Monday's analyst upgrades and downgrades

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Inside the Market's roundup of some of today's key analyst actions. This file will be updated during the trading day. For breaking analyst actions prior to market open every day, read our Before the Bell morning report.

Shares in BlackBerry Ltd. are under pressure again today after Friday's quarterly earnings report did little but keep investors guessing on whether the once dominant smartphone maker can turn its struggling business around.

BlackBerry posted a much-lower-than-expected adjusted loss of 8 cents a share (the Street was expecting a loss of 57 cents), but revenues of $976-million missed the Street estimate of $1.1-billion and were down sharply from $2.7-billion a year ago.

Shares initially rose on the results Friday morning but the rally turned to a steep loss of 7 per cent by the end of the session. At midday today, they are down a further 4.5 per cent. That may reflect a rather tepid, and mixed, review of the earnings report by analysts today. While some raised their price targets modestly, the vast majority still have either hold or sell ratings on the company's shares.

According to the latest Bloomberg data, only three analysts recommend BlackBerry as a buy, with 21 with hold ratings and 16 with sell ratings. The average price target is now $8 (U.S.), which is right around where the stock is trading this afternoon.

Here are some snapshots of what the analysts had to say:

Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley, who hiked his price target on BlackBerry to $8 (U.S.) from $6 and kept a "hold" rating:

"Consistent with our global surveys indicating very weak BB10 and legacy BB7 devices sales, BlackBerry reported soft February quarter results with sales of 1.3M BlackBerry units and $976M in revenue, below our 1.9M and $1.1B estimates. However, a better services versus hardware revenue mix and significantly lower operating expenses versus our estimates resulted in a non-GAAP loss of $(0.08), above our $(0.55) estimate. While we remain impressed with BlackBerry's execution on its cost reduction initiatives, we believe the new management's long-term plans are still in early stages of execution with limited near-term sales visibility, and we anticipate BlackBerry will continue to post operating losses through F2015. We anticipate gradually improving trends following the BES12 launch in November and believe BlackBerry could achieve break-even results exiting F2016."

Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder  Garcha, who downgraded the stock to "underperform" from "neutral" and cut his price target to $6 (U.S.) from $7:

"BlackBerry results were weaker than expected on the top line, however underlying operating losses of $176mn were better than expectations. While this is to be applauded we are concerned by the level of free cash flow burn and the ongoing pressure in services revenues and believe visibility on a turnaround is very low. ... We noted a slight change in tone on the hardware business with management hoping that driven by the Classic and Jakarta that the segment can return to profit. We remain doubtful that within the hyper-competitive smartphone market that BlackBerry can create a meaningful business. While hardware losses are poised to decline given the planned outsourcing to Foxconn, launching new devices is concerning and may mean our operating loss estimates of $1.2bn/$354mn are conservative."

Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski, who cut her price target to $8.80 from $9.50 and maintained a "neutral" rating.

"BlackBerry remains committed to achieving free cash flow breakeven by the end of FY15 (Feb), and said it expects to return the Hardware segment to breakeven operating margins next year. While we see the year-end cash flow breakeven target as achievable given the deep cost cuts, we are more skeptical on BlackBerry's ability to return to profitability in FY16, given the challenges in gaining traction with its smartphones or enterprise services. We look for evidence of traction with the upcoming Z3 (expected to launch in April for emerging markets, as well as the BlackBerry Classic (QWERTY device expected in 4Q) and upcoming BES12 software (in Oct/Nov). We raise our FY15/16 EPS to ($0.86)/($0.97) from ($1.20)/($1.02) on higher margins, more than offsetting lower revenues."

Needham & Co. analyst Charlie Wolf, who upgraded the company to "hold" from "underperform" and raised his fiscal 2015 earnings outlook to call for a loss of $1.75 per share from a loss of $3.85.

He said his upgrade reflects two reasons: "First, John Chen, the new CEO, seems to have brought adult supervision to the company. Second, we see potential for a meaningful upgrade cycle in the company's installed base later this year when BlackBerry introduces its new 'Classic' business smartphone."

Elsewhere, Nomura Securities raised its price target to $9 (U.S.) from $7 and reiterated a "neutral" rating.

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Canaccord Genuity analyst Yuri Lynk upgraded IBI Group Inc. to "hold" from "sell" and doubled his price target to $1.50 (Canadian), believing that the company now has improved options to pay off debt without issuing new equity that would dilute existing shareholder value.

"Notwithstanding IBI's significant upcoming debt obligations and general lack of financial flexibility, the odds of a massively dilutive equity issuance have been greatly diminished, in our view," Mr. Lynk said in a research note.

