Top 12 Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AU, APO, ASTX, ATML, BSX, CAT, FUN, CRL, CI, CBST, DUK, EMC, GFI, NEE, PNRA, SIX, TUMI, TCB, XEL)

April 3, 2013 by Jon C. Ogg

Bull and BearInvestors and traders generally stay on the lookout for new ideas that will generate positive returns or income for their portfolio. 24/7 Wall St. looks over numerous research calls to find great ideas from value stocks to growth stocks to dividend stocks. Many of these are for stocks to buy and stocks to sell, and some come from Wall St. and some come from independent research firms.

These are some of this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from select Wall St. research calls.

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU) cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Apollo Global Management L.P. (NYSE: APO) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Astex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTX) started as Outperform at RBC.

Atmel Corp. (NASDAQ: ATML) raised to Outperform with $8.25 price target at FBR Capital Markets.

Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) cut to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse (FULL SUMMARY).

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) cut to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Cedar Fair L.P. (NYSE: FUN) started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Charles River Laboratories International Inc. (NYSE: CRL) cut to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup.

Cigna Inc. (NYSE: CI) cut to Neutral at Citigroup.

Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CBST) cut to Sell from Hold at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) maintained Outperform but target price cut to $28 from $30 at Oppenheimer.

Gold Fields Inc. (NYSE: GFI) cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE: NEE) raised to the Conviction Buy List with $84 price target at Goldman Sachs.

Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ: PNRA) raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Raymond James and reiterated Outperform and price target raised to $200 from $190 at Oppenheimer.

Six Flags Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: SIX) added to the Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.

Tumi Holdings Inc. (NYSE: TUMI) started as Outperform with $26 target at Credit Suisse.

TCF Financial Corp. (NYSE: TCB) cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.

Xcel Energy Inc. (NYSE: XEL) raised to Buy with $32 target at Goldman Sachs.

UBS gave two great lists. One is a list of stocks that still has 25% or more in upside. A second is the antithesis with a list of stocks to sell from its “least preferred” list.

Here are the 10 things at hand right now that wreck the bull market.

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