Equity Brief: Ratings Changes for November 16th: CHA, CHS, CIT, CMO, CPHD, CPTS, CVLT, DLPH, DLTR

A number of stocks were upgraded and downgraded by equities research analysts today, as reported by Analyst Ratings Network (http://bit.ly/equitybriefdaily) and Equity Brief:

Credit Suisse upgraded shares of China Telecom CHA from a neutral rating to an outperform rating. They wrote, "We note that consensus earnings forecasts have been drifting down over the last two months, and that our FY12 and FY13 earnings forecasts are now only 0.9% and 1.7% below consensus respectively. Thus we believe that higher subsidies, and therefore lower net profit growth, have largely been factored in by sell-side analysts, and priced in by the stock market. We also expect that the number of iPhone 5s sold during December 2012 will be controlled carefully by China Telecom (relatively given China Telecom's use of EVDO versions of the iPhone 5), so that a 4Q12 earnings shock will be avoided."

Macquarie initiated coverage on shares of Chico's CHS. They issued a neutral rating on the stock and set a $20.00 price target.

Nomura upgraded shares of CIT Group Inc. CIT from a neutral rating to a buy rating. Nomura now has a $42.50 price target on the stock. They wrote, "We're upgrading CIT Group to Buy from Neutral to reflect our view that the risk/reward to owning shares (currently trading at a 17% discount to our 2013 TBVPS estimate and 6% discount to current TBVPS) is now favorable. Potential catalysts include: (1) Fed authorization to return a modest amount of capital to shareholders (CIT has ~$2.1bn in excess capital, representing ~29% of its market cap) and (2) the potential for an upside earnings surprise driven by greater-than-expected expense cuts. CIT is 'under-earning' its long-term potential due to a still-expensive funding base. We would not be surprised to see CIT acquired by a large bank."

Wells Fargo & Co. upgraded shares of Capstead Mortgage CMO from a market perform rating to an outperform rating.

Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Cepheid CPHD. They issued a buy rating on the stock and set a $37.00 price target.

SunTrust initiated coverage on shares of Conceptus, Inc. (CPTS). They issued a neutral rating on the stock and set a $21.00 price target.

Piper Jaffray initiated coverage on shares of Commvault Systems (CVLT). They issued a neutral rating on the stock. They wrote, "While we believe the upcoming launch of CommVault's Simpana 10 platform should enable the company to maintain (or extend) it's competitive advantage and thereby increase market share, one of the core reasons we are initiating coverage of CommVault with a Neutral rating is the lack of operating margin expansion for the foreseeable future. We would become more positive on shares of CVLT if we saw the adoption of the upcoming Simpana 10 platform gaining traction quicker than expected and if the company's operating expenses, specifically the Sales & Marketing expenses, were brought back in-line with the peer group average."

UBS AG initiated coverage on shares of Delphi Automotive PLC (DLPH). They issued a neutral rating on the stock and set a $35.00 price target.

MKM Partners upgraded shares of Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) from a neutral rating to a buy rating.

Global Hunter Securities downgraded shares of DryShips Inc. (DRYS) from a buy rating to a neutral rating.

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