Stocks have recovered and are yet again within striking distance of new all-time highs. With earnings season is in full swing, investors want the strong upside stocks but want to avoid the traps and pitfalls that are waiting to wreck their portfolios. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week for new ideas. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while some cover stocks to sell or to avoid. These are this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.
Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) was raised to Overweight with a $190 price target by J.P. Morgan.
A.O. Smith Corp. (NYSE: AOS) saw several hikes after the earnings report: BMO Capital Markets raised it to Outperform, Wedbush raised it to Outperform and Sterne Agee raised it to Buy.
Boston Scientific Co. (NYSE: BSX) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $15 from $14 at RBC Capital Markets.
E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) was raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ: GLMD) was started as Buy and with a $24 price target (versus a $9.15 close) by Maxim Group.
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General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) was reiterated as Buy with a $43 price target by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) had strong earnings and was reiterated as Buy with a $195 target at Merrill Lynch. Mizuho also reiterated its Buy rating and raised the target to $200.
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) was maintained as Hold at Wunderlich, but the firm trimmed the price target to $3.50 from $3.80.
SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $37 price target at Merrill Lynch.
Vitamin Shoppe Inc. (NYSE: VSI) was raised to Buy and given a $57 price target (versus a $47.89 close) at Sterne Agee.
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