Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: BlackBerry, Care.com, Lululemon, Tesla, Veeco and More

February 18, 2014 by Jon C. Ogg

Earnings season is now in the final phases, and investors and analysts are positioning themselves for the rest of 2014. Each morning, 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of Wall Street analyst research reports for new ides. Some are stocks to buy and some are stocks to sell. These are this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.

BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform with a $10 price target at FBR Capital Markets. The firm is talking up the company’s liquid assets and early momentum acting as a buffer against downside. The firm did warn that a meaningful turnaround is still likely quarters away. Shares closed at $8.98 on Friday and are indicated up 4.5% at $9.39.

Care.com Inc. (NYSE: CRCM) saw its quiet period end. Morgan Stanley started it as Equal Weight and Stifel Nicolaus started it as Hold. Keep in mind that the stock is up at $25.41 after its January IPO was at $17.00, and this traded as high as $29.25 as well.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the price target was raised to $63 from $53 at Oppenheimer. Keep in mind that Nomura Securities also issued a new Buy rating on Lululemon last week.

Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) saw its price target raised to $215 from $187 at R.W. Baird. Tesla was also continued to be named as a Strong Buy after the fire incident was reported in Canada. The consensus price target is around $168.50, and shares closed at $198.23 on Friday. The street high target price is actually $230.

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) was raised to Hold from Sell at Canaccord Genuity. The LED maker also saw its price target raised to $41 from $36 at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Other Key Analyst Calls

Aixtron A.G. (NASDAQ: AIXG) was raised to Overweight from Neutral by J.P. Morgan.

Athenahealth Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN) was started as Buy at Citigroup.

Express Scripts Holding Co. (NASDAQ: ESRX) was started as Buy at Citigroup.

Forest Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: FRX) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Galena Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ: GALE) was downgraded to Sell from Buy at Cantor Fitzgerald.

SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ: SIVB) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James.

Universal Display Co. (NASDAQ: OLED) was raised to Hold from Sell at Canaccord Genuity.

Weight Watchers International Inc. (NYSE: WTW) was downgraded to Underweight with a $16 price target at Barclays.

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