Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Amazon, DuPont, Disney, Sirius and More

October 25, 2013 by Jon C. Ogg

Bull and BearWe are knee-deep in corporate earnings reports and markets are surging to new all-time highs. Investors and traders alike are wondering which stocks to buy and which to sell in the current climate. 24/7 Wall St. reviews many Wall Street analyst research reports each morning to find new ideas for our readers. These are this Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was raised to Strong Buy from Market Perform at Raymond James, and Credit Suisse reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $439 from $330; Oppenheimer raised its price target to $395; Canaccord Genuity raised its price target up to $365.

Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO) rose massively after selling European assets. The stock was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co. (NYSE: DD), aka DuPont, was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.

Landstar System Inc. (NASDAQ: LSTR) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ: PLXS) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $36 price target (versus a $40.53 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Rayonier Inc. (NYSE: RYN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE: RS) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs and downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Evercore.

Susquehanna Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: SUSQ) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Timken Co. (NYSE: TKR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at J.P. Morgan; it also recently was named a short-selling candidate at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) was started as Outperform at FBR Capital Markets.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA) was started with a Buy rating at Citigroup.

Here are five high-yield REITs that look safe to buy again.

Also, we have tracked the six worst S&P 500 Index stocks of 2013.

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