Equity Moves on Sell-Side Sentiment for July 13, 2012

Friday the 13th has favored sell-side research analysts thus far. New bullish and bearish ratings were on the upswing following relatively dismal performance earlier in the week.

All but two equities out of the 27 that were subject of either a new bullish (Buy, Outperform, Overweight) or a bearish rating (Sell, Underperform, Underweight) moved in-line with new sentiments this morning. That is, the bullish-rated moved up and the bearish-rated fell from respective opening prices.

For intra-day highs or lows - which would be the most optimal return on a rating trade - the returns were as high as 2.52 percent. The flip side is that the other price extreme in each stock (lows for bullish- and highs for bearish-rated stocks) would have taken the composite down at an aggregate low of 1.37 percent.

Traders could have used today's ratings to take long (buy shares with new bullish ratings) or short positions (sell shares with bearish ratings) with fairly limited downside risk. The most notable pop of the day was Wabash National Corporation (NYSE: WNC). Benzinga Professional reported at 7:49 AM that the company was initiated by FBR Capital Markets with an Outperform rating. Shares opened at $5.80 and looked to beat an intraday high of $6.41 at 1:20 PM. That is a 10.52 percent return and counting on a potential long trade.

The second biggest return came from a new bearish rating on Corcept Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CORT), which Bank of America initiated at Underperform which Benzinga Professional reported at 5:53 AM. Shares opened at $4.39 and by 10:28 AM worked their way into an intraday low of $4.06, for a cool 7.52 percent return on what could have been a short trade.

Currently, 78 percent of the 27 new ratings composite is still in-line with the newest sell-side sentiment. Average returns on the stocks that are still in-line with ratings is 2.3 percent. Average return on those that are not is -2.8%. The composite as a whole sits up 1.13 percent from the open.

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