The Top Seven Analyst Research Calls of the Week (ALU, C, JVA, JDSU, MCP, PMI, PCLN)

Each morning we publish the top analyst upgrades and downgrades that we see in the market.  When you look through the detailed research reports more closely, there are always some critical research notes that are either very insightful, or which have very peculiar observations, or which have extreme price target objectives.  This week we identified seven such research calls from analysts.  Our top seven analyst calls of this last week were seen in shares of Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C), Coffee Holding Co.Inc. (NASDAQ: JVA), JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU), PMI Group Inc. (NYSE: PMI), and in priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN).

We have discussed the seven research calls in more detail on each, as well as provided a price impact and added color on each.  Some of the price targets may seem extreme and some of the observations offer more keen insight as well.

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) actually held up rather well considering that its earnings report was likely to face profit taking.  Shares closed down only 3% on Friday after having been indicated as down 6% on the news.  Keep in mind that shares were already up a whopping 80% so far in 2011.  The big call came from S&P Equity Research, cutting the rating from “Hold” down to “Sell.”  Sell Alcatel-Lucent in May and go away?  

Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) got two fresh analyst endorsements ahead of the coming reverse stock split.  We gave our own full outlook on what to expect and the ramifications of that stock split. In this last week, Morgan Stanley raised the rating to Overweight with a price target of $6.00;  UBS started coverage with a “Buy” rating and it has a price target of $5.60 per share.  Thomson Reuters has a mean objective price target of $5.64 for the stock.  If you split the difference of these two calls, that is a $5.80 target and it implies almost 30% upside from Friday’s $4.52 close.  Oddly enough, Citigroup’s bullish calls failed to boost the stock as it closed down $0.07 from the $4.59 close of the previous Friday. 

Coffee Holding Co.Inc. (NASDAQ: JVA) is a stock that you almost never see in the news, let alone one which gets research coverage.  After all, its market cap is a mere $31 million.  A research outfit called Sidoti issued a “Buy” rating this week and the stock popped to as high as $6.15 this week after closing the previous Friday at $5.28.  Shares went out this last Friday at $5.80 for a gain of almost 10% for the week.  Some think that either Green Mountain or Starbucks will acquire this coffee roaster and dealer and this one actually pays a dividend that yields 2% after this weeks gains.  Just keep it in mind that this was under $1.00 before that 2009 coffee craze.

JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) has been a controversial stock for close to a decade now after its shares imploded and it became one of the largest market cap destructions of the dot-com and tech bubble bursting.  Things have turned back around, at least partly, and the fiber optics and equipment player turned in earnings that beat estimates and it raised expectations.  This week came a call from Argus with a further bullish tone.  The firm raised its rating to a “Buy” rating and issued a $27.00 price target.  Shares closed at $21.55 on Friday, implying 25% more upside, and its 52-week trading range is $9.05 to $29.12.

Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) has become a cult stock and is slated to report earnings in the coming week (previews here).  Shares were up over 8% at one point on Tuesday after a firm called Dahlman Rose called its “Buy” rating and it took its price target all the way up to $125.00 on the rare earth leader.  This was a one-day wonder as the stock closed down 6.4% for the week.

priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN) is a true battleground stock now and it weathered the earnings report rather fine as Friday’s close was only a 2.8% drop to $519.03.  This one is up a whopping 200% from just last June and analysts have a consensus price target objective of $539.44 on the stock.  Goldman Sachs cut the rating from “Buy” down to “Neutral” after the earnings on valuation.  Here is the other side of the battleground… Canaccord Genuity reiterated a “Buy” rating and raised the target to $700.00 from $660.00 in a Friday research note.  The research noted that guidance was conservative, improving fundamentals, being the best positioned of the online travel agents, and called it having powerful secular and cyclical growth.

PMI Group Inc. (NYSE: PMI) is a company that everyone that has to get mortgage insurance absolutely hates as it adds on more to the total monthly mortgage costs.  The company reported a loss this week.  Zacks named it The Bear Of The Day after earnings and the Thursday volume was severely elevated at 16.8 million shares.  Despite a 4.5% receovery bounce on Friday, PMI Group closed out the week down 15% at $1.83 and its 52-week range is now $1.71 to $5.18. The company claims a book value of $1.78 per share, but that is down from $2.58 just one quarter before and down from $6.96 a year earlier.

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JON C. OGG