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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alcatel-Lucent, Apple, Coach, Etsy, Intel, MannKind, Netflix, SanDisk, Starbucks and More

Stocks were down across the board on Thursday morning. Still all-time highs are not far off and investors have bought stocks on weakness for over three years now. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week to find new trading ideas and new investment ideas for its readers. Some of these analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while other analyst reports cover stocks to sell or stocks to avoid.

These are this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup on the heels of the merger news. Our own take was that Alcatel-Lucent sold its long-term investors down the river. Credit Suisse also downgraded Alcatel-Lucent to Neutral from Outperform. Goldman Sachs removed it from the Conviction Buy List.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was started as Hold at Maxim Group, but the firm did issue an upside price target of $144 in the call (versus a $126.78 close), and the consensus price target is actually 15 cents shy of $140 now.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform with a price target hike to $32 from $28 (versus a $32.83 close) at Bernstein.

MannKind Corp. (NASDAQ: MNKD) was maintained as Outperform but the price target was lowered to $10 from $13 (versus a $5.28 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

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Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was reiterated as Buy with a new Fair Value Estimate of $600 at Janney Capital Markets, and the firm said its global momentum supports its Top Pick status. FBR Capital Markets raised Netflix to an Outperform rating from Market Perform, and more than doubled its price target, to $900 from $400. Oppenheimer raised its price target to $610.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup on the heels of the merger news. Nokia was also removed from the Focus List at Credit Suisse. Morgan Stanley took the other side, raising its rating to Overweight from Equal Weight.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) is much lower after earnings, and analysts that had refused to accept the reality have thrown in the towel here. Credit Suisse downgraded it to Neutral from Outperform. Raymond James cut its rating from Outperform to Market Perform. Deutsche Bank cut its rating from Buy to Hold.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) was started with an Outperform rating and price target of $56 (versus a $48.14 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

There were also many other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations on Thursday, as follows:

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NYSE: ACAD) was started as Outperform with a price target of $48 (versus $37.50 close) at Leerink.

AGCO Corp. (NYSE: AGCO) was downgraded to Underweight at JPMorgan, and the price target was cut to $42 from $44 (versus a $49.44 close).

ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ: ASML) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was maintained as Outperform but the price target was cut from $22 to $21 at Oppenheimer.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Black Diamond Inc. (NASDAQ: BDE) was downgraded to Hold From Buy at Stifel.

CEVA Inc. (NASDAQ: CEVA) was started as Buy with a $27 price target (versus a $21.42 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

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Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays, and the price target was raised to $50 from $38.

CoreSite Realty Corp. (NYSE: COR) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a price target of $51 (closed at $49.69) at Evercore ISI. KeyBanc Capital Markets cut its rating to Market Weight from Overweight.

Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY) had not even started trading, yet Brean Capital started coverage with a Buy rating and $19 price target — but the deal priced at $16.

HCA Inc. (NYSE: HCA) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $88 from $85 (versus a $79.24 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Inogen Inc. (NASDAQ: INGN) was started as Strong Buy with a price target of $45 (versus a $35.36 close) at Needham.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE: NVO) was started as Sell at Soc-Gen.

Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ: PNRA) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Raymond James.

PMC-Sierra Inc. (NASDAQ: PMCS) was started with a Buy rating and was given a price target of $12 (versus a $9.29 close) at Benchmark.

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Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GOLD) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Rocket Fuel Inc. (NASDAQ: FUEL) was started as Equal Weight rating and was given a price target of $9 (versus a $9.06 close) at Stephens.

Rubicon Project Inc. (NYSE: RUBI) was started as Overweight and was given a price target of $27 (versus a $17.20 close) at Stephens.

TerraForm Power Inc. (NASDAQ: TERP) was started as Sector Weight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Thomson Reuters Corp. (NYSE: TRI) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

In case you missed Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Chipotle Mexican Grill, CSX, GoPro, Intel, Nike, Staples and Starbucks.

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