Analysts duel on Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley

Shares of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have been on a tear since the beginning of last week; both are up roughly 30 percent from historic lows. This gives rise to an obvious debate: Is this a dead cat bounce or the beginning of a long-term move up?

Bank of America Merrill Lynch (get used to the name, folks) downgraded Morgan Stanley to underperform, on fears that merchant banking losses and write-offs due to credit-spread issues will hurt first-quarter earnings. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Goldman Sachs to market perform basically due to valuation concerns. However, Oppenheimer's new analyst raised both to outperform, driven by a belief that investment banking will recover before commercial banking. Oppenheimer's Chris Kotowski, who must fill some big Jimmy Choos, has a price target of $42 on Morgan Stanley and $138 on Goldman Sachs. 

For more:
- here's an AP article
- here's a lengthy look at Morgan and Goldman from Barron's Online

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