Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Coach, Merck, Netflix, Sprint, Twitter and More

April 30, 2014 by Jon C. Ogg

Bull and BearInvestors are seeing earnings reports come out by the dozens, and they want to make money yet avoid downside. With choppy markets, many investors remain cautious. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning, looking for new ideas for stocks to buy and stocks to sell. These are this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform by RBC Capital Markets.

ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $22 price target by Sterne Agee.

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup. It was maintained as a Hold at Argus.

Frontier Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: FTR) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Gabelli.

HomeAway Inc. (NASDAQ: AWAY) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform by FBR Capital Markets.

Markwest Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: MWE) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight and the price target was cut to $70 from $74 by Barclays.

Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ: MERC) was started as Outperform and a $10 price target by Credit Suisse.

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Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $66 from $62 by Argus.

Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $450 price target at Raymond James.

Power Integrations Inc. (NASDAQ: POWI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee.

QEP Resources Inc. (NYSE: QEP) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays.

Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) was maintained as Underperform but the price target was raised to $6.00 from $5.50 by Credit Suisse. Canaccord Genuity maintained its Neutral rating.

3D Systems Co. (NYSE: DDD) was maintained as Buy but the price target was slashed to $75 from $100 at Canaccord Genuity. Credit Suisse maintained it as Neutral but cut the target price down to $69 from $79 as it believes that elevated expenses will continue to challenge earnings.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was maintained cautiously and the target was cut to $40 from $45 at Cantor Fitzgerald.

VistaPrint (NASDAQ: VPRT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Cantor Fitzgerald.

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