Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alibaba, Electronic Arts, NVIDIA, Occidental Petroleum, SeaWorld, Yelp and More

May 10, 2017 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were indicated marginally lower on Wednesday after challenging all-time highs again. The bull market is now more than eight years old and investors have bought every single pullback. Now those same investors are 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 of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy and others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls on Wednesday, May 10, 2017.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $132 from $130 (versus a $120.00 prior close) at Barclays. Alibaba has a 52-week trading range of $73.30 to $120.00 and a consensus analyst target price of $129.97.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) closed up 0.3% at $96.01 ahead of earnings but was indicated up 8.2% at $103.95 afterward. EA was reiterated as Buy at Jefferies and the price target was raised to $123 from $110, noting digital spending in Battlefield and FIFA drove a big earnings beat. Wedbush reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $116 from $95. 24/7 Wall St. has offered much more detail in expanded analyst coverage for EA shares.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) closed up almost 0.2% at $102.94 ahead of earnings and was up 12% at $115.45 after beating earnings and raising guidance. Jefferies reiterated its Buy rating and $140 target price, calling it a top pick. Barclays has an Equal Weight rating but raised its target to $105 from $90.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) was raised to Neutral from Underweight and the price target was raised to $67 from $66 (versus a $59.88 close) at JPMorgan. Occidental has a 52-week range of $57.20 to $78.48, and the consensus target price was $73.57.

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: SEAS) closed up 3.2% at $18.11 on Tuesday after earnings, in a 52-week range of $11.77 to $20.13. SeaWorld was reiterated as Buy with a $25 fair value estimate (versus an $18.11 close) at Janney, noting that the outlook continues to improve and that it’s time to get on board. Wedbush maintained its Neutral rating and $20 price target, noting that guidance was underwhelming.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) was down 2.8% at $34.70 ahead of earnings, but it was down almost 25% at $26.10 afterward. Wedbush maintained its Neutral rating and lowered its price target to $29 from $37. RBC cut its rating to Sector Perform from Outperform, and the price target was slashed to $27 from $49. JPMorgan maintained an Overweight rating but cut its target to $37 from $48.

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Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the target price was raised to $55 from $40 (versus a $45.99 close) at Goldman Sachs.

HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: HSBC) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was hiked by about 2% overseas at Merrill Lynch.

IAMGOLD Corp. (NYSE: IAG) was raised to Neutral from Underperform and the price target was raised to $5.00 from $4.50 (versus a $3.72 close) at Credit Suisse, based on an improved execution and raising 2017 estimates.

Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LL) was down 1.2% at $21.69 on Tuesday and was indicated up 4.4% at $22.65 on Wednesday morning. Lumber Liquidators was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $27 from $22.

Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP) was up 1.3% at $76.45 ahead of earnings and was up 4.3% at $79.75 afterward. Microchip Tech was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $92 from $87 at Jefferies. Morgan Stanley has an Overweight rating and raised its target price to $90 from $85.

Nutanix Inc. (NASDAQ: NTNX) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight but the price target was cut to $19 from $20 (versus a $16.27 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Nutrisystem Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRI) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $58 from $54 (versus a $49.85 close) at Argus. The call was after better guidance, and the firm noted that Nutrisystem is a well-regarded brand that is growing through acquisitions and new product offerings.

Office Depot Inc. (NASDAQ: ODP) was maintained as Hold at Jefferies, but the firm raised its target price to $5.00 from $4.50. Morgan Stanley maintained its Equal Weight rating and raised its price target to $5.45 from $5.00.

Rocket Fuel Inc. (NASDAQ: FUEL) was down 1.4% at $4.96 on Tuesday and then was indicated down 14% at $4.25 after reporting a loss. Credit Suisse downgraded Rocket Fuel to Neutral from Outperform.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE: SLF) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, based on lower earnings outlook after earnings missed from soft U.S. results.

Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB) was down 0.5% after earnings on Tuesday and was indicated down 0.8% at $35.95 on Wednesday. Viacom was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Goldman Sachs.

Xencor Inc. (NASDAQ: XNCR) was reiterated as Outperform but the price target was cut to $29 from $33 (versus a $24.10 close) at Wedbush.

Tuesday’s top analyst calls included Autodesk, Energy Transfer Partners, IAC/InterActive, JD.Com, Kite Pharma and Whole Foods and many more.

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