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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, Melco Crown, Sirius XM, Time Warner, Whiting, Windstream and More
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Stocks were indicated lower on Tuesday ahead of the FOMC meeting. Still, the market is within striking distance of all-time highs again, and investors have so far bought every single pullback for close to four years now. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of research reports from analysts each day in order to get new trading and investment ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid.
These are this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) beat earnings and delivered on a buyback and dividend boost. We have seen many analyst calls as follows:
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) has released earnings. The first call seen was from Merrill Lynch, reiterating its Buy rating and $5 price objective (versus a $3.95 close). The firm talked up Sirius XM’s fast growth, its more than 70% contribution margin, a sizable capital return capacity, roughly 80% EBITDA/Free Cash Flow conversion, rising new car penetration, large used car market potential and the connected car and Telematics opportunities.
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Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) was started as Buy with a $103 price target (versus a $84.76 close) at CLSA.
Whiting Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: WLL) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $44 from $34 (versus a $35.13 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
The Merrill Lynch strategy team said the following:
Clients were buyers of US stocks as the S&P 500 climbed last week, led by institutional clients and corporate buybacks. ETFs saw the biggest inflows, while single stocks in the Consumer sectors saw the largest outflows. Clients have exhibited a renewed confidence in Financial stocks, with consistent inflows since the stress test results in March.
24/7 Wall St. has also covered more than a dozen other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations, as follows:
Amkor Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: AMKR) was maintained as Buy at Topeka Capital Markets, but the price target was cut to $9 from $11 in the call. This is on the heels of a weak earnings report Monday afternoon that had shares down 8% at $7.30 on last look in early trading on Tuesday.
Barracuda Networks Inc. (NYSE: CUDA) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $50 from $46 at BMO Capital Markets. Topeka Capital Markets reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $55 from $46.
Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) was started as Neutral with a $50 price target (versus a $46.65 close) at Sterne Agee.
Celladon Corp. (NASDAQ: CLDN) fell by 80% on Monday, down to $2.64 (versus a $13.68 prior close) after a massive disappointment in its drug study. Following other downgrades on Monday, H.C. Wainwright cut its rating to Neutral from Buy.
Coherent Inc. (NASDAQ: COHR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy, but the price target was raised to $71.50 from $66.50 (versus a $64.75 close) at B. Riley.
Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA) was downgraded to Sell from an already cautious Neutral rating at UBS. The firm’s price target of $30.50 is against a $32.24 close. The firm CLSA started coverage as Underperform with a $36 price target as well.
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E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (NYSE: DD) was raised to outperform from Underperform at CLSA.
Egalet Corp. (NASDAQ: EGLT) was reiterated as Buy at Canaccord Genuity, but what stood out was the $25 price target (versus a $9.98 close). The firm thinks that positive intranasal abuse data for its abuse deterrent morphine in the second quarter should move shares higher.
Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy, and the price target was cut to $12.50 from $15.50 (versus a $11.40 close) at Goldman Sachs.
FMC Corp. (NYSE: FMC) was started as Outperform with a $66 price target (versus a $58.85 close) at Credit Suisse.
Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
IGATE Corp. (NASDAQ: IGTE) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.
MDC Partners Inc. (NASDAQ: MDCA) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray, downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets and was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets. Shares were indicated down close to 7% after earnings and maintaining its dividend.
Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) was raised to Neutral from Underperform with a $29 price target at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. This is after Sterne Agee and Credit Suisse had positive calls with larger upside targets on Monday.
ServiceSource International Inc. (NASDAQ: SREV) was raised to Market Outperform from Market Perform and was given a $7 price target (versus a $3.37 close) at JMP Securities.
Windstream Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: WIN) was raised to Buy from Neutral and given a $10.50 price target (versus a $10.61 close) at Nomura.
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24/7 Wall St. also identified how analysts now are rating Amazon, Google and Microsoft after their earnings reports.
In case you missed out on Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Apple, Celladon, Newmont Mining, 3D Systems, Twitter, Walt Disney and a more than a dozen additional companies.
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