Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Judge Orders Hostess and Union to restart talks. Bankruptcy judge Robert Drain denied Hostess’s request filing to liquidate yesterday and told both sides to hold mediation talks today.  Hostess will also meet with its lender today. The union is refusing to make cuts that will save the company.

Upgrades

Merck (MRK): MKM Partners raised their rating from Neutral to Buy.

Joy Global (JOY): BMO Capital raised their rating from Underperform to Market Perform and raised their target price from $49.00 to $64.00.

Downgrades

Emerson (EMR): Oppenheimer lowered their rating from Outperform to Perform and lowered their target price from $57.00 to $53.00.

Intel (INTC): UBS lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $29.50 to $29.00.

Coverage Initiated

UnitedHealth Group (UNH): Lazard Capital initiated coverage with a Buy rating and placed a target price of $70.00 on the company.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage with a Hold rating.

Zimmer Holdings (ZMH): Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage with a Hold rating.

St Jude Medical (STJ): Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage with a Hold rating.

Stryker (SYK): Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $65.00.

Medtronic (MDT): Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage with a Hold rating. Pre-market: 42.30 +0.49 (1.17%)

Covidien (COV): Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage with a Hold rating.

Boston Scientific (BSX): Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $6.50.

Becton Dickinson (BDX): Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage with a Hold rating.

Baxter (BAX): Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage with a Hold rating.

Coach (COH): Wells Fargo initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target range of $63.00 -$76.00.

Earning Reports

Agilent (A): Reported EPS of $0.86 beating estimates by +$0.06. Pre-market: 36.50 -1.01 (-2.69%)

Dycom (DY): Reported EPS of $0.36 beating estimates by +$0.02.

Urban Outfitters (URBN): Reported EPS of $0.40 missing estimates by -$0.01. Pre-market: 37.00 -0.07 (-0.19%)

Best Buy (BBY): Reported EPS of $0.03 missing estimates by -$0.09. Pre-market: 12.95 -0.80 (-5.82%)

Campbell Soup (CPB): Reported EPS of $0.88 beating estimates by +$0.03. Pre-market: 36.34 -0.61 (-1.65%)

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): Reported EPS of $1.16 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 11.77 -1.53 (-11.50%)

HJ Heinz (HNZ): Reported EPS of $0.90 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 57.70 -1.02 (-1.74%)

Hormel Foods (HRL): Reported EPS of $0.49 in-line with estimates. Pre-market: 31.30 0.00 (0.00%)

Medtronic (MDT): Reported EPS of $0.88 in-line with estimates. Pre-market: 42.30 +0.49 (1.17%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:43: Dow -0.08%. S&P +0.13%. Nasdaq +0.25%. Crude -0.72% to $88.65. Gold -0.11% to $1732.50.

Europe: London -0.19%. Paris -0.17%. Frankfurt +0.21%.

Asia: Japan -0.12% to 9143. Hong Kong -0.16% to 21228. China -0.40% to 2009. India -0.05% to 18329.