Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alibaba, Cree, JD.Com, RF Micro, Kraft, Sprint, Visa and More

October 30, 2014 by Jon C. Ogg

investor researchStocks were trading lower Thursday morning. One thing that holds true is that investors keep proving that they will step into the market and buy value stocks and overlooked stocks when they find the opportunity. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports, on the hunt for new investment and trading ideas, each morning of the week. Some of these analyst research reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

These are this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades featured by 24/7 Wall St.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) was started as Buy at BNP Paribas with a $113 price target. This is a day after the quiet period expired, and we have shown a full description of the analyst coverage on the company. Note that shares closed down 1.4% at $98.31 on Wednesday after all the Buy ratings were issued.

CH Robinson Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: CHRW) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral and the price target was cut to $65 from $68 (versus a $72.10 close) at Credit Suisse.

Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW) was started as Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Edison International (NYSE: EIX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

JD.com Inc. (NASDAQ: JD) was started as Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Kraft Foods Group Inc. (NASDAQ: KRFT) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was cut to $58 from $63 (versus a $56.91 close) at Credit Suisse.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG) was raised to Neutral from Sell and the price target was moved to $48 from $43 at Goldman Sachs.

RF Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: RFMD) was shown to have its merger with TriQuint on track in a note from Canaccord Genuity, and the firm raised its rating to Buy from Hold, and the price target was raised to $16.00 from $12.50.

Southern Co. (NYSE: SO) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $46 price target (versus a $46.42 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse, and the price target and the closing price were the same at $6.00.

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SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) was raised to Buy from Hold at Canaccord Genuity.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) traded higher after beating earnings. The video game maker was raised to Buy from Hold at Brean Capital.

TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. (NASDAQ: TQNT) was cited as having solid results with drivers in place for solid long-term growth by Canaccord Genuity, which raised it to Buy from Hold, and the price target was raised to $26 from $20.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the price target was raised to $260 from $250 at FBR Capital Markets.

In case you missed Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades featured by 24/7 Wall St., they included Alibaba, Amgen, Cliffs Natural Resources, Michael Kors, Sanofi, Yahoo and a dozen or so more.

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