Notable Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (NASDAQ: VLCCF) (TSX: AAV)

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The following stocks were upgraded/downgraded on March 11, 2014
Company Name Exchange Ticker Last Price Total Analyst Coverage Upgrade/
Downgrade
Analyst Name Rating Company Target Price Upside/
Downside (%)
Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd TSX AAV 4.41 8 Upgrade to outperform from neutral Cristina Lopez Macquarie 5.75 30.4%
Ivanhoe Mines Ltd TSX IVN 1.66 12 Initiate with buy Cliff Hale-Sanders Cormark Securities Inc. 3.25 95.8%
Africa Oil Corp TSXV AOI 8.98 24 Initiate with strong buy Carl Christian Bachke Nordea Equity Research 14.81 64.9%
Solium Capital Inc TSX SUM 7.80 5 Initiate with buy Steven Kraft M Partners Inc 9.75 25.0%
Silver Standard Resources Inc TSX SSO 11.75 12 Downgrade to sector underperform from sector perform Trevor Turnbull Scotia Capital 8.88 -24.4%

Macquarie upgraded Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (TSX: AAV), an intermediate oil and natural gas exploration and production company, to outperform from neutral increasing its price target to C$5.75 from C$4.50, indicating an upside of 30.4% from current levels. Recently, AAV reported strong year end 2013 reserve additions for its Montney resource property at Glacier, Alberta. Proven plus probable (“2P”) reserves were up 20% to 1.7 trillion cubic feet (“Tcfe”) at a finding and development cost of $1.33/mcfe ($7.99/boe) and a recycle ratio of 2.1. The company also reported that the production at Glacier reached the 135 mmcfe/d Phase VI target ahead of schedule with capital spending below budget.

Cormark Securities Inc. initiated coverage on Ivanhoe Mines Ltd (TSX: IVN), a mineral exploration and development company, with a buy rating assigning a 12-month price target of C$3.25, indicating an upside of 95.8% from current levels.

Coverage on Africa Oil Corp (TSXV: AOI), a Canada-based international oil and gas exploration and development company, was initiated with a strong buy at Nordea Equity Research with a price target of C$14.81, indicating an upside of 64.9% from current levels.

Analyst Steven Kraft at M Partners Inc initiated coverage on Solium Capital Inc (TSX: SUM), a software-as-a-service company, with a buy rating assigning a 12-month price target of C$9.75, indicating an upside of 25% from current levels.

Scotia Capital downgraded Silver Standard Resources Inc (TSX: SSO), a silver resource company, to sector underperform from sector perform with a price target of C$8.88, indicating a downside of 24.4% from current levels.

The following stocks were upgraded/downgraded on March 11, 2014
Company Name Exchange Ticker Last Price Total Analyst
Coverage
Upgrade/
Downgrade
Analyst Name Rating Company Target Price Upside/
Downside (%)
Knightsbridge Tankers Ltd NASDAQ VLCCF 12.80 8 Upgrade to buy from neutral Omar M Nokta Global Hunter Securities 16.00 25.0%
PowerSecure International Inc NYSE POWR 25.28 6 Upgrade to buy from hold William D Bremer Maxim Group LLC 30.00 18.7%
Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc NYSE HTGC 14.51 16 upgrade to outperform from market perform Greg Mason Keefe, Bruyette & Woods 17.00 17.2%
Mellanox Technologies Ltd NASDAQ MLNX 37.39 16 Initiate with buy Sanjay Chaurasia Nomura 48.00 28.4%
FreightCar America Inc NASDAQ RAIL 24.21 8 downgrade to equalweight from overweight Justin Long Stephens Inc 27.00 11.5%

Global Hunter Securities upgraded Knightsbridge Tankers Ltd (NASDAQ: VLCCF), engaged in the seaborne transportation of crude oil and dry bulk cargoes, to buy from neutral with a price target of $16.00, indicating an upside of 25% from current levels. Recently, VLCCF announced that it would buy five fuel efficient 180,000 DWT Capesize bulk carrier newbuildings from Frontline 2012 and one Capesize bulk carrier from Karpasia Shipping Inc for a total consideration of $360 million. The rating firm notes that the buying move fits with company’s strategic plan to take advantage in dry-bulk shipping and the new vessels should help it in capitalizing well.

PowerSecure International Inc (NYSE: POWR), a provider of products and services to electric utilities and to their commercial, institutional and industrial customers, was upgraded to buy from hold at Maxim Group LLC with a price target of $30.00, indicating an upside of 18.7% from current levels. The rating firm cites the company’s record backlog, its pipeline of opportunities and expectations for margins to act as strong growth catalysts in 2014-15.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc (NYSE: HTGC), an internally managed, non-diversified closed-end investment company, to outperform from market perform with a price target of $17.00, indicating an upside of 17.2% from current levels.

Nomura initiated coverage on Mellanox Technologies Ltd (NASDAQ: MLNX), a fabless semiconductor company that produces and supplies high-performance interconnects products, with a buy rating assigning a 12-month price target of $48.00, indicating an upside of 28.4% from current levels.

Stephens Inc downgraded FreightCar America Inc (NASDAQ: RAIL), engaged in the manufacture of aluminum-bodied railcars, to equal-weight from overweight with a price target of $27.00, indicating an upside of 11.5% from current levels.

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