Each morning 24/7 Wall St. issues its list of some of the key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms. We review these calls and other calls made throughout the week to see which stand out the most. Some are great calls that were greatly insightful. Other calls may be relevant well into the future, and some calls turn out to be total duds that were very painful for the analysts who made them (and the traders that listened). After reviewing and filtering all of these research reports, we end up with the top analyst calls of the week.
This weeks top analyst calls were in the following stocks: Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP); Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY); First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR); Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: KND); Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX); Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT); RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH); Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD); Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI); Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S); Tellabs Inc. (NASDAQ: TLAB); and Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM).
We have a runner up call in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) and we also have a highlight on Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) despite some valuation concerns.
We have compiled the ratings news and relevant data around the reaction to each or around the implications on each. Color has also been provided if relevant on the name.
Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) had an awful post-earnings week due to a drop and due to an SEC investigation. On Friday came news that Citigroup was reiterating a “Buy” rating as the worst is likely price in. The problem is that Citi highlighted more negative than positive and it cut the target to $22 from $29 in the call. Around $19.00, that is not really enough upside even if the stock is now getting “cheap.” Avon was cut to “Neutral” by UBS on Friday.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) rarely pulls back very much, Shares were down over 3% on Friday because Morgan Stanley initiated coverage with a quite boring “Underweight” rating. Interesting considering that its client base never spends like there is a recession. On Wednesday Bed Bath & Beyond was reiterated at “Buy” and the target was raised to $70 at Argus.
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) may have taken more downgrades after its CEO firing/resignation SNAFU, but at least one analyst is defending the position. Argus came out and lowered the price target to $90.00 but the firm is maintaining its “BUy” rating. This one has gotten so ugly that perhaps there is some value. We just hate trying to think about former high-flying stocks as “value” because it means things went really bad. Interestingly enough, shares bounced more than 20% from the lows of the week.
Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: KND) may have been beaten up too much during the malaise around healthcare reimbursement rates. We would caution that earnings are due this coming Thursday (NOV 3). In July this was above $20.00 then the reimbursement rate woes came on at the time as a bad sell-off. Zacks has finally said enough is enough and named it the Value Stock of the Day this last Thursday as the research shop sees this trading well under ten-times next year’s earnings estimates.
Buzz up!
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