Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AMD, Gap, Priceline, SanDisk and Many More

October 22, 2013 by Jon C. Ogg

Bull and BearWe are in the thick of corporate earnings season and stocks are challenging all-time highs. This is a climate in which investors want and need to know which stocks to buy and which to sell. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of Wall Street analyst research calls daily to find new ideas for our readers. These are this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Bernstein.

AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral by UBS.

Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) was downgraded to Sell from Buy at UBS.

Clean Harbors Inc. (NYSE: CLH) was started as Buy at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Crosstex Energy L.P. (XTEX) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $32 from $22 (versus a $27.26 close) at Credit Suisse.

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised by $5 to $58 (versus a $50.56 close) at Argus.

North American Palladium Ltd. (NYSEMKT: PAL) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) was started as Outperform with a $1,250 price target (versus a $1,087.09 close) at Credit Suisse.

RingCentral Inc. (NYSE: RNG) saw its quiet period come to an end. Bank of America Merrill Lynch issued a Buy rating, Goldman Sachs issued a Buy rating and J.P. Morgan issued an Overweight rating.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at BMO Capital Markets.

Tellabs Inc. (NASDAQ: TLAB) was downgraded to Sell from Hold, based on the paltry private equity M&A deal terms, at Argus.

Theravance Inc. (NASDAQ: THRX) was added to the prized to US1 List at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

TripAdvisor Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) was started as Outperform with a $90 price target at Credit Suisse.

U.S. Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Wisdom Tree Investments Inc. (NASDAQ: WETF) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Zimmer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZMH) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the target price was raised to $100 from $90 (versus a $88.32 close) at Credit Suisse.

We have seen several Neutral rating initiations as well, which generally are deemed the unexciting and no-action calls. Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) and Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) were both started as Neutral at Janney. Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) and HomeAway Inc. (NASDAQ: AWAY) were both started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

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