09:04 am Pike Electric upgraded to Buy at Stifel; tgt $14.50: . Stifel upgrades PIKE to Buy from Hold and sets target price at $14.50. In its opinion, the recent pullback in PIKE shares has increased their attractiveness from a valuation perspective. Since the company reported results on May 6th, PIKE shares have pulled back 24.2% vs a 2% gain in the S&P 500. This includes a 9% decline since Pike announced that its private equity owner, Lindsay Goldberg, would exit a portion of its 37% ownership position through a secondary offering.

09:04 am Vertex Energy initiated with a Buy at Wunderlich; tgt $4: . Wunderlich initiates VTNR with a Buy and price target of $4. VTNR is primarily a pure play in the collection of used oil. VTNR collects about 60mm gallons, which it then processes for resale as RFO and/or runs through its proprietary TCEP process. It maintains the flexibility to do so in order to respond to price/supply fluctuations across the collection/resale markets. As such, its margins, while low, are very stable. VTNR could double its TCEP capacity but would need to access external capital to do so. In addition to its economies of scale and low capital requirement, the spread between Vertex's feedstock and its end products are more highly correlated than fully re-refined Group II base lube oils. Read More