Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Deckers, InterMune, Medivation, Pan American Silver and More

Stocks are hitting news high, earnings season is winding down and Washington, D.C., seems to no longer be a concern. Investors still worry about buying the top and about the next major market correction. 24/7 Wall St. reviews many analyst research reports each morning on the hunt for new ideas for its readers. Some are stocks to buy, others are stocks to sell. These are this Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.

Deckers Outdoor Corp. (NASDAQ: DECK) beat earnings this week but lowered guidance. The shoe and accessories company was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $75 from $100 at Jefferies. Sterne Agee maintained its Buy rating but lowered the price target to $95 from $110. Credit Suisse maintained its Underperform rating and $61 price target, and Canaccord Genuity maintained its Buy rating but lowered the target price to $103 from $111.

InterMune Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN) shares may have doubled this week, but the biotech player was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse on valuation. Keep in mind that the gap-up has already seen much selling, with shares actually having pulled back 20% from the top tick this week.

MarkWest Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: MWE) fell after earnings and there have been two downgrades so far. The master limited partnership (MLP) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley, and it was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo. Woes in MLPs to continue?

Medivation Inc. (NASDAQ: MDVN) is trading down handily after earnings. The biotech outfit was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies and to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen and Co.

Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank, but keep in mind that this one was also downgraded to Sell from an already cautious Neutral rating at Goldman Sachs earlier this week.

Other Key Analyst Calls

Abaxis Inc. (NASDAQ: ABAX) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $35 price target (versus a $39.15 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

American States Water Co. (NYSE: AWR) was raised to Buy from Hold at Brean Capital, but it was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Janney Montgomery Scott.

Credit Suisse Group A.G. (NYSE: CS) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

Dominion Resources Inc. (NYSE: D) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus after the strong gains.

Eaton Vance Corp. (NYSE: EV) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a favorable risk-reward profile, but the price target was lowered by $1 to $45, by Sterne Agee.

Mercadolibre Inc. (NASDAQ: MELI) is soaring after earnings. Stifel Nicolaus raised its rating to Buy from Sell after the report.

Total S.A. (NYSE: TOT) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Tupperware Brands Corp. (NYSE: TUP) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus after weak quarterly earnings.

Virtus Investment Partners Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTS) was started as Neutral with a $190 price target at Merrill Lynch.

YuMe Inc. (NYSE: YUME) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy after earnings by Citigroup.

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