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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: FibroGen, Foot Locker, GW Pharma, LendingClub, Lockheed Martin, Tesla, UPS and More

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Stocks were indicated marginally lower on Tuesday, but the Dow went above 22,100 and has been up 10 days in a row. August is also supposed to be a bad month for the markets historically. And even though this bull market is now well over eight years old, the prevailing theme is that investors keep finding new reasons to buy stocks after each single sell-off. Investors are also searching for new investing and trading ideas.

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

Additional color and commentary has been added on most of the daily analyst calls. Consensus analyst price target data are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Tuesday, August 8, 2017.

FibroGen Inc. (NASDAQ: FGEN) was just included in a Jefferies pool of top near-term catalysts for upside, and now Jefferies has reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target on FibroGen to $75 from $50 (versus a $33.40 prior close) now that it reported stat-sig-positive Phase 2 IPF lung data for 2nd drug FG-3019 and it believes that significant value creation should occur now. Stifel already had a Buy rating and $38 target, but the firm just raised its target to $80 on this news. FibroGen shares were last seen trading up 61% at $53.75, well above the prior high of $35.85.

Foot Locker Inc. (NYSE: FL) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $65 price target (versus a $48.84 close) at Morgan Stanley. It has a 52-week trading range of $44.59 to $79.43 and a consensus analyst price target of $68.21. Shares were indicated up 3.2% at $50.40 on Tuesday morning after the call.

GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ: GWPH) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Maxim Group. Janney maintained its Sell rating and $61 fair value. The shares were hit on news of a rolling FDA submission for Epidolex now being complete in October and an expected June-2018 PDUFA. GW Pharma shares closed down 2.1% at $115.10 on Monday and were indicated down almost 5% more at $109.75 on Tuesday.

LendingClub Corp. (NYSE: LC) was up almost 5% ahead of earnings and the guidance had it up almost 8% more at $5.90. LendingClub was maintained as Neutral with a $5 price target at Wedbush. Janney maintained LendingClub as Neutral as well. Oppenheimer maintained its Outperform rating but raised its target to $7.50 from $7.00 after noting that its quarter reflects a solid trajectory ahead. LendingClub has a 52-week range of $4.30 to $6.78 and a consensus price target of $6.61.

Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) was started as Overweight and assigned a $342 price target (versus a $297.15 close) at Morgan Stanley. Lockheed Martin has a 52-week range of $228.50 to $297.73 and a consensus price target of $306.44.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was raised to Buy from Hold at Argus and the firm assigned a price target of $444 (versus a $355.17 close). The Tesla upgrade was said to reflect strong orders for the Model 3, with orders cited at about 1,800 per day without any advertising or marketing campaigns. Tesla has a 52-week range of $178.19 to $386.99, and it has a consensus analyst target price of $313.24.

United Parcel Services Inc. (NYSE: UPS) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $128 price target (versus a $111.86 close) at Citigroup. UPS has a 52-week range of $102.12 to $120.44 and a consensus price target of $114.13. Shares were indicated up 1.7% at $113.80 ahead of Tuesday’s opening bell.

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Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:

Akcea Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: AKCA) has seen its quiet period come to an end. It was started as Buy ($19 target) at Stifel and started as Outperform ($25 target) at BMO. Wells Fargo and Cowen also initiated coverage as Outperform.

American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $72 from $70 (versus a $64.98 close) at Argus, with the firm noting a strong second quarter and that its new CEO fuels optimism for AIG.

Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Wedbush as its price target of $15 has been achieved. Beazer closed at $16.08 on Monday and noted that it is now valued at a premium to peer homebuilders.

Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Stephens.

General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) was started as Underweight and assigned a $185 price target (versus a $201.14 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) was started as Equal Weight with a $279 price target at Morgan Stanley.

NxStage Medical Inc. (NASDAQ: NXTM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $30 price target (versus a $29.67 close) at Jefferies.

Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) was started as Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

South Jersey Industries Inc. (NYSE: SJI) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the fair value estimate was raised to $38 from $34 (versus a $34.25 close) at Janney. Its shares have pulled back despite an improving outlook, and the firm recommended for clients to buy pullbacks.

THL Credit Inc. (NASDAQ: TCRD) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $10.50 price target (versus a $9.87 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Zynerba Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ZYNE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $7 price target (versus a $6.67 close) at H.C. Wainwright.

Monday’s top analyst calls included BlackBerry, BP, Camping World, Deere, GrubHub, KLA-Tencor, Zions and many more.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is now up 10 days straight and has set new all-time highs nine of those days.

Credit Suisse now believes that the U.S. dollar is likely entering a long-term bear market, noting that bull markets have typically lasted six to seven years and bear markets have lasted nine to 10 years. The firm also noted that a weak dollar is good for global equities until the point at which the Federal Reserve is compelled to react to its inflationary impact.

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