Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Brocade, Lululemon, NetApp, Sprint and More

September 9, 2013 by Jon C. Ogg

Now that stocks have settled off their recent all-time highs, investors and traders have to be wondering which stocks they should buy and which ones they should sell or avoid. Each morning, 24/7 Wall St. reviews literally dozens of Wall Street analyst research reports with a goal of finding fresh ideas for investors and traders. Some turn out to be stocks to buy and others stocks to sell. These are this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.

Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Bob Evans Farms Inc. (NASDAQ: BOBE) was listed in Barron’s over the weekend as potentially rising by 30% as its shares are undervalued.

British American Tobacco PLC (NYSE: BTI) was raised to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform and the price target was raised to $10 from $7 (versus $7.46 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) was downgraded to Market perform from Outperform at Raymond James.

IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was started as Buy with a $90 price target (versus $69.49 close) at Citigroup.

MetLife Inc. (NYSE: MET) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $55 from $48 (versus $47.98 close) at Argus.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was reiterated Buy with an $18 price target (versus $15.26 close) due to rival Hynix fire disruption.

NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy based on valuation at Argus.

Quiksilver Inc. (NYSE: ZQK) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and given a $9 price target (versus $6.85 close) at Credit Suisse.

Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) was reinstated as Equal Weight at Evercore Partners.

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