This story has been updated to reflect late-day moves.
It is Thursday and stocks are mixed, again trying to find direction for the day. The bull market has continued in 2014, but investors now routinely hear that the bull market has become more of a stock picker’s market. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week, hunting for new research ideas for our readers. Some of the analyst calls cover stocks to buy, but some cover stocks to sell or stocks to avoid.
AFTERNOON UPDATE: Barclays scored the best and worst call of the day, at least by our count. The “lame call of the day” was Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) being started as Underweight and with a $420 price target. Netflix’s prior close was $444.21, and was at $439.44 in late Thursday trading. The King Kong return for analyst calls go to Twitter, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWTR) – also from the same Barclays analyst call. The firm gave it an Overweight rating and $46 price target. After closing at $39.46 on Wednesday, the late Thursday trading was up 6% to $41.81.
These were Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from Wall Street firms.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was started with an Equal Weight rating and given a $330 price target (versus a $327.44 close) at Barclays.
CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) was started with a Buy rating and was given a $72 price target (versus a $58.84 close) at Jefferies after a huge post-Aereo rally the prior day.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) was started with an Equal Weight rating and given a $54 target (versus a $49.32 close) at Barclays.
Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) was started as Overweight and given a $78 price target (versus a $67.44 close) at Barclays.
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Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) was started as Buy at Jefferies after a post-Aereo rally the prior day.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) was started with an Overweight rating and given a $650 price target (versus a $578.65 close) at Barclays.
Harvard Bioscience Inc. (NASDAQ: HBIO) was started as Buy (versus a $3.72 close) at Janney Capital Markets.
Hill-Rom Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HRC) was raised to Buy from Hold and given a $48 price target (versus a $40.59 close) at Goldman Sachs.
Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. (NYSE: IPG) was started as Buy at Jefferies.
LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) was started with an Equal Weight rating and was given a $175 price target (versus a $170 close) at Barclays.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was started as Underweight and was given a $420 price target (versus a $444.21 close) by Barclays.
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News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA) was stared with a Buy rating at Jefferies after the post-Aereo ruling.
PAREXEL International Corp. (NASDAQ: PRXL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair.
Pinnacle Foods Inc. (NYSE: PF) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform and the price target was raised to $36 from $31 (versus a $32.35 close) at RBC Capital Markets.
Sequential Brands Group Inc. (NASDAQ: SQBG) was reiterated with a Buy rating, but the price target was raised to $19 from $11 (versus a $13.68 close), at Canaccord Genuity. This upgrade was after a 17% rally the prior day on news that its transformative acquisition of Galaxy Brands will pave the way for future growth.
Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE: SLF) was started with a Buy rating at Goldman Sachs.
Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) was started as Buy with an $80 price target (versus a $68.24 close) at Jefferies.
Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was started with an Overweight rating and was given a $46 price target (versus a $39.46 close) at Barclays.
Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (NASDAQ: FOXA) was started as Buy with a $43 price target (versus a $34.21 close) at Jefferies.
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Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) was started with a Buy rating and was given a $100 price target (versus a $82.68 close) at Jefferies after the post-Aereo ruling.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) was started as Equal Weight with a $35 price target (versus a $33.25 close) at Barclays.
Zulily Inc. (NASDAQ: ZU) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform and given a $50 price target (versus a $39.88 close) at RBC Capital Markets. Keep in mind that shares rallied 9% the prior day on a Goldman Sachs upgrade with the same upside.
In case you missed Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Apple, Coach, J.C. Penney, Micron Technology, Whole Foods, Vertex Pharmaceutical and a dozen or so more.
Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Costco, Ctrip.com, Dr Pepper, PetSmart, Target, Web.com and many more. Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included AMD, Dish Network, Facebook, Nordstrom, SunPower and many more as well.
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