Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AMD, Coach, Lululemon, Nokia and More

October 14, 2013 by Jon C. Ogg

Earnings season is upon us and the investing community is still dealing with uncertainty around the government shutdown and the debt ceiling. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of Wall Street analyst calls each and every morning to find new ideas for our readers. Some turn out to be stocks to buy, while others are stocks to sell or to avoid. These are this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $5 from $4.50 at Wedbush

Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

Benefitfocus Inc. (NASDAQ: BNFT) saw its quiet period end and the ratings have mostly been positive. Shares were started as follows: Buy at Canaccord Genuity, Buy at Goldman Sachs, Overweight at Piper Jaffray and Buy at Jefferies.

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

Compania de Minas Buenaventura SAA (NYSE: BVN) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at J.P. Morgan.

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

KLA-Tencor Corp. (NASDAQ: KLAC) was started as Overweight at J.P. Morgan.

K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX) was started as Overweight at J.P. Morgan.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $90 from $85, as there are no cautious signs, according to Canaccord Genuity.

Mylan Inc. (NASDAQ: MYL) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays.

Plantronics Inc. (NYSE: PLT) was started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (NYSE: RBS) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

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