UPDATE: Sterne Agee Upgrades International Game Technology

Sterne Agee is out with its report today on International Game Technology IGT, upgrading IGT to Buy from Neutral. In a note to clients, Sterne Agee writes, "We are upgrading shares of IGT to Buy from Neutral. We are raising our FY11/FY12 EPS to $0.92/$1.08 from $0.88/$0.98. Our new EPS projections reflect our channel checks suggesting acceleration in game popularity (especially in gaming ops), higher ASP assumptions yielding higher game sale margin assumptions, lower interest expense than previously modeled and share buybacks." Sterne Agee maintains a $23 PT on IGT. At the time of posting, shares of IGT were trading at $17.97, up 2.39% from Monday's close.