Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alcoa, Intel, Lululemon, MannKind, Marathon, Occidental and More

June 13, 2014 by Jon C. Ogg

Bull and BearIt is Friday (the 13th, mind you) and stocks are trying to find direction after a couple of big selling days this week. Investors keep hearing that the raging bull market has migrated into a stock picker’s market. Each morning of the week, 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports to find new ideas for our readers. Some of the Wall Street research reports from analysts cover stocks to buy, and some of them cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

These are this Friday’s top Wall Street analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform with a $14 price target (versus a $14.01 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

American Tower Corp. (NYSE: AMT) was started as Outperform with a $101 price target (versus an $87.90 close) at Credit Suisse. The firm only gave Neutral ratings in the call to SBA Communications and to Crown Castle.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was started with a Hold rating and given an $89 price target (versus a $82.86 close) at Jefferies.

Fusion-io Inc. (NYSE: FIO) was started with a Buy rating and given a $12.50 price target (versus $8.83 closing price) at Roth Capital.

ALSO READ: Credit Suisse Top Chip Stock Picks for High Growth

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) raised its guidance and shares were surging. Its rating was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $35 price target at Roth Capital. Sterne Agee maintained its Neutral rating but raised its target price to $24 from $20. Canaccord Genuity maintained its Buy rating and raised the price target to $31 from $29, while Deutsche Bank reiterated its Buy rating and raised the target to $35. Morgan Stanley also raised its rating to Equal Weight from Underweight.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity. J.P. Morgan cut the rating to Neutral from Overweight, and RW Baird cut its rating to Neutral from Outperform. Many other firms have thrown in the towel by slashing their price targets.

MannKind Corp. (NASDAQ: MNKD) was started with an Outperform rating at RBC Capital Markets.

Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform by Wells Fargo, with a price target range of $38 to $41, versus a $39.15 close. On the flip-side, Jefferies started coverage with a Buy rating and gave it a $45 price target.

ALSO READ: The Highest-Yielding Dividends That Are Safe to Hold

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive by Susquehanna.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) was started with a Buy rating and given a $114 price target (versus a $101.25 close) at Jefferies.

Owens-Illinois Inc. (NYSE: OI) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and the price target was set at $38, versus a $32.74 closing price.

PennyMac Financial Services Inc. (NYSE: PFSI) was started with a Buy rating and a $19 price target (versus a $15.46 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Penn Virginia Corp. (NYSE: PVA) was raised to Buy from Hold and given a $23 price target (versus a $14.86 close) by Stifel.

Pinnacle Foods Inc. (NYSE: PF) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse. The firm gave a $36 price target (versus a $32.10 close) on the expected termination of its Hillshire merger agreement generating an expected $163 million termination fee payable to Pinnacle.

ALSO READ: The Five Most Heavily Shorted Nasdaq Stocks

Sonoco Products Co. (NYSE: SON) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch, and the price target was raised to $47 from $44, versus a $42.37 close.

Time Inc. (NYSE: TIME) was started with a Buy rating and given a $28 price target (versus a $22.55 close) by Citigroup.

Take This Retirement Quiz To Get Matched With An Advisor Now (Sponsored)

Are you ready for retirement? Planning for retirement can be overwhelming, that’s why it could be a good idea to speak to a fiduciary financial advisor about your goals today.

Start by taking this retirement quiz right here from SmartAsset that will match you with up to 3 financial advisors that serve your area and beyond in 5 minutes. Smart Asset is now matching over 50,000 people a month.

Click here now to get started.