Earnings season is in full throttle and the Washington, D.C., mess is behind us for a few months. Now stocks are again challenging new all-time highs. Investors are wondering which stocks to buy, which stocks to sell and which ones to avoid entirely. 24/7 Wall St. reviews many Wall Street analyst research reports each and every day to find new ideas for our readers, from dividends to value to sell ratings. These are this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.
AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) was started as Buy with a $47 price target (versus a $35.19 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.
CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $60 from $55 (versus a $49.06 close), but the earnings estimates were cut by 3%, at Sterne Agee.
Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) is down sharply after lowering guidance with earnings; the stock was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham and estimates have been cut elsewhere.
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. (NYSE: DD) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at J.P. Morgan.
Eaton Vance Corp. (NYSE: EV) was raised to Outperform from Underperform and the price target was raised to $46 from $40 (versus a $40.47 close) at Credit Suisse.
National CineMedia Inc. (NASDAQ: NCMI) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at J.P. Morgan.
Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ: PNRA) was downgraded to Hold from Buy after Tuesday’s earnings at KeyBanc.
Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at SunTrust.
Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (NYSE: RBS) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.
SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) was started as Outperform with a $5.50 price target (versus a $4.12 close) at FBR Capital Markets.
Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Weight Watchers International Inc. (NYSE: WTW) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
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