The once booming business of private equity faces an uncertain future. What’s not uncertain, however, is that many private equity deals are imploding from the weight of leveraged debt and greed. Inevitable bankruptcies will result in higher unemployment and a…
By Shah Gilani Contributing Editor Money Morning/The Money Map Report The once booming business of private equity faces an uncertain future. What’s not uncertain, however, is that many... Money Morning is here to help investors profit handsomely on this seismic shift in the global economy. Money moves markets. But Money Morning lets you move first. <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/USMoneyMorning?i=TmyNO"[More...]
PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Fortress (NYSE: FIG) was upgraded at Citigroup to Hold from Sell.
Prudential (NYSE: PUK) was lifted to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
Keefe Bruyette upgraded Franklin Resources (NYSE: BEN) to Outperform from Market Perform and added shares to their Best Ideas List on valuation as they see an attractive risk/reward at current levels.
UBS upgraded ASML Holding (NASDAQ: ASML) to Buy from Neutral on valuation as they believe the company remains a market leader.
Oppenheimer raised Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: SGEN) to Outperform from Perform on valuation following the recent weakness as they expect positive clinical news flow beginning in December.
Analyst downgrades:
UBS downgraded U.S. Steel (NYSE: X) to Sell from Buy and lowered its target to $30 from $60 citing deteriorating U.S. conditions and concerns about the company's high fixed costs in a falling steel price environment.
Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
China Unicom (NYSE: CHU) was lowered to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
Guest: Russ Kinnel, Morningstar's director of mutual fund research talks with Andrew about fees, performance and the future of the fund business. Find out about the hidden trap with international funds and we find out if ETFs are going to replace the popular open-end funds.
Russ Kinnell is Morningstar's director of mutual fund research. He is also the editor of Morningstar FundInvestor, a monthly newsletter dedicated to helping investors pick great mutual funds, build winning portfolios, and monitor their funds for greater gains.
Guest: Brian Shannon - of AlphaTrands and a great review of Technical Analysis. Brian delivers educational videos daily on technical analysis and helps thousands of viewers understanding charting techniques.
The Blackstone Group L.P. $4 billion proposed IPO; proposed symbol (BX)
The Blackstone Groupis a leading global alternative asset manager and provider of financial advisory services. One of the largest independent alternative asset managers in the world, with assets under management of approximately $78.7 billion as of March 1, 2007. The alternative asset management businesses includes management of corporate private equity funds, real estate opportunity funds, funds of hedge funds, mezzanine funds, senior debt vehicles, proprietary hedge funds and closed-end mutual funds. Also provides various financial advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions advisory, restructuring and reorganization advisory and fund placement services.
This cast also mentions Fortress Investment Group (FIG)