MORNING COFFEE

Berkshire To Buy Back Shares. Warren Buffett announced that his company Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A/BRK.B) will implement a share repurchase program to reduce its cash holdings to no less than $20 billion. The company in the announcement said that it would pay no higher than a 10% over book value for the shares. This is the first time in the history of the company that a repurchase program has been announced.  Some analysis viewed the announcement as an indication that there are no companies out there that Warren Buffett would even consider buying at this point in time. BRK.B Pre-market: 72.99 +0.90 (1.25%)

Upgrades

Clorox (CLX): Caris & Company raised their rating from Below Average to Average and raised their target price from $60.00 to $66.00. Pre-market: 68.09 +1.65 (2.48%)

Baxter International (BAX): JP Morgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight.

Downgrades

Abbott Labs (ABT): JP Morgan lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral. Pre-market: 51.01 +0.26 (0.51%)

Coverage Initiated

ITT Educational (ESI): FBR Capital initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating and target price of $32.00.

Boston Beer Co (SAM): Auriga initiated coverage with a Hold rating and target price of $79.00. Pre-market: 74.99 +0.71 (0.96%)

Constellation Brands (STZ): Auriga initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $25.00.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG): Lazard Capital initiated coverage with a Neutral rating. Pre-market: 333.50 +4.06 (1.23%)

Panera Bread (PNRA): Lazard Capital initiated coverage with a Buy rating.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Stryker (SYK): Stifel Nicolaus reiterated their Buy rating and lowered their target price from $91.00 to $84.00.

Church & Dwight (CHD): Oppenheimer reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $44.00 to $50.00. Pre-market: 44.58 +0.17 (0.38%)

Yahoo! (YHOO): The Benchmark Company reiterated their Hold rating and raised their target price from $15.00 to $17.00. Pre-market: 14.94 +0.19 (1.29%)

Earning Reports

American Greetings (AM): Reported EPS of $0.28 beating estimates by +$0.01.

Walgreens (WAG): Reported EPS of $0.57 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 35.50 -0.53 (-1.47%)

Markets
Futures at 8:52: Dow +1.49%. S&P +1.52%. Nasdaq +1.44%. Crude +3.29% to $82.88. Gold +4.23% to $1662.20.

Europe: London +2.89. Paris +3.84%. Frankfurt +4.06%.

Asia: Japan +2.82%. Hong Kong +4.15%. China +0.91%. India +2.95%.