Sell - Price 35.19 on June 29 by Sterne, Agee & Leach We are making minor revisions to our model and adjusting estimates, largely to reflect the inclusion of the [Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s] special assessment to be accrued in the current quarter. For the second quarter, we are lowering our estimate to 2 cents, from 10 cents. For the full year, our estimate remains 47 cents, [versus] First Call's consensus of 61 cents. For 2010, we are trimming our estimate to $1.68, from $1.70, with the Street average at $1.76. The primary driver of the lower 2Q estimate is the FDIC's special assessment, which based on our calculation will negatively impact earnings by 8 cents. Additionally, we have tweaked our credit-cost and net-interest margin assumptions. We remained concerned [by] the bank's exposure to southern California and, to a lesser extent, the Las Vegas markets....Given the depressed level of earnings, which we think will persist into 2010, we expect further price declines in the shares as we move through the second-quarter earnings season. Although the stock is currently trading near our 12-month target price of $4, we are maintaining our Sell rating on the shares, given our expectation of further near-term weakness. Our 34 target is based on our [discounted-cash-flow] analysis, and equates to 19 times our 2010 [earnings-per-share] estimate and 1.2 times our projected year-end tangible book value. Market cap: $1.7 billion.

Market Outperform - Price 26.96 on June 29 by JMP Securities We reiterate our Market Outperform rating on Lazard, which trades at just 12 times our 2010 EPS forecast, or more than 6 multiple points below peers. That said, our 2Q09 outlook suggests diversified firms will see better results than [merger-and-acquisition] boutiques. We are lowering numbers for M&A boutiques except Lazard on share gains. Market cap: $2 billion.

Buy - Price 9.35 on June 29 by Needham & Co. [This developer of targeted antibody drugs announced a new midstage clinical trial of SGN-35 as a treatment for relapsed forms of anaplastic large-cell lymphoma.] We are reiterating our Buy rating and 15 target. We are increasingly positive toward the opportunity for SGN-35, the company's lead product, after a review of recent SGN-35 data with management. The [American Society of Clinical Oncology] meeting data highlighted a potential dosing schedule of once weekly (versus every three weeks) for use in subsequent Hodgkin's lymphoma trials, as a potential consolidation therapy. The data also highlighted a pronounced effect in ALCL patients (now in Phase II testing). Net cash per share: $2.30. Market cap: $780.7 million.

Buy - Price 22.90 on June 29 by Wedush Morgan Downgrading to Buy from Strong Buy. The stock has historically traded at a premium to peers (rightfully so), but this valuation gap has expanded over the last two months due to a slew of positive data points, and as investors flock to quality. We believe strong bookings...will drive a significant beat to 2Q expectations, but think much of this upside is already reflected in shares...[which] have significantly outperformed peers: In the last seven months, they're up 200%-plus, versus Nasdaq's 25%-plus. Despite our confidence in 2Q [results], we note that visibility remains impaired and thus handicaps our optimism for 3Q. We have increased our price target to 25 from $21, derived by applying a 22-times multiple (unchanged), slightly below the 3-year average, on our calendar-year '10 EPS estimate of net of cash. Market cap: $801.5 million.

Market Perform/Speculative - Price 13.18 on June 29 by Morgan Keegan Bank of America and First Data have announced plans to form a merchant-acquiring joint venture. The announcement includes a disclosure that following a "transition period" (unquantified), FDC will provide processing services for the JV. Currently, Total Systems provides merchant-processing services for a portion of the Bank of America acquiring business (Bank of America Merchant Services). With no data on timing and only rough estimates (see below) of the precise impact on TSS, we are leaving our earnings projections unchanged at this time. However, we believe that the earnings impact could be substantial-and initially project that once fully de-implemented, [TSS could face a loss of] processing revenue [that] could negatively impact earnings by 20 cents/share, [affecting] our $1.22/share [fiscal-year]'10 operating EPS projection. We're maintaining a Market Perform rating on the shares; however, given a lack of clarity on timing and precise scope of the financial impact, we are adjusting our risk rating to Speculative Risk (from Market Risk). Market cap: $2.7 billion.