and can add up to $1 billion of Ebitda [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization], once fully integrated). Market cap: $14.9 billion.

In-Line - Price 13.14 on April 15 by Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Weller Target: 14. First Niagara announced earnings per share of 14 cents. Reported EPS included $1.7 million of merger expenses and $2.9 million for settlement of a service-mark infringement case. Core trends in the quarter were stable, with good loan and deposit growth and still-solid credit. FNFG also announced a $300 million capital raise, which will be partially used to repay the $186 million in TARP [Troubled Asset Relief Program] capital it accepted in 4Q08. Asset quality was generally as expected, but FNFG noted that the economic slowdown is beginning to impact its markets. [Nonperforming assets] increased to $53.9 million (56 basis points of assets) from $44.4 in 4Q08 (49 basis points). Market cap: $1.6 billion.

Market Perform - Price 130.15 on April 14 by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Target: 101. [$3.39, $3.39*, $1.64, $0.75]GS preannounced strong 1Q09 results on higher-than-expected FICC [fixed-income, currencies and commodities] revenues....While the firm touted its lower leverage ratio at the end of 4Q08, in 1Q09, total assets increased to $925 billion, from $885 billion, while shareholder equity declined to $63.6 billion, from $64.4 billion...In addition, the firm announced it would raise $5 billion in common equity to be used to pay back the $10 billion in TARP funds it received in October 2008....Although GS does not break down the components of FICC revenue, we note that the average daily VaR [value at risk] for interest rates increased by $40 million quarter/over/quarter to $218 million q/q, and overall average daily VaR increased by 22%. We believe that this additional capital dedicated to interest-rate products and trading in general translated to higher revenue production in the quarter. Market cap: $53.2 billion.

Buy - Price 27.44 on April 15 by Wunderlich Securities Target: 31. HCC is expected to report 1Q09 operating results on May 5...We anticipate it will report EPS of 67 cents, compared with 70 cents a year ago. The consensus for 1Q09 is 69 cents. We expect the quarterly result will focus on the outlook for pricing. A recent marketing trip with [Chief Executive Officer] Frank Bramanti revealed that pricing for a number of key markets was improving, while others remained under pressure. HCC has avoided much of the investment fallout that's impaired the rest of the insurance industry. HCC had a relatively small trading account that generated higher returns under favorable market conditions. Due to the volatility of the investments, HCC withdrew from the trading account and equity markets at year-end '08. Hence, we anticipate a lower yield in 1Q09 of 3.6%, versus 4%. Market cap: $3.1 billion.

Hold - Price 23.03 on April 14 by Canaccord Adams LLTC designs and manufactures a broad range of high-performance analog integrated circuits. We've downgraded LLTC from Buy to Hold. We believe industrial and communications-infrastructure semiconductor demand is likely to remain weak through C2009. We've reduced our target price from 27 to 24. Nearly 70% of LLTC's revenues come from the industrial and communications end-markets, with industrial alone accounting for 42% of sales last quarter. We believe industrial is likely to remain weak... Networking and wire-line communications are expected to see weak demand as well, in contrast to ramping semiconductor demand from computing, consumer, and wireless handsets, where LLTC's products are poorly represented. Market cap: $5.1 billion.