"Let us be clear, we believe the company has a long road ahead of itself and the shares remain highly risky at this point. With that said, the situation appears somewhat less tenuous and we are now neutral," he cautioned.

IBI Group is a professional services firm that specializes in urban land development, building architecture and transportation design. The company must provide its banking syndicate with a final recapitalization plan -- which could include the sales of assets -- by May 26.

Mr. Lynk said better-than-expected cash generation from its capital program, the growing likelihood of asset sales, and the possibility of extending the maturity on some debt led to his upgrade.

The analyst consensus price target for IBI Group over the next year is $1.07, according to Thomson Reuters.

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Citing an improved outlook for natural gas prices and a better balance sheet, BMO Nesbitt Burns analyst Gordon Tait upgraded Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd. to "market perform" from "underperform."

The action was made in conjunction with BMO raising its forecasts for natural gas. It now sees the AECO gas price averaging $5.02 per thousand cubic feet in 2014, up from $3.07. For 2015, it sees an average price of $3.61 from $3.16. AECO is the Alberta gas trading price that is one of North America's leading price-setting benchmarks for the commodity.

"The unusually cold winter heating season has had a significant impact on the North American natural gas market and we have grown more bullish for the remainder of 2014," Mr. Tait said in a research note.

"In connection with the higher forecast commodity prices we are revising our thesis on Advantage due to (i) we believe that the company's development plan and long-term growth strategy is more achievable under the new gas price forecast, (ii) we acknowledge the strides that Advantage has made over the past year in improving its operating results through better completion techniques and lower operating costs, and (iii) the company's balance sheet ratios are much improved under our new commodity price forecasts."

Mr. Tait raised his price target to $5.25 (Canadian) from $4.50. The consensus price target is $5.89.======

Recent price weakness in Imax Corp. shares makes for an attractive buying opportunity, says JPMorgan analyst Townsend Buckles, who reiterated his "overweight" rating.

The stock is down about 11 per cent this year, compared to a 1 per cent rise in the S&P 500. Mr. Buckles had meetings recently with Imax management, which helped to increase his conviction on the stock.

We "view IMAX as the best play on a very promising 2015 box office year for the industry given the company's exposure to emerging box office markets (most notably China) and its focus on the biggest films in the slate," StreetInsider.com quoted Mr. Buckles as saying. "Nearer-term, we are raising our first-quarter 2014 estimates after a strong box office finish to the quarter, including Noah (with high domestic market share), Captain America and Need for Speed all contributing nicely across the network this past weekend"

He maintained a $32 (U.S.) price target. The consensus price target is $31.61 (U.S.).

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Canaccord Genuity analyst Aravinda Galappatthige upgraded Glacier Media Inc. to "buy" from "hold" after the company's fourth-quarter results were better than he expected, thanks to steady revenues and more cost cutting.

While the community newspaper division appeared to see lower revenues in the quarter, growth was seen in the business and trade information segment, said Mr. Galappatthige.

"During 2013, the company announced a number of initiatives to strengthen the business and reduce financial risk. This includes the sale of properties from which the proceeds will be used for debt repayment. We believe this makes a lot of sense as one of the key priorities of the company should be to lower debt levels to around (or below) 2x EBITDA as soon as possible," Mr. Galappatthige said in a research note.

"This would give it more flexibility in terms of dividend increases and pursuing M&A opportunities. The company is also looking to reduce costs with the current initiatives expected to yield $7-million in annual savings. Finally, the company is focusing on investing further in business information as it represents the best growth opportunity for the firm," he added.

Mr. Galappatthige raised his price target to $1.80 (Canadian) from $1.70. The consensus price target is $1.66.

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In other analyst actions:

UBS downgraded DRP to "neutral" from "buy" and cut its price target to $30 (Canadian) from $33.

Wedbush upgraded Lululemon Athletica to "outperform" from "neutral" and raised its price target to $64 (U.S.) from $54.

Wedbush upgraded Panera Bread to "outperform" from "neutral" and raised its price target to $215 (U.S.) from $185.

KeyBanc upgraded Big Lots to "buy" from "hold" with a price target of $45 (U.S.).

KeyBanc upgraded DTE Energy to "buy" from "hold" with a price target of $83 (U.S.).

Jefferies cut its price target on Catamaran to $58 (U.S.) from $70 and maintained a "buy" rating.

UBS upgraded Edison International to "buy" from "neutral" and raised its price target to $60 (U.S.) from $57.

Canaccord Genuity initiated coverage on American Eagle Energy with a "buy" rating and $10 (U.S.) price target.

For more analyst actions, breaking investing news and analysis, follow Darcy Keith on Twitter at @eyeonequities