Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

U.S. Stocks Are The Best Investment.  According to Bloomberg, U.S. stocks are beating all other major asset class for the first time in 17 years. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is currently up 14% year-to-date, beating Treasuries, corporate bonds, commodities, the dollar and stocks in Asia and Europe. The last time that occurred was back in 1995 when the S&P 500 index was posting large gains. Analysts point out that currently the S&P 500 Index has a PE ratio that is close to those when the S&P was rallying and that the index went on to gain another 93% over in the next 2 1/2 years.

Wall Street analysts are now estimating that the S&P 500 could surpass its all-time high next year. The median forecast has the S&P ending 2012 at 1,585. That level would put the index 1.3% higher than a record achieved back in October 2007.

Upgrades

Eaton Corp (ETN): MKM Partners raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $50.00 to $57.00.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP): Argus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $93.00 on the company. Pre-market: 85.49 +0.78 (0.92%)

Intl Flavors & Fragrances (IFF): Stifel Nicolaus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $73.00 on the company.

Cable Vision Systems (CVC): Canaccord raised their rating from Hold to Buy and raised their target price from $18.00 to $23.00. Pre-market: 138.02 0.00 (0.00%)

BB&T Corp (BBT): Sterne Agee lowered their rating from Neutral to Buy and target price of $35.00 on the company.

Downgrades

Canadian Pacific Railway (CP): BMO Capital lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform and lowered their target price from $93.00 to $90.00. Pre-market: 30.10 +0.32 (1.07%)

SanDisk (SNDK): RBC Capital lowered their rating from Outperform to Sector Perform and placed a target price of $50.00 on the company. Pre-market: 43.35 -0.67 (-1.52%)

BB&T Corp (BBT): Sterne Agee lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $37.00 to $32.00. Pre-market: 30.10 +0.32 (1.07%)

Porsche (POAHY): Goldman Sachs lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

Coverage Initiated

H&R Block (HRB): BTIG Initiated coverage with a Buy rating and placed a target price of $23.00 on the company.

Wendy’s (WEN): Credit Suisse initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $4.50.

Public Storage (PSA): Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $147.00.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Honeywell (HON): Oppenheimer reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $68.00 to $71.00.

Earning Reports

Bank of Hawaii (BOH): Reported EPS of $0.92 beating estimates by +$0.02.

Caterpillar (CAT): Reported EPS of $2.54 beating estimates by +$0.30. Pre-market: 83.22 -0.64 (-0.76%)

Hasbro (HAS): Reported EPS of $1.24 beating estimates by +$0.04. Pre-market: 39.75 +0.70 (1.79%)

Koninklijke Philips Electronics (PHG): Reported EPS of $0.18 missing estimates by -$0.07. Pre-market: 25.94 +1.34 (5.45%)

SunTrust Banks (STI): Reported EPS of $1.98 missing estimates by -$0.03. Pre-market: 28.05 -0.58 (-2.03%)

VF Cop (VFC): Reported EPS of $3.52 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 157.00 -9.77 (-5.86%)

Markets: 
Futures at 7:31: Dow +0.28%. S&P +0.33%. Nasdaq +0.62%. Crude +0.83% to $90.80. Gold +0.26% to $1728.20.

Europe: London +0.11%. Paris +0.16%. Frankfurt -0.10%. 

Asia: Japan +0.09% to 9011. Hong Kong +0.68% to 21698. China +0.21% to 2133. India +0.59% to 18793.