Top Wall Street Analyst Upgrades: AllState, Cubist, Beazer and More

May 3, 2013 by Jon C. Ogg

Investors and traders are constantly looking for fresh research ideas from Wall Street that will lead to higher income or more profits. We review many fresh research calls to find great ideas from value stocks to growth stocks to dividend stocks. We are breaking out the positive analyst calls as far as stocks to buy and positive research calls today. These are some of this Friday’s top analyst upgrades, initiations and positive analyst research calls seen from Wall Street today.

AllState Inc. (NYSE: ALL) was kept as Buy but was raised to the prized Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.

Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AUXL) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Beam Inc. (NYSE: BEAM) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Citigroup.

Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at J.P. Morgan, and it also was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at JMP Securities.

Boulder Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: BDBD) was reiterated Buy with a $13 price target as its natural food strength continues, according to Canaccord Genuity.

Carbonite Inc. (NASDAQ: CARB) was reiterated Buy after earnings were evidence of a logical business strategy shift toward small and mid-sized businesses, according to Canaccord Genuity.

The Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ: CHEF) was reiterated Buy and its target was raised to $20 from $19 as its acquisition strategy adds at the same time that organic growth steps up, according to Canaccord Genuity,

CNOOC Ltd. (NYSE: CEO) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

ComScore Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) was raised to Buy from Hold at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CBST) was initiated with a Buy rating at UBS.

Magellan Midstream Partners L.P. (NYSE: MMP) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Western Refining Inc. (NYSE: WNR) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Jefferies identified the top oil service stocks to buy after the sector has been hit hard.

Here are the top analyst downgrades and cautious calls from Wall Street analysts.

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