MORNING COFFEE

Berkshire’s Successor Quits. In after hours trading yesterday shares of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA/BRKB) fell on news that a possible successor to Warren Buffet had quit.   David Sokol, one of the candidates to succeed Warren Buffett as head of the company, has resigned amid stock-trading revelations. It has been revealed that Sokol bought about 96,000 Lubrizol (LZ) shares in January, just before recommending the company as a takeover target.  On March 14 Berkshire agreed to buy Lubrizol for $9 billion and according to reports Buffet learn of Sokol’s purchase a few days later.  Sokol’s purchase ahead of Berkshire’s purchase may have given Sokol a profit of about $3 million. Pre-market: 83.94 -1.52 (-1.78%)

J&J To Restructure. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) announced that it will be restructuring its consumer business, while focusing more on the company’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit.  J&J has had a series of embarrassing recalls of popular over-the-counter products. The company said that the restructuring will allow it to "give focused attention to quality and compliance, and the critical task of restoring McNeil Consumer Healthcare brands." Pre-market: 59.34 -0.04 (-0.07%)

Upgrades

UnitedHealth (UNH): Oppenheimer raised their rating from Underperform to Perform and raised their target price from $29.00 to $49.00.

CIGNA (CI): Oppenheimer raised their rating from Perform to Outperform and raised their target price from $29.00 to $49.00.

Pep Boys (PBY): Stifel Nicolaus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $17.00 on the company.

Downgrades

Aetna (AET): Oppenheimer lowered their rating from Outperform to Perform.

Bristol-Myers (BMY): Jefferies lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and placed a target price of $28.50 on the company.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Juniper Networks (JNPR): Argus reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $44.00 to $49.00.

Sotheby's (BID): Stifel Nicolaus reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $50.00 to $58.00.

WellPoint (WLP): Oppenheimer reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $65.00 to $83.00.

Intel (INTC): FBR Capital reiterated their Market Perform rating and lowered their target price from $27.00 to $25.00.

Earning Reports

CarMax (KMX): Reported EPS of $0.39 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 34.19 -0.40 (-1.16%)

Mosaic (MOS): Reported FQ3 EPS of $1.21 beating estimates by +$0.14 on revenue of $2.21 billion, beating estimates by +$0.12 billion. Pre-market: 80.00 -0.45 (-0.56%)

·         Futures at 7:00: Dow 0.0%. S&P -0.1%. Nasdaq -0.1%. Crude +0.8% to $105.12. Gold +0.2% to $1427.10.

·         Europe: London -0.2%. Paris -0.4%. Frankfurt 0.0%.

·         Asia: Japan +0.5% to 9755.1. Hong Kong +0.3% to 23528. China -0.9% to 2930. India +0.8% to 19445.