Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AbbVie, Alcoa, Apple, Deckers, Dish, Pfizer, Petrobras and More

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By Jon C. Ogg Published
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Stocks were soft on Monday despite OPEC hinting at a faster oil demand recovery than expected. The rally from last week was on the heels of a bad January, and this only proves yet again that investors will buy solid value and overlooked stocks on every pullback. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each morning to find new investment and trading ideas for our readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

These are this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) was started as Sell at Citigroup.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral and the price target was cut to $20 from $30 (versus a $25.78 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. It was also downgraded to Sell from Hold at Wunderlich.

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (NYSE: ASX) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at J.P. Morgan.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at J.P. Morgan.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Buy at Canaccord Genuity, and the price target was raised to $145 from $135. The call is based on a growing iPhone user base that should drive steady long-term iPhone sales and strong cash flows.

ALSO READ: Analyst Now Bullish on 5 Oil and Gas Stocks

CBOE Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Century Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ: CENX) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at J.P. Morgan.

Conn’s Inc. (NASDAQ: CONN) was raised to Buy from Hold at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Deckers Outdoor Corp. (NYSE: DECK) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy on a weaker outlook at Argus. The firm said that the shares appear fairly valued at $92, versus a $91.50 close.

Frontier Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: FTR) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup.

Harris Corp. (NYSE: HRS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Sterne Agee.

KeyCorp. (NYSE: KEY) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

ALSO READ: A Big Gilead Downgrade, 0r Is It?

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (NYSE: PBR) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was downgraded to Underperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Statoil ASA (NYSE: STO) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (NYSE: VRX) was started as Overweight at Barclays.

Here were five speculative analyst stock picks under $10 with huge upside price targets.

In case you missed Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of Best Buy, Gilead Sciences, KeyCorp, National Bank of Greece, Pandora, Staples, Yelp and a dozen or so more companies.

Photo of Jon C. Ogg
About the Author Jon C. Ogg →

Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. www.247wallst.com.

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