Top 5 Analyst Calls of the Week (AMZN, NFLX, PHM, GOLD, SIRI)

We had another crazy week in the markets with shares on a tear.  There were many key analyst calls that moved shares this week.  We have identified five specific analyst calls which stood out.  These calls covered Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), PulteGroup Inc. (NYSE: PHM), Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GOLD) and SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI).

We have added in the summaries and the basis for the calls on each and added in color of our own and shown what the impact was from each call.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) may feel like a ‘late to the party’ call but Jeff Bezos saw his online merchant empire get upgraded this last week.  It was William Blair which raised its rating to “Outperform” from “Market Perform” based on the company’s ability to grow market share and it holding up well from brick-and-mortar competition.  Now that mobile commerce is finally starting to come into play it sees this adding more growth as well. To show how much the call helped out, shares closed at $165.32 on Wednesday before the report and the stock closed at $171.01 the following day.

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) may be another one which feels like a ‘late to the party’ call now.  Credit Suisse raised its ratings on Tuesday to Outperform with a $280 price target.  Shares were at $212.84 before the call and closed at $221.39 after the call.  Shares even closed at $230.01 on Friday as the market rose each day.

PulteGroup Inc. (NYSE: PHM) is one that is either crazy or genius.  Despite the awful numbers we have been seeing from anything tied to housing, Goldman Sachs put Pulte on its prized “Conviction Buy List” on Wednesday and the firm called it the only name in housing where investors are paid to wait for the housing recovery.  Shares were at $7.14 before the call and the stock closed up at $7.40 after the call and rose each day to close at $7.57 for the week.  More Details on that Call.

Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GOLD) saw a great report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch this week.  The report did actually lower some targets and this was a “reiterated Buy rating” but earnings estimates were raised and the report was looking for nearly 50% upside. This one had only limited impact but it is the upside of almost 50% that makes the call stand out so much from the crowd. More Details on that Call.

SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) may have seen a massive exponential run since the penny stock days where implosion was possible in 2008 and 2009, but one analyst threw in his towel this week.  After a lawsuit was filed by Howard Stern for back stock options, Wunderlich Securities cuts its previous “Buy” rating down to “Hold.”  Shares were at $1.71 before the call and closed down at $1.67 after the call.  Investors ignored the caution with a strong market as the stock closed at $1.72 on Friday.  We would note that Wunderlich was one of the firms that caused a serious rise before with an analyst upgrade way back at lower prices.  The firm believes that the valuation cannot accommodate the uncertainty from this suit.  We pointed out its full diluted value in all of the hidden gems from its annual report.

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JON C. OGG