Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Intel, ExOne, GameStop, SodaStream and More

January 15, 2014 by Jon C. Ogg

Earnings season is getting off to a start and analysts are still making many changes to their 2014 outlooks. Investors are still positioning their portfolios for 2014 at the same time. 24/7 Wall St. looks over many Wall Street analyst research reports each morning, looking for the top stocks to buy and for stocks to sell. These are this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.

ExOne Co. (NASDAQ: XONE) joined in on the 3D printing earnings and sales warning on Tuesday after the close. The stock had slid on Tuesday by more than 5%, and shares fell hard yet again after the confession. ExOne has seen its shares downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was slashed to $55 from $75 at Canaccord Genuity. Shares are indicated down 14% around $53.50 on Wednesday morning.

GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) was reiterated as Buy at Sterne Agee after the company’s poor earnings guidance. The problem is that the price target was slashed to $52 from $58 and estimates were lowered for 2013 and 2014 earnings. The support is that new consoles should reach 40 million by the end of 2014 and 50 million by the end of 2015.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) is seeing its second upgrade in two days, and this comes in the week before the earnings report. That is unusual. Intel’s stock was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets on Wednesday, and its price target was raised to $31. That is well above the consensus estimate. It was just on Tuesday that Intel was raised to Overweight from Neutral at J.P. Morgan, and that firm issued a $29 price target. Intel shares hit a 52-week high of $26.55 on Tuesday, with a high close of $26.51.

SodaStream International Ltd. (NASDAQ: SODA) gave awful guidance this week, but the stock is being maintained with a Hold rating at Canaccord Genuity. The problem is that the price target was slashed to $43 from $63.

Other Key Analyst Calls

Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE: APO) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform on valuations at Oppenheimer, although the price target was maintained at $36 (versus a $36.22 close) in the call.

Chelsea Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTP) was maintained as Hold, but the price target was raised from $4 to $5, at Deutsche Bank. The call is after positive FDA AdCom on Northera, and the stock is up about 150% at $5.85, after closing at $2.30 on Tuesday.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $63 price target (versus a $52.81 close) by Morgan Stanley.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $65 from $56 (versus a $55.25 close) by Credit Suisse.

PolyOne Corp. (NYSE: POL) was started with a Buy rating and a $44 price target (versus a $34.27 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

Suburban Propane Partners L.P. (NYSE: SPH) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Teradyne Inc. (NYSE: TER) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at Pacific Crest.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform by Pacific Crest.

Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and the price target was raised to $54 from $44 (versus a $46.05 close) by Barclays.

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