J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is one where the analysts are playing catch-up and they are way late. Still, two calls managed to drive the short sellers to run for cover. Team Ron Johnson was raised to OVERWEIGHT at Piper Jaffray and the stock was maintained as BUY at Argus but with a new $49.00 price target (more detail). Both calls were Friday and the stock rose another 1.7% after a stellar week.
J.P. Morgan
Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) downgraded its own brokerage firm and investment banking operations this week. At least that is how we refer to it when brokers downgrade each other. The firm cut the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) rating down to NEUTRAL and it also cut Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) down to NEUTRAL as well.
Jefferies Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF) was supposed to have its issues behind it, so we have been told and so we hope. So the stock took a hit on Friday after the equity team at S&P Capital IQ cut the “Hold” rating down to the ugly SELL rating (more details). Was the collusion between the credit team and the equity team at S&P? Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (on the debt and credit side) placed Jefferies credit rating of “BBB” on “CreditWatch Negative” and that could make Jefferies Junk-Rated if the review results in a downgrade. Shares held up impressively with ‘only’ a loss of 2.4% to $15.81 on Friday.
KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) was given a an upgrade that was either luck or good, but traders who bought on the call ahead of earnings would have had a quick-money trade. Citigroup raised the rating to BUY on Tuesday. Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) was also part of the upgrade to BUY as well but its shares lagged.
Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) may have jumped on Illumina’s buyout offer, but the stock was also given an upgrade to OUTPERFORM by Leerink Swann this week with a new target range of $59 to $63 for the stock.
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is facing three issues… valuation, a desire to move into more ‘risk-on’ trades rather than defensive stocks, and a huge gainer. We gave the details on Friday but Mickey-D’s took downgrades this week. MORE DETAILS
Michael Kors Holdings Limited (NYSE: KORS) shares rose throughout the week to $29.85 after analysts gave positive coverage after the quiet period ended. The analysts initiated new coverage as follows:
- OVERWEIGHT with $34 target at Morgan Stanley
- OVERWEIGHT with $32 target at J.P. Morgan
- OUTPERFORM with $34 target at Robert W. Baird
- OUTPERFORM with $36 target at Wedbush Morgan
- BUY with $34 target at Goldman Sachs
- BUY with $24 target at Nomura
- BUY with $35 target at Jefferies
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) had a huge week of upside after earnings, despite no earnings power and despite much concern over its future cost structure. Its rating was raised to BUY at Citigroup Raised to Buy at Citigroup with a $130 price target (shares closed at $123.79 on Friday). Gabelli raised its rating to HOLD from Sell; Credit Suisse maintained its OUTPERFORM rating and lifted its target to $125; and Oppenheimer kept its OUTPERFORM rating but raised the target to $130 from $90 on the stock.
Vistaprint NV (NASDAQ: VPRT) never even noticed an awful downgrade on Friday. Zacks Investment Research cut the rating to UNDERPERFORM but it also gave the title of the Bear of the Day to the card printing and online printing outfit. The gain was after the outfit blew past earnings estimates on Friday. Maybe this call from Zacks should have been dubbed as “The Dud of the Day.”
Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) saw its quiet period end this week and the stock managed to rise back above its $10.00 IPO price throughout the week to close at $10.05 on Friday. Some analysts had started coverage already who were not in the underwriting syndicate but here is the new wave of coverage from this last week:
- OVERWEIGHT with $11 target at Piper Jaffray
- OVERWEIGHT with $11 target at Barclays
- OVERWEIGHT with $12 target at J.P. Morgan
- BUY with $13 target at Goldman Sachs
- NEUTRAL with $10.50 target at BofA/Merrill Lynch
If you enjoyed the top analyst calls, you can sign up in the box below to join our morning email list to receive news directly in your inbox each morning. We include major analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPO and M&A news, special situation developments, observations on Warren Buffett and key market gurus, as well as special exclusive feature stories.
JON C. OGG
