Buy - Price 37.76 on July 28 by Jefferies & Co. Shares of Amedisys, a home-nursing-services provider, are trading at a highly discounted 9.2 times our fiscal-year 2010 earnings-per-share estimate of $4.28. Given the current reform-driven overhang on home-nursing shares, we believe AMED should trade at a 20% discount to its normalized (historical) multiple of about 15 times price/earnings; hence, our 53 target. Once [health-care] reform is resolved, we expect AMED's multiple to expand to more appropriate levels. Market cap: $1 billion.

Buy - Price 27.48 on July 28 by Sterne Agee & Leach [Second-quarter '09 EPS came in] at the high end of guidance....Reported 2Q09 EPS from continuing operations of 41 cents was above First Call's consensus 39 cents.... Gross productivity of 5.6% [was] driven by better-than-projected cost control, restructuring benefits and Trane Synergies.... Cash generation was excellent, enabling IR to reduce debt....Orders declined 23%....[Our] near-term target goes up 29, but shares could double over two to three years....We have raised our 2010 EPS to $2, from $1.80. Market cap: $7.7 billion.

Market Perform With Outperform Bias - Price 25.97 on July 29 by First Global JNPR [looks] well-positioned to benefit from improvement in deal-closure rates and revival in enterprise spending. Expansion of switching portfolio [should] continue driving growth....2Q09 results [were] in line with our estimates; revenues declined 10.5% year/over/year to $786 million; pro forma EPS was 19 cents. Market cap: $13.6 billion.

Buy - Price 18.88 on July 28 by Pritchard Capital Partners The long-term story at this [independent natural-gas and oil firm] remains intact, driven by Haynesville/Bossier [Texas/Louisiana] and Granite Wash [Texas/Oklahoma] plays and [good] management. We're raising estimates on 2Q09 production beat. Adjusted for Penn Virginia GP Holdings stake, PVA trades at enterprise-value/proved reserves of $1.14/Mcfe [1,000-cubic-feet equivalent], among the lowest in small/mid-cap exploration and production....EV/daily production is $7,000/Mcfe, versus median $11,300/Mcfe. Target: 26. Risk: further natural-gas-price decline. Market cap: $859 million.

Buy - Price 45 on July 28 by Deutsche Bank [RKT reported] fiscal-3Q EPS of $2.24, pointing to $1.44 net of special items (mostly alternative-fuel tax credits)....Comparisons: F2Q09 $1.02, F3Q08, 70 cents...impressive, considering that average paperboard prices fell $22/ton quarter/quarter; industry costs rose...lags between paperboard prices and converted-products prices likely boosted margins. Consumer-packaging had another record quarter, with earnings before interest and taxes [Ebit] of $50.3 million...corrugated packaging was also impressive, with... Ebit of $49.6 million....This was a record quarter for RKT ...Current price/cost trends suggest margins will compress. Market cap: $1.6 billion.

Hold - Price 31.48 on July 28 by Maxim Group A good quarter, particularly in terms of credit quality and core deposit growth. SBNY reported 2Q09 diluted EPS of 32 cents. In second-half '09, we anticipate deposit growth will remain solid, given SBNY's combination of service and safe-haven capital ratios; operating expenses are likely to rise due to...team hirings; reserve-building [and top-line revenue] will keep growing. We maintain Hold rating, based on valuation. SBNY shares trade at 1.7 times 2Q tangible book value, above the 1.5 times mean for the group. Market cap: $1.2 billion.

Speculative Buy - Price 1.50 on July 29 by Taglich Brothers SLP develops drug- discovery- and- development software; a subsidiary produces software and hardware for people with disabilities. We're increasing our target from $1.85 to $2.20...as a result of our growth expectations for sales and Ebitda...Our '10 forecast is based on sustained organic growth in tough macroeconomic conditions...For fiscal '10, we project: net sales, $10.6 million; Ebitda, $3.5 million; net income, 11 cents a diluted share. Market cap: $24 million.

Hold - Price 15.70 on July 29 by Benchmark Capital Yahoo! and Microsoft's long-awaited search partnership deal is disappointing for Yahoo!, in our view. The advertising market is not showing signs of recovery and Yahoo! just re-entered a new investment phase. Cash flow is declining. YHOO [looks] vulnerable to further downside. But with the shares trading at 8 times '09E OIBDA [like Ebitda, but using net operating income], in line with peers, we're maintaining our Hold rating and 16 target. Market cap: $22 billion.