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Top Analyst Downgrades and Stocks to Sell: ARM, Devon and More

Jon C. Ogg — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:35:24 +0000

Investors frequently get to see the analyst upgrades and Buy ratings from Wall Street firms. What investors often do not get to see is when analyst downgrade stocks to sell or to avoid. 24/7 Wall St. reviews many fresh research calls each and every day to find great ideas from value stocks to growth stocks to dividend stocks, and we have broken out the negative analyst calls today. These are this Thursday’s top analyst downgrades and cautious research notes from Wall Street.

ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) was cut to Neutral from Outperform at BNP Paribas.

Blue Nile Inc. (NASDAQ: NILE) was cut to Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was started as Neutral at Credit Suisse due to analyst departure.

Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) was cut to Negative from an already cautious Neutral rating at Susquehanna.

Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) was cut to Neutral from Overweight at J.P. Morgan.

Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX) was cut to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) was started as Underperform at Credit Suisse.

Patterson-UTI Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN) was cut to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Prosperity Bancshares Inc. (NYSE: PB) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

Realty Income Corp. (NYSE: O) was cut to Sell from an already cautious Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) was cut to Underperform from an already cautious Neutral rating at Credit Suisse.

Sanmina Corp. (NASDAQ: SANM) was cut to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Filed under: Active Trader, Analyst Calls Tagged: ARMH, CMA, CMG, DVN, FLEX, JNJ, NILE, O, PB, PTEN, SANM, SOL

Dividend Risks Inflating

Jon C. Ogg — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 10:30:23 +0000

Investors cannot make any money in the bond market right now merely by buying and holding Treasury bonds forever. The problem is that Treasury yields are at record lows. In some parts of the developed world, those rates are selling at negative yields in some extreme cases as the public is choosing safety at any cost. This trend is again forcing income-oriented investors into higher-yield equities at the moment, but we want to warn about a broad-based dividend bubble that appears to be forming now.

The good news is that if you have been in these high-yield stocks for some time and seen massive appreciation, you probably will not feel much of a sting, even if the dividend bubble pops or slowly deflates. These companies paying the safer high yields are great companies with long track records. Many of these companies may even be able to keep raising their dividends. The other good news is that a dividend bubble would not at all look like a dot-come bubble bursting, as we saw from 2000 to 2003.

24/7 Wall St. has been tracking this trend of dividend investing for some time. The concern is over the price that new investors are paying to chase after these high dividends. At some point the payouts are just not enough reward for the amount of risk, and that is what we are starting to see today in many sectors and in many key stocks. A lot of these companies will be able to maintain their dividends or grow them, but with the economy softening up, a prudent investor should be asking how high of a price should be paid with new funds.

Filed under: Active Trader, Corporate Governance, Defensive Stocks, Dividend, Dividends & Buybacks, Earnings, Trading Alert, Value Investing Tagged: AMJ, AMTG, AWK, DTE, EPD, EQR, featured, HCN, JNK, KMB, MMP, MO, O, PAA, SO, SPG, T, VNQ, VZ, WEC, WMT, XLU

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (APC, BUD, ACN, BKW, CTSH, DF, EPR, GE, GGP, MMM, PSX, QCOM, O, SNDK, SNH, SPG, SVU, SKT)

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:05:14 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall St. research calls this Monday.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC): Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD): Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.

Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN): Started as Neutral at BofA/ML.

Burger King Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: BKW): Started as Overweight at Piper Jaffray.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ: CTSH): Started as Buy at BofA/ML.

Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF): Cut to Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets.

Entertainment Properties Trust (NYSE: EPR): Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE): Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE: GGP): Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM): Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX): Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM): Raised to Hold at Soc-Gen.

Realty Income Corp. (NYSE: O): Started as Sell at Goldman Sachs.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK): Cut to Neutral at Baird.

Senior Housing Properties Trust (NYSE: SNH): Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

Simon Property Group Inc. (NYSE: SPG): Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.

SUPERVALU Inc. (NYSE: SVU): Raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. (NYSE: SKT): Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can join our free email newsletter that includes analyst summaries each morning sent right to your inbox. We also cover top issues such as IPOs, special financial exclusives, mergers and more. Sign up in the box below.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: ACN, APC, BKW, BUD, CTSH, DF, EPR, GE, GGP, MMM, O, PSX, QCOM, SKT, SNDK, SNH, SPG, SVU

The Great Overlooked Dividend Hikes During the Panic (COV, CXS, DISCA, FITB, F, HST, LVS, LMT, MCD, MSFT, NEM, O)

Jon C. Ogg — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:20:45 +0000

This was no good week for stocks even if the markets have bounced off the lows numerous times on Friday. The low of the DJIA on Friday morning of 10,638 was down about 7.5% from the prior Friday’s close of $11,509.09. Ugly no matter how you cut it. What is so interesting is that companies are still making strides in increasing their payouts in dividends to shareholders as a clear message that their businesses are not at all imploding. Maybe things in China are slowing and maybe the Europeans have us fearing another 2008 to 2009 panic, but these companies are raising dividends in an effort to tell you that they believe that they have clarity in their earnings ahead.

