Brief: Analysts upgrade stocks

Thursday, Feb. 18, 1999 | 11:11 a.m.

William Schmitt of Wasserstein Perella Securities boosted his rating on Boyd to "strong buy" from "buy," with a 12-month target price of $6.50 a share.

Boyd stock was quoted at $4.375, up 18.75 cents or 4.5 percent, in early afternoon trading today. The stock has climbed from a low of $3.125 in the past five trading days.

Earlier this week, the company said net income rose 50 percent in the fourth quarter from the year-earlier period, buoyed by the strong performance of its Nevada hotel-casinos.

The stock prices of several Nevada-based casino companies have been trending upward in recent weeks as key economic indicators have improved. Higher visitor volume, increased airline seat capacity and other data indicate the long slump in tourist traffic that has impacted Las Vegas hotel-casino companies may be coming to an end.

In other action, lodging analyst Denise Warren at Merrill Lynch & Co. reinstated Hilton Hotels Corp. near-term "accumulate." Her long-term rating for Hilton is "buy."

Hilton stock was quoted at $14.8125, up 6.25 cents, in early afternoon trading.