Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AmEx, BIND, Devon, GM, Novavax, Teck and More

April 7, 2015 by Jon C. Ogg

investor researchStocks have recovered slightly on Tuesday morning. One trend that has held steady is that investors keep buying their favorite stocks every time the market sells off. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each morning to find new trading or investment ideas for its readers. Some of these analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid. These are this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades.

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) was maintained as Neutral at Credit Suisse, but the firm did lower its estimates to adjusting for lower lease originations.

Alon USA Energy Inc. (NYSE: ALJ) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) was downgraded to Underperform from Perform and the price target was set at $68 (versus a $79.63 close) at Oppenheimer.

BIND Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: BIND) was started as Outperform and was given a price target of $14 (versus a $5.67 close) at Oppenheimer. While this is a huge target, the consensus price target is actually listed as $16 and the 52-week range is $4.89 to $13.72. Shares were indicated up 7% on the news.

Callaway Golf Co. (NYSE: ELY) was started as Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

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CenterPoint Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNP) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $27 from $29 (versus a $21.06 close) at Argus. The firm is seeing some KW/hour sales stabilization but thinks it will be at least 2016 before sustained sales growth returns.

Charles River Laboratories International Inc. (NYSE: CRL) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform by Wells Fargo.

Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI) was raised to Buy from Hold at Evercore ISI. The price target was raised to $92 (versus a $84.94 close).

Demandware Inc. (NYSE: DWRE) was maintained as Buy but was added to the prized Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.

Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $76 from $68 at Argus. The firm said that Devon is better positioned following the completion of recent asset divestitures and acquisitions.

Evercore Partners Inc. (NYSE: EVR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) was reiterated as Buy with a $50 price target at Sterne Agee, after the report that the Canadian government will sell 73.4 million shares.

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Graco Inc. (NYSE: GGG) was started as Underperform at RBC Capital Markets. It was given a $68 price target (versus a $72.86 close).

Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) was reiterated Buy with a $12 fair value estimate (versus a $7.81 close) at Janney Capital Markets. The firm believes that a data-heavy 2015 will continue driving the shares higher.

Ocean Rig UDW Inc. (NASDAQ: ORIG) was started as Accumulate with a $7.50 price target (versus a $7.13 close) at Global Hunter.

Pattern Energy Group Inc. (NASDAQ: PEGI) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Raymond James. The firm set a $35 price target

Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $56 from $53 at Argus. The firm believes that Paychex has room to grow its core business.

Rocket Fuel Inc. (NASDAQ: FUEL) was reiterated Buy with a Fair Value estimate of $17.50 (versus a $8.97) based on overcoming the agency dilemma at Janney Capital Markets.

Teck Resources Ltd. (NYSE: TCK) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Sector Outperform at CIBC.

Total S.A. (NYSE: TOT) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at RBC Capital Markets.

Toyota Motors Corp. (NYSE: TM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

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Ubiquiti Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: UBNT) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $33 price target (versus a $29.16 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Universal Technical Institute Inc. (NYSE: UTI) was reiterated as Sell at Argus, based on continued industry pressures.

Verifone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY) was raised to Buy from Hold with a price target of $42 (versus a $34.39 close) at Stifel.

In case you missed Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included of CONSOL Energy, Garmin, IMAX, Microsoft, SAP, Windstream and a dozen or so more.

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