Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Alcoa Kicks Off Earnings Season. At the close of trading yesterday Alcoa (AA) kicked off Q1 earnings season with a decent report. Net profits at the company rose 58% to $149 million with EPS beating Wall Street Estimates by over 37% at $0.11.  Revenues at the company fell 3% to $5.83 billion, missing consensus estimates due to falling aluminum prices and lower production at Alcoa's European operations. The company did see strong demand from both the aviation and auto sectors. Pre-market: 8.31 -0.08 (-0.95%)

Upgrades

BB&T Corp. (BBT): Compass Point raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $34.00 to $38.00. Pre-market: 30.51 +0.13 (0.43%)

Dominion Resources (D): Atlantic Equities raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight.

Downgrades

Bank of Hawaii (BOH): RBC Capital Markets lowered their rating from Outperform to Sector Perform.

Patterson Cos. (PDCO): Piper Jaffray lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral and lowered their target price from $39.00 to $36.00.

St. Jude Medical (STJ): RBC Capital Markets lowered their rating from Sector Perform to Underperform. Pre-market: 41.50 -0.44 (-1.05%)

Coverage Initiated

Hyatt Hotels (H): Macquarie initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $46.00.

Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF): Argus initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $31.00. Pre-market: 23.66 +0.23 (0.98%)

Marriott (MAR): Macquarie initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $48.00.

Monsanto (MON): Stifel initiated coverage with a Hold rating. Pre-market: 105.21 +0.01 (0.01%)

Starwood Hotels (HOT): Macquarie initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $73.00. Pre-market: 62.25 +0.27 (0.44%)

Earning Reports

Alcoa (AA): Reported EPS of $0.11 beating estimates by +$0.03. Pre-market: 8.31 -0.08 (-0.95%)

Markets: 

Futures at 8:40: Dow +0.09%. S&P +0.22%. Nasdaq +0.40%. Crude +0.15% to $93.50. Gold +0.14% at $1574.70.

Europe: London +0.52%. Paris +0.50%. Frankfurt +0.25%. 

Asia: Japan 0.00% at 13192. Hong Kong +0.70% to 21870. China +0.64% to 2226. India -1.15% to 18226.