Notable Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (NYSE: WNS) (TSX: NKO)

TD Securities upgraded Niko Resources Ltd (TSX: NKO), an oil and natural gas exploration and development and production company, to speculative buy with a price target of C$ 18.00 and with upside potential of 110.5% from current levels.

Macquarie initiated coverage on Elgin Mining Inc (TSX: ELG), a Canada-based mineral company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of gold projects; with outperform assigning a 12-month price target of C$ 1.50 indicating an upside of 87.5% from the current levels.

National Bank Financial downgraded Laurentian Bank of Canada (TSX: LB), a banking institution, to underperform from sector perform lowering the price target to C$ 46.00 from the earlier target of C$ 49.00 per share.

Evertz Technologies Ltd (TSX: ET), an equipment provider to the television broadcast industry, was downgraded to market perform from outperform at Raymond James with a price target of C$ 16.00 per share.

Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on two business process outsourcing (BPO) companies - WNS Holdings Ltd (NYSE: WNS), and ExlService Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: EXLS), with a neutral/cautious rating assigning a 12-month price target of $11.00 and $30.00 respectively. On Dec 4, 2012, WNS announced its collaboration with Kyriba, a treasury management solution, to enhance its finance and accounting capabilities. WNS will now offer Kyriba’s SaaS treasury and cash management solutions and Kyriba will offer WNS’ transformation, re-engineering, project management and data analysis services to its clients across the globe.

Lazard Capital Markets initiated coverage on Supernus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: SUPN), an US based pharmaceutical company focusing on developing and commercializing products for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) disorders, and Covanta Holding Corp (NYSE: CVA), an owner and operator of infrastructure for the conversion of waste to energy as well as other waste disposal and renewable energy production businesses, with a buy rating assigning a 12-month price target of $16.00 and $25.00 indicating an upside of 104% and 32% for each stock respectively. Recently, SUPN announced that it has received positive top-line results from its phase IIb study on SPN-810 for the treatment of impulsive aggression in ADHD patients.

On Dec 5, CVA announced the purchase of the Delaware Valley Resource Recovery Facility located in Chester, Pennsylvania from GE Energy Financial Services for $94 million in cash. The Delaware facility has a processing capacity of approximately 2,700 tons per day, providing sustainable waste management services to Delaware County, PA and surrounding communities.

WESCO International Inc (NYSE:WCC), a distributor of products and provider of supply chain management and logistics services, was downgraded to market perform from outperform at FBR Capital Markets. The target price was lowered to $66.00 from the earlier target of $68.00 per share. The rating firm comments that, “Downgrade reflects our channel checks that suggest ongoing sluggishness in the company's industrial, datacom, and non-res markets could result in organic growth remaining in the low single digit range near term with implications for gross margins, supplier rebates, and EBIT pull-through”.