Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Coeur, Comcast, First Solar, Marvell, ONEOK, Whole Foods and More

February 25, 2015 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were marginally lower on Wednesday, a day after the Janet Yellen easy money policy continuation helped markets hit new highs. Investors have shown over and over, for more than two years now, that they want to buy stocks after every single pullback. Each pullback has proven to be a chance to buy stocks they wanted to own or that are overlooked.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week. The aim is to find new investment and trading ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other reports cover stocks to sell or avoid.

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

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) saw its earnings estimates cut and its price target cut to $20 from $26 by Janney Capital Markets. This is ahead of next week’s earnings, and margin pressures are expected to remain.

Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen.

Coeur Mining Inc. (NYSE: CDE) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at J.P. Morgan.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $70 from $62 at Canaccord Genuity.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Northland Securities.

ALSO READ: 5 Top Technology Buyout Candidates

IAMGOLD Corp. (NYSE: IAG) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $3 price target (versus a $2.28 close) at HSBC.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel.

Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) shares were down almost 5% at $45.10 on Tuesday after earnings and guidance disappointed. Now it was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was cut to $51 from $57 at Goldman Sachs, and it was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Evercore ISI.

Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. (NYSE: OHI) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel.

Smith Micro Software Inc. (NASDAQ: SMSI) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was put at $2.10 (versus a $2.58 close and a $2.00 consensus price target) at Needham.

Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $65 from $62 at Oppenheimer.

Vitamin Shoppe Inc. (NYSE: VSI) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays.

ALSO READ: Merrill Lynch’s Top Dividend Stock Picks

Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included American Airlines, Chevron, Coach, Duke Energy, Newmont Mining, Sprint and more.

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