Periodicals Wrap-Up for Thursday, May 8th from flyonthewall.com
FINANCIAL TIMES: According to senior industry sources, the Financial Times reported that the Ministry of Defense could ask General Dynamics (GD) to provide the vehicle design for a new generation of armored vehicles for the army. It is unclear whether General Dynamics, in competition with Nexter and Artec, will be awarded the contract or will be named the preferred bidder…Following the collapse in March of Bear Stearns (BSC), the Financial Times also reported that the SEC will soon require Wall Street banks to publicly disclose more details about liquidity and capital positions. Cox also urged lawmakers to pass legislation that would allow the SEC, or another regulator, the “explicit mandate to supervise” investment banks…NEW YORK TIMES: According to the New York Times, Citigroup (C) will move senior investment banker Alberto Verme to Dubai by the end of the month in the hopes of establishing a stronger foothold in the region, a crucial area for global banks…The New York Times also reported that several large oil companies, including BP (BP), ConocoPhillips (COP) and Chevron (CVX), agreed to pay nearly $423M in cash in order to settle a lawsuit that alleged water contamination from methyl tertiary butyl ether, a gasoline additive. Under the terms of the deal, the oil giants also agreed to pay 70% of the future cleanup costs for the next 30 years. ExxonMobil (XOM) and several other companies named in the suit did not agree to the deal…

HANS reports Q1 EPS 29c vs. consensus of 35c
HANS reports Q1 net sales of $212M vs. consensus of $220.7M.
HANS: Maintain Overweight rating after weak Q1 results@JPMS
JP Morgan expects results to improve the remainder of the year.
HANS downgraded to Neutral from Buy@GSCO
Goldman downgraded HANS following the weak Q1 report.

TGT CEO says April SSS ’slightly below’ planned range.
TGT reports April SSS up 3.1% vs. consensus of up 4.5%

RIG downgraded to Hold from Buy@STFL
Stifel downgraded RIG based on valuation.

PXD target raised to $84 from $81 after strong quarter@DBAB
Deutsche Bank maintains a Buy rating on the stock.

GOOG target to $700 from $570, reiterate Buy@UBSW
UBS said shares of GOOG may test highs due to improving sentiment and new revenue opportunities.

FFIV upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform@RBCM
RBC Capital believes the worst is over for IT spending and that FFIV will benefit from new product launches. Target to $32 from $25.

CNX downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight@MSCO

AIG’s troubles keep mounting-WSJ
American International Group (AIG) isn’t expected to report a very good quarter today, thanks to the subprime mortgage mess. That’s not news, but according to the Wall Street Journal’s “Heard on the Street”, what may happen over the next several years may not be very pretty either.