Top Analysts Upgrades and Downgrades: Altera, Chevron, Exxon, Discover Financial, LinkedIn, Lululemon and More

January 23, 2015 by Lee Jackson

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Source: Jon Ogg in NYC
After a gigantic rally sparked by an ambitious European quantitative easing move Thursday, investors are looking for a modest open on Friday as some of the tremendous gains generated by the rally are digested. The rally was so strong, it got all the major indexes close to where they ended 2014. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning to find new investment and trading ideas for its readers. Some analyst research reports cover new stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

Here are Friday’s leading analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from top research calls from around Wall Street.

Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital.

Avolon Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: AVOL) was started at Overweight at J.P. Morgan with a $24 price target. Shares closed on Thursday at $19.10.

Boston Properties Inc. (NYSE: BXP) was downgraded from Buy to Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

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Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperfrom at Credit Suisse.

CubeSmart (NYSE: CUBE) was raised to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) was added to the Top Picks List at FBR. Shares closed Thursday down almost 6% at $57.32.

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) was raised to Strong Buy at Raymond James.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at J.P. Morgan.

Murphy Oil Corp. (NYSE: MUR) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Thursday’s top analyst calls included Dunkin’ Brands, Eaton, Checkpoint Software, eBay, Emerson, Honeywell, SanDisk and more.

ALSO READ: 5 Top High-Yielding Dividend REIT Stock Picks for 2015

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