Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Adobe, Alcoa, Apple, Cogent, GameStop, Micron, Under Armour and More

March 24, 2017 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were indicated marginally higher on Friday ahead of a delayed health care vote in the House of Representatives. Despite recent selling, the stock indexes all remain very close to their all-time highs and the bull market is now more than eight years old. One trend that has held up without fail is that investors have managed to buy stocks on every single pullback. Those same investors are also looking for new trading and investing ideas.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other reports cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Some color has been added on many of the following calls, and the consensus analyst price targets referenced are from Thomson Reuters. These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday, March 24, 2017:

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $150 from $125 (versus a $126.87 prior close) at Credit Suisse. Adobe Systems has 52-week trading range of $90.35 to $130.30 and a consensus analyst price target of $141.09.

Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $40 price target (versus a $33.31 close) at Berenberg. The 52-week range is $20.00 to $39.78 and the consensus price target is $41.10.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $165 from $135 at Instinet (Nomura). Shares closed at $140.92 on Thursday and were indicated to open at $141.25 on Friday. Apple has a 52-week range of $89.47 to $142.80 and a consensus price target of $144.48.

Cogent Communications Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CCOI) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $48 price target (versus a $41.85 close) at Deutsche Bank. The consensus analyst target is $45.25, and the 52-week range is $34.23 to $44.40.

GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) was maintained as Outperform but the price target was cut to $25 from $28 at Wedbush Securities. Credit Suisse is at a more cautious Neutral rating, and it cut the target to $20 from $22. The firm expects GameStop shares to trade at a compressed earnings multiple until it slows the decline in its core video game business. GameStop has a 52-week range of $20.10 to $33.72 and a consensus price target of $25.84.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $40 from $35 after the company blew out its earnings expectations. What is interesting here is that Credit Suisse had just raised its target right ahead of earnings. and the new mantra is that it is still too early to call a peak.

Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UAA) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $27 price target (versus an $18.98 close) at Jefferies, and the firm also added it to its Franchise Picks List. The 52-week range is $18.40 to $47.95. The consensus price target is $22.45.

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Other key analyst calls were seen as follows:

Calumet Specialty Products Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: CLMT) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $3 price target (versus a $3.80 close) at Credit Suisse.

Delek US Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DK) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $26 price target (versus a $25.25 close) at Credit Suisse.

Fortive Corp. (NYSE: FTV) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $66 price target (versus a $58.53 close) at JPMorgan.

Frank’s International N.V. (NYSE: FI) was raised to Hold from Sell and the price target was raised to $11 from $10 (versus a $9.84 close) at Jefferies.

Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $16.50 price target (versus a $13.02 close) at D.A. Davidson.

International Game Technology PLC (NYSE: IGT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus after disappointing guidance.

Knight Transportation Inc. (NYSE: KNX) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight with a $30 price target (versus a $31.85 close) at Barclays.

China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LFC) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup.

Planet Fitness Inc. (NYSE: PLNT) was assumed with a Neutral rating and a $22 price target at Wedbush, but that is down from a prior Outperform rating and $23 target. They see favorable secular trends but also moderating growth.

Skechers USA Inc. (NYSE: SKX) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $35 price target (versus a $27.44 close) at Cowen.

Swift Transportation Co. (NYSE: SWFT) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $24 price target (versus a $20.14 close) at Barclays.

Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $93 price target (versus an $81.79 close) at Credit Suisse.

Virtusa Corp. (NASDAQ: VRTU) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $38 price target (versus a $29.50 close) at Cowen.

Western Refining Inc. (NYSE: WNR) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $40 price target (versus a $35.30 close) at Credit Suisse.

Zosano Pharma Corp. (NASDAQ: ZSAN) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $4 price target at Piper Jaffray. This represents more than 100% upside from the $1.77 closing price, but the shares were indicated up 7% at $1.90 on Friday morning. Zosano has a 52-week range of $0.45 to $3.54.

Thursday’s top analyst calls included Dollar Tree, FireEye, Ferrari, Kroger, Proofpoint, Verifone and many more. Wednesday’s top upgrades and downgrades were in Frontier Communications, IBM, LendingClub, Micron, Nike, Sirius XM, Urban Outfitters and many more.

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