Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: GE, IBM, Bristol-Myers, Encana, Halliburton, Rio Tinto, WhiteWave and More

April 21, 2015 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were indicated up on Tuesday, even after Monday’s big gains. The trend that is nearing four years old now is that investors keep buying stocks on weakness. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of research reports from analysts each morning to find new trading and investment ideas for its readers. Some of the analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

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

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Bovie Medical Corp. (NYSEMKT: BVX) was started as Market Outperform with a $5 price target (versus a $2.48 close) at JMP Securities.

Cash America International Inc. (NYSE: CSH) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $19 price target (versus a $26.59 close) at Macquarie.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) was raised to Buy from Hold with a price target of $103 (versus a $85.88 close) at Argus.

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Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $125 price target (versus a $116.46 close) at SunTrust.

Crown Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CCK) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

EnCana Corp. (NYSE: ECA) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Eversource Energy (NYSE: ES) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a price target cut to $53 from $57 (versus a $50.50 close) at UBS.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) was reiterated as Buy with a price target of $31 at Argus.

Genocea Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GNCA) was started as Outperform with a $20 price target (versus a $12.93 close) at FBR Capital Markets.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) was reiterated as Buy with a $12 price target at Sterne Agee, on the heels of the company’s Ticket Monster stake sale and its $300 million stock buyback.

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) was reiterated Buy, with raised estimates and a price target raise to $54 from $45 (versus a $47.85 close), at Sterne Agee.

HubSpot Inc. (NYSE: HUBS) was started as Buy with a $50 price target (versus a $39.60 close) at Needham.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) was maintained as Neutral with a $160 price target at Janney Capital Markets on the heels of another financially engineered quarterly earnings report. Credit Suisse maintained its Underperform rating, as well as its street-low price target of $125.

Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Argus.

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Newfield Exploration Co. (NYSE: NFX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Societe Generale. FBR Capital Markets also downgraded it to Market Perform from Outperform.

New Residential Investment Corp. (NYSE: NRZ) was started as Outperform with a price target of $19 (versus a $16.75 close) at Credit Suisse.

Oceaneering International (NYSE: OII) was downgraded to Underperform from Hold with a price target cut to $49 from $52 (versus a $57.26 close) at Jefferies.

Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) was raised to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.

Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Societe Generale.

Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RIO) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays.

SolarEdge Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SEDG) was started as Buy with a $30 price target at Canaccord Genuity. This call is on the heels of the quiet period ending on Monday, and the rest of the analysts were close to this or slightly higher — but all of them had equivalent of Buy ratings.

Summit Materials Inc. (NYSE: SUM) was started with a Buy rating and $29 price target (versus a $24.22 close) at Sterne Agee. Goldman Sachs started it with a Neutral rating and $26 price target. RBC assigned an Outperform rating and $28 price target, and BB&T went with a Buy rating and $29 price target. Deutsche Bank started it as Buy.

Torchmark Corp. (NYSE: TMK) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays, and the price target was cut to $53 from $60 (versus a $56.66 close).

ALSO READ: 8 Analyst Stocks Under $10 With Colossal Upside Calls

TubeMogul Inc. (NASDAQ: TUBE) was started as Market Perform at Raymond James.

WhiteWave Foods Co. (NYSE: WWAV) was started as Neutral at Janney Capital Markets.

In case you missed out on Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Aduro BioTech, Facebook, Lululemon Athletica, MGIC Investment, Nokia, Schlumberger, Yum! Brands and about 20 more companies.

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