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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: GE, Gilead, Oracle, Under Armour, El Pollo Loco and More

Stocks were trying to stage a small comeback on Tuesday after an overseas and oil induced sell-off from Monday that took the Dow Jones Industrial Average down about 300 points. The trend that held true each and every time there was a sell-off in 2014 was that investors would buy stocks on weakness that offer value or that have been overlooked by the market. With a new year and with the bull market almost six years old, the question is whether the buying appetite will hold up. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning to find new investment and trading ideas for its readers. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

Just as we saw in the prior year, investors may also wonder if the year-end rally ate into the current year’s gains. These are this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $28 from $30 (versus a $24.60 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) was started as Overweight with a $125 price target (versus a $96.79 close) at Barclays.

Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and the price target was raised to $49 from $44 (versus a $43.59 close) at Piper Jaffray.

Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UA) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup. This is just a day after Jefferies cut its rating to Hold from Buy.

El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LOCO) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies, but the price target was cut to $27 from $30 (versus a $20.86 close) in the call. This is just a day after Baird raised its rating to Outperform with a $34 price target.

ALSO READ: Apple’s First Analyst Price Target Hike of 2015

Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen this Tuesday were as follows:

Aerohive Networks Inc. (NYSE: HIVE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $5.25 price target at Goldman Sachs.

Becton, Dickinson and Co. (NYSE: BDX) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, just a day after Raymond James raised its rating to Strong Buy.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN) was started as Overweight with a $225 price target at Barclays.

Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) was started as Overweight with a $425 price target (versus a $336.74 close) at Barclays.

BroadSoft Corp. (NASDAQ: BSFT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $31 price target at Goldman Sachs.

CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

ALSO READ: 5 Massive Upside Analyst Stock Picks for 2015

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) was raised to Hold from Sell and the price target was raised to $140 from $115 at Deutsche Bank.

Medivation Inc. (NASDAQ: MDVN) was started as Overweight with a $130 price target at Barclays.

NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: NPSP) was started as Overweight at Barclays.

Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Rockwell Collins Inc. (NYSE: COL) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Merrill Lynch.

Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

Here is what oil under $50 means to consumers and companies alike, a look at both sides of the coin. Also, here were the S&P 500 targets for 2015 from the major brokerage firms:

  • Barclays, 2,100
  • BMO, 2,250
  • Citigroup, 2,200
  • Credit Suisse, 2,200
  • Deutsche Bank, 2,150
  • Goldman Sachs, 2,100
  • J.P. Morgan, 2,250
  • Merrill Lynch, 2,200
  • Morgan Stanley, 2,275
  • Oppenheimer, 2,311
  • RBC, 2,325
  • UBS, 2,225
  • Wells Fargo, 2,222

ALSO READ: 10 Dying and 10 Thriving U.S. Industries

In case you missed Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included shares of Akamai Technologies, Carnival, Chevron, El Pollo Loco, Ford, F5 Networks, Lululemon Athletica, Starbucks and a dozen or so more.

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