Financial ratings wrap-up: Leap, Nortel, Starent and more

The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.
Carrier
–Lehman Brothers raised its price target on Leap Wireless to $60 from $43 and improved its EPS estimates to a loss of 79 cents rather than a loss of $1.40 for 2008. The changes following the company’s first-quarter financial report.
–Lehman brothers raised its price target on MetroPCS to $27 from $25 after the carrier reported first-quarter results. It also increased its EPS estimates on the company to 42 cents from 38 cents for 2008 and to 60 cents from 48 cents for 2009.
–Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services revised its outlook on Cable & Wireless to developing from stable. “The outlook revision reflects a potential change in C&W’s business mix in the near term as a result of a review of the group’s structure and assets,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Karim Nadji.
–Deutsche Bank upgraded America Movil to buy from hold on recent weakness in share price creating attractive upside.
Handset and infrastructure vendors
–Goldman Sachs lowered its EPS estimates on Aruba Networks after the company reported in-line fiscal third-quarter results. New estimate are a loss of 21 cents rather than a loss of 15 cents for 2008 and a loss of 8 cents rather than a return of 5 cents for 2009. Goldman Sachs rates Aruba at sell. Lehman Brothers slightly lowered its 2008 EPS estimate on Aruba to 4 cents from 5 cents for 2008.
–Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services revised its outlook on Nortel Networks to positive from stable and affirmed its B- corporate credit rating on the company. “The revised outlook primarily reflects the steady improvement in profitability in the past several quarters despite difficult market conditions,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Madhav Hari. “We expect this operating momentum to continue in the near term, mostly driven by the net benefit derived from the company’s fiscal 2008 and previous years’ business transformation initiatives,”
Other
–R.W. Baird initiated coverage on Broadcom with a neutral rating and $29 price target.
–Deutsche Bank initiated coverage on Starent Networks with a buy rating and a $21 price target on strong order backlog, traction among tier-one UMTS operators and opportunities to sell into multi-year mobile data upgrade cycles.
–McAdams Wright Ragen raised its price target on F5 Networks to $32 from $30 on increased confidence after a meeting with executives.