Avondale Partners analyst Fred Lowrance says the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center is primed to deliver some big numbers this year and next for parent Gaylord Entertainment. After a visit last week with investor relations chief Patrick Chaffin, Lowrance wrote that it appears the company’s first-quarter softness endured through the end of June — Lowrance has lowered his Q2 cash-flow estimate 5 percent — but that demand for later this year and next suggests the corporate travel market is strengthening nicely.

“Existing estimates potentially understated the power of the inflection we are likely to see inresults,” Lowrance wrote in sticking to his ‘market outperform’ rating and $51 target.Shares of Gaylord (Ticker: GET) have recovered a bit from a spring slide and are now down about 12 percent year to date.

Over at Sidoti & Co. in New York, nursing home operator Advocat has been initiated with a ‘neutral’ rating. The Brentwood-based company, which has been improving its number primarily via a multi-year renovation program, has seen its stock (Ticker: AVCA) rise about 30 percent so far this year.

The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and YP Nashville have announced the finalists for the 2011 Nashville Emerging Leader Awards (NELAs), a program designed to recognize young professionals under the age of 40 for "significant accomplishments in their chosen field, as well as their commitment and contribution to the community."

Nominees include names from a range of companies, including Avenue Bank, the Williamson County Office of Economic Development, Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, Adams and Reese, and many others. Download the full list of nominees at this link. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on July 28.

In addition, the organizations announced Joel Sullivan, regional CEO with the American Red Cross, as the winner of the YP Nashville Impact Award, a recognition that honors a business leader who has "made a significant impact on the young professional demographic in terms of community leadership and professional development of Nashville’s YPs and YP organizations."