Upgrades lift Gaylord

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on November 4, 2009 at 10:34 am

Shares of Gaylord Entertainment (Ticker: GET) are up more than 7 percent this morning on the back of upgrades from FBR Capital Markets and Wells Fargo. The move comes after a similarly strong day yesterday, when Gaylord reported better-than-expected Q3 numbers.

FBR researcher Patrick Scholes has lifted his rating on Gaylord to ‘market perform’ from ‘underperform’ and put a price target of $17 on the stock. At Wells, analyst Jeff Donnelly said the main pricing risks to Gaylord’s business are baked into the stock, which should trade between $16 and $18 going forward.

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Tags: analyst actions, FBR Capital Markets, Gaylord Entertainment Co., hotel management, Jeff Donnelly, Patrick Scholes, stock valuation, Wachovia Securities  

Two views on LifePoint

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on May 19, 2009 at 9:57 am

Wachovia has resumed its coverage of the hospital management sector with ‘market perform’ ratings for Franklin-based Community Health Systems as well as HMA and Universal Health. Only LifePoint gets an ‘outperform’ rating, with analysts saying the company’s “lower labor expense, reduced turnover, and better physician recruitment due to the weak economy” will outweigh the 2009 negatives of a weak economy and the specter of health care reform. Price target: $31 to $35, a good 20 percent above this morning’s open.

Taking the other side is Goldman Sachs’ Shelley Gnall, who has downgraded LifePoint from ‘buy’ to ‘neutral.’ Gnall, who last month also knocked CHS down a notch, has a LifePoint target of only $27.

So far this morning, the LifePoint bulls have it. Shares of the Brentwood-based company (Ticker: LPNT) are up 2.5 percent. Year to date, they’ve gained about 15 percent.

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Tags: analyst actions, Community Health Systems Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., hospital management, LifePoint Hospitals Inc., Shelley Gnall, stock valuation, Wachovia Securities  

Look! An analyst call that came true in an hour

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on March 10, 2009 at 10:46 am

Wachovia analyst Jeff Donnelly this morning said that the apparent avoidance of an all-out proxy war at Gaylord Entertainment could trigger a 40 percent rally in the shares. And what do you know: The stock (Ticker: GET) opened up more than a third.

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Tags: analyst actions, Gaylord Entertainment Co., hotel management, stock valuation, Wachovia Securities