The following companies either announced dividend hikes or hinted at dividend hikes soon: Covidien plc (NYSE: COV); CreXus Investment Corp. (NYSE: CXS); Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA); Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB); Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F); Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: HST); Las Vegas Sands Corporation (NYSE: LVS); Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT); McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD); Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT); Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM); and Realty Income Corporation (NYSE: O). These are not even all of the hikes as there were many dividend announcements from smaller companies during the week.

Covidien plc (NYSE: COV) is showing that healthcare products aren’t so worrisome after all. The company announced on the evening of September 22 that it increased its quarterly dividend by 12.5% from $0.20 to $0.225 per ordinary share. The new $0.90 anualized payout now generates a dividend yield of roughly 1.97%.

CreXus Investment Corp. (NYSE: CXS) declared on September 20 a bump to its third quarter dividend of $0.30 per share, a 25% gain from the prior $0.25 payout. As with all entities of this sort, it is hard to know whether or not this payout can be continued as income from quarter to quarter can fluctuate substantially. To prove the point, this annualized dividend would be approximately 13% and around $9.15 its 52-week range is $8.26 to $13.51. The company did note, ” We believe our shareholders will continue to see the benefits of the breadth and diversity of our platform in the quarters and years ahead.”

Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA) is not a dividend payer, but early this week came word from the Goldman Sachs Media conference that its CEO is pushing for a stock buyback and has said that a dividend initiation is possible. For a media company with no dividend, that could be a coup. The stock is close to $40 per share and its estimates for earnings from Thomson Reuters are $2.36 EPS for 2011 and $2.81 EPS for 2012.

Filed under: Corporate Governance, Dividend, Dividends & Buybacks, Shareholder Issues Tagged: COV, CXS, DISCA, F, FITB, HST, LMT, LVS, MCD, MSFT, NEM, O

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ABC, CAM, CE, CVX, EMC, FII, OII, RSH, RTN, O, SKH, SUNH, VHS, VE, VOD)

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:06:32 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Monday morning.

AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE: ABC) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Cameron International Corporation (NYSE: CAM) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) Reiterated Buy and Raised Target to $125 at Argus.
EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Federated Investors, Inc. (NYSE: FII) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Oceaneering International Inc. (NYSE: OII) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) Raised to Outperform at Bernstein.
Realty Income Corporation (NYSE: O) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. (NYSE: SKH) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
Sun Healthcare Group Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNH) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan; Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Vanguard Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE: VHS) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo; Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Veolia Environment (NYSE: VE) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD) Raised to Buy at UBS.

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ABC, CAM, CE, CVX, EMC, FII, O, OII, RSH, RTN, SKH, SUNH, VE, VHS, VOD

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ADTN, ATHN, CLH, DPS, GS, IM, O, RMD, SPWRA, TLAB)

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 03 May 2010 12:10:10 +0000

These are ten of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations we saw from Wall Street research calls this morning:

Adtran Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTN) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN) Reiterated Hold but price target cut to $32 at Auriga.
Clean Harbors, Inc. (NYSE: CLH) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE: DPS) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Cut to Market Perform and $165 target at KBW.
Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Realty Income Corp. (NYSE: O) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
ResMed Inc. (NYSE: RMD) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA) Reiterated SELL with $15 Target at Auriga.
Tellabs Inc. (NASDAQ: TLAB) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADTN, ATHN, CLH, DPS, GS, IM, O, RMD, SPWRA, TLAB

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (AMZN, ANSS, BEBE, CAH, CNQ, CROX, GCO, PEET, O, SBUX)

Douglas A. McIntyre — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:29:02 +0000

These are this morning’s top 10 analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls:

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) Raised to Outperform at Bernstein and target raised from $125 to $160.
ANSYS (NASDAQ: ANSS) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
bebe Stores (NASDAQ: BEBE) Cut to Hold at Brean Murray.
Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE: CNQ) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) Reiterated Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Genesco (NYSE: GCO) Raised to Outperform at R.W. Baird.
Peet’s Coffee & Tea (NASDAQ: PEET) Started as Buy at Janney.
Realty Income (NYSE: O) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) Reiterated Overweight at Piper Jaffray and raised 2010 targets.

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JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AMZN, ANSS, BEBE, CAH, CNQ, CROX, GCO, O, PEET, SBUX