Zacks Broker Upgrades: Marvell, Genzyme, Praxair, Starwood Hotels

Business Wire, July 27, 2007

CHICAGO -- Studies have shown that broker upgrades lead to short-term outperformance. Stocks recently upgraded by brokerage analysts include Marvell Tech Group (NASDAQ: MRVL), Genzyme Corp. (NASDAQ: GENZ), Praxair (NYSE: PX) and Starwood Hotels (NYSE: HOT). To learn more about how you can profit from broker upgrades, visit: http://at.zacks.com/?id=139.

Here is a synopsis of stocks with recent broker upgrades:

Marvell's (NASDAQ: MRVL) Average Broker Recommendation is up to 1.43. The company has assembled a broad suite of intellectual property in chip design, software, and reference platforms that drives significant barriers to entry.

According to analysts MRVL is well positioned in its core hard disk drive (HDD) and solid incremental growth, including optical storage, digitally controlled power management, 802.11n, VoIP, printer chipsets, PAS handsets, SonyPlaystation 3, baseband, and application processors for portable consumer products (handsets, PNDs, PMPs, PDAs). MRVL's ability to integrate switching product areas, as it continues to expand market share, both through increased unit share as well as increased content per unit.

Genzyme's (NASDAQ: GENZ) Average Broker Recommendation has risen to 1.43. Genzyme continues to grow its presence in the LSD franchise, based on its flagship Coenzyme product line, along with Fabrazyme (Fabry disease) and Aldurazyme (MPS I), and Myozyme (Pompe disease).

Genzyme's diverse set of products and its commitment to operate in a broad range of global markets provides the company with a platform for consistent and sustainable future growth. Based on the growth of its current marketed products alone, the company expects its annual revenue to approximately double over the next five years.

Praxair's (NYSE: PX) ABR is up to 1.63. PX has leading positions in North and South America, which are expected to support long-term growth. Capital discipline is leading to increased free cash flow as well.

Analysts do not expect Praxair to make any additional large home care acquisitions in the near future. The company looks for attractive growth markets and focuses on areas where it can achieve a strong ROIC. Management has shown no interest in becoming a broad, full-service supplier of any product on regional or product basis. In addition, the company indicated it is not interested in project financing or one-off plant sales.

Starwood Hotel's (NYSE: HOT) Average Broker Recommendation is up to 1.66. A recovering economy together with declining growth in supply will lead to robust improvement in earnings. The company's strategy of owning and operating most of its hotels provides operating leverage.

The most significant risk to Starwood's long-term growth is possibly the proliferation of online travel services. The Internet has altered the travel scenario by offering greater pricing transparency to consumer and business travelers. Online travel aggregators make it more difficult for large hotel operators to capitalize on premium priced hotel rooms. While the company should benefit from a cyclical rebound both in the economy and business travel, the positive impact on the company's bottomline may be somewhat offset by disruptive technological changes brought about by online travel aggregators.

About Broker Upgrades

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