Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Amazon, Amex, Best Buy, GE, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Conagra and Many More

April 25, 2017 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were putting in a second day of big gains, but rather than being a French cheer it was due to multiple Dow components posting strong earnings. Even though this bull market is now more than eight years old, investors have found reason after reason to step in and buy the market sell-offs. Investors are also still looking for new trading and investing ideas.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week in an effort to find new ideas for our readers. Some of the key analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and other reports cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

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 Tuesday, April 25, 2017:

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James. Amazon closed up 1% at $907.41 and was indicated down 0.2% at $905.50 on Tuesday.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) was raised to Buy from Neutral by Guggenheim. Shares closed up 1.1% at $80.45 on Monday and were indicated up 0.75% at $81.05 on Tuesday. Amex has a 52-week trading range of $57.15 to $82.00, and it has a consensus analyst target price of $81.60.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price objective was raised to $58 from $46 (versus a $51.15 prior close) at Merrill Lynch. Best Buy has a 52-week range of $28.76 to $51.42, and its shares are indicated to open at a new 52-week high of $52.50 on Tuesday.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price objective was cut to $31 from $35 at Merrill Lynch. What is odd here is that Merrill Lynch was very positive in its flash-report after GE’s earnings. The firm now feels that investors should move to the sidelines as expectations are still too high for 2018. GE’s 52-week range is $28.19 to $33.00. Its shares were indicated down 0.6% at $29.37.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Guggenheim. It closed up 3.5% at $87.50 on Monday and was indicated up 0.9% higher at $88.25 on Tuesday. The 52-week range is $57.05 to $93.98.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Guggenheim. Wells Fargo closed up 1.2% at $53.65 on Monday and was indicated up 0.7% at $54.04. It has a 52-week range of $43.55 to $59.99.

Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:

America Movil SAB de C.V. (NASDAQ: AMOV) was raised to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank.

Boingo Wireless Inc. (NASDAQ: WIFI) was started as Buy with an $18 price target (versus a $14.00 close) at Benchmark.

CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ: CAMP) was started as a Buy and assigned a $23 price target (versus a $17.92 close) at Benchmark. CalAmp was indicated up 1% at $18.10 on Tuesday.

China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LFC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch. The firm believes the coming capital injection to China Guangfa Bank could be an overhang for China Life’s share price.

Conagra Brands Inc. (NYSE: CAG) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $35 price target (versus a $40.93 close) at UBS.

Digi International Inc. (NASDAQ: DGII) was started as Buy and assigned a $16 price target (versus a $12.00 close) at Benchmark Securities.

Gartner Inc. (NYSE: IT) was started as Neutral and assigned a $115 price target (versus a $113.42 close) at Goldman Sachs.

GasLog Ltd. (NYSE: GLOG) was started as Outperform and assigned a $21 price target at Credit Suisse.

O’Reilly Automotive Inc. (NASDAQ: ORLY) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Rockwell Collins Inc. (NYSE: COL) was started with a Sell rating and assigned a $91 price target (versus a $105.42 close) at Goldman Sachs.

SK Telecom Co. Ltd. (NYSE: SKM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Terex Corp. (NYSE: TEX) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and the price target was raised to $47 from $30 (versus a $33.09 close after a 2% gain) at JPMorgan. Terex was indicated up 2.8% at $34.01 on Tuesday.

Monday’s top analyst calls were in AK Steel, Amazon.com, AngloGold Ashanti, Bank of America, General Electric, Walt Disney, Xilinx and in about a dozen more.

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