Stock Research

Political uncertainty in Europe weighed the markets down to a lower close with the Dow dropping 76 points to 12,932. Nasdaq lost 11 points to 2946.

On the upside

Needham & Co. upgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: VRTX) to a Buy rating.

KeyBanc Capital Markets upgraded EXCO Resources (NYSE: XCO) to a Buy rating.

Grand Canyon Education (Nasdaq: LOPE) reported higher first quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations and lifted its full year guidance.

On the downside

Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE: SMG) reported lower second quarter earnings as gross margin fell.

Synchronoss Technologies (NYSE: SNCR) reported flat revenue from its largest client AT&T (Nasdaq: T) and lowered its full year revenue outlook for AT&T.

Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE: DNB) reported higher first quarter earnings but the results fell short of analyst estimates and the company trimmed its 2012 core revenue growth estimate.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 3 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 10 to 9 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks eased a fraction to 793.