Go, Genesco, go

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on November 6, 2009 at 11:56 am

Robert W. Baird analyst Mitch Kummetz has raised his rating on the Nashville retailer to ‘outperform.’ Kummetz, who two months ago was quite sober about the company’s prospects, also has lifted his price target to $34 from $25. On a lackluster day for the market, Genesco shares (Ticker: GCO) are up more than 3 percent.

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Tags: analyst actions, Genesco Inc., Mitch Kummetz, retail, Robert W. Baird & Co., stock valuation  

Genesco isn’t skating by

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on September 2, 2009 at 9:17 am

Robert W. Baird analyst Mitch Kummetz says Genesco is performing well, but that the economy won’t allow it to post earnings growth in the current quarter. Shares of the Nashville-based retailer (Ticker: GCO) are up 23 percent this year.

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Tags: earnings estimates, Genesco Inc., Mitch Kummetz, retail, Robert W. Baird & Co.  

Now it’s downgraded

By Walker Duncan Posted on July 7, 2009 at 10:10 am

Ambulatory surgery center operator AmSurg, which yesterday received an upgrade to ‘Buy’ from TheStreet.com Ratings, this morning was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ by Whit Mayo from Robert W. Baird

A Robert W. Baird analyst downgraded outpatient surgery center operator AmSurg Corp. Tuesday, citing a lack of upcoming catalysts and the likelihood the stock will remain flat.

Baird analyst Whit Mayo lowered his rating to “Neutral” from “Outperform” but lowered his price target to $23 from $24, saying the share value has returned to a more reasonable level.

“Thus, outside of a re-acceleration in earnings, we see few significant catalysts and expect the stock to trade sideways,” he wrote in a note to investors.

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Tags: Ambulatory surgery centers, AmSurg Corp., Equity reasearch, Public companies, Robert W. Baird & Co., Whit Mayo  

Baird lifts Tractor Supply above market

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on June 3, 2009 at 11:15 am

Specialty retail analyst Peter Benedict, who was formerly at Wachovia, has initiated coverage of the Brentwood-based company with an ‘outperform’ rating and a $48 price target. The stock (Ticker: TSCO) is up about 1 percent to $41.75 this morning, bucking the S&P’s 1.5 percent drop. The shares are rising into territory that has served as a technical marker since early 2005.

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Tags: analyst actions, retail, Robert W. Baird & Co., stock valuation, technical analysis, Tractor Supply Co.  

The market can smell

By Kleinheider Posted on April 3, 2009 at 1:49 pm

Via Bloomberg News:

“No matter how you feel about the stimulus package, some of it is going to stick and the economy should stabilize in the second or third quarter,” said Bruce Bittles, the Nashville- based chief investment strategist at Robert W. Baird & Co., which oversees $16 billion. “If that’s going to happen the market should sniff it out.”

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Tags: Bruce Bittles, government stimulus, Robert W. Baird & Co., stock valuation  

Analyst action: Pinnacle, AmSurg, regional banks

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on February 23, 2009 at 7:41 am

Two local stocks that have outperformed the S&P over the past year will start the week backed by upgrades. Wunderlich Securities’ Kevin Reynolds has raised his rating of Pinnacle Financial Partners (Ticker: PNFP) from ‘hold’ to ‘buy.’ Reynolds, who began covering Pinnacle early this month, has kept his price target at $26.

In the same vein, AmSurg shares (Ticker: AMSG) have been raised to ‘outperform’ at both RBC Capital and Robert W. Baird. Bairdm which last month began covering the shares with a ‘neutral’ rating, has however lowered its price target from $27 to $24.

Also getting an upgrade this morning are shares of Synovus Financial, the parent of The Bank of Nashville. Citigroup has raised its rating from ‘hold’ to ‘buy,’ although it did lower its price target on the stock (Ticker: SNV) to $5. Citigroup wasn’t so kind to other regional bank stocks, though, lowering a group that includes Regions Financial (Ticker: RF) from ‘buy’ to ‘hold.’

Go to the Journal’s site for more ratings changes.

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Tags: AmSurg Corp., analyst actions, Citigroup Inc., Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc., RBC Capital Markets, Regions Financial Corp., Robert W. Baird & Co., stock valuation, Synovus Financial Corp., Wunderlich Securities Inc.  

Baird: Upside in AmSurg

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on January 30, 2009 at 10:53 am

Robert W. Baird has begun covering shares of Nashville-based surgery center company AmSurg with a ‘neutral’ rating and a $27 price target. Now trading around $20, AmSurg (Ticker: AMSG) is down about a quarter since the summer.

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Tags: AmSurg Corp., analyst actions, outpatient surgery centers, Robert W. Baird & Co., stock valuation  

Analyst action: Healthcare Realty, First Horizon

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on January 20, 2009 at 12:09 pm

From the Journal’s Markets Data Center: Robert W. Baird has lifted Healthcare Realty (Ticker: HR) to ‘neutral’ from ‘underperform’ and put a $19 price target on the stock. Uh, they closed at $19.14 on Friday.

Meanwhile, Friedman Billings has lowered its target on the shares of First Horizon (Ticker: FHN) from $10 to $8. The parent of First Tennessee is up about 2 percent on another day that looks to end with the major indices well in the red.

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Tags: analyst actions, First Horizon National Corp., First Tennessee Bank, Friedman Billings Ramsey Group Inc., Healthcare Realty Trust Inc., Robert W. Baird & Co.