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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Borderfree, Genworth, Groupon, Nationstar, SolarCity, Zulily and More
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Stocks were indicated higher on Wednesday morning. The markets are still challenging all-time highs and investors have literally bought every single pullback for almost four years. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day to find new trading and investment ideas for its readers. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid.
These are Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.
Borderfree Inc. (NASDAQ: BRDR) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, and William Blair downgraded it to Market Perform from Outperform. Canaccord Genuity downgraded it to Hold from Buy.
Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW) was maintained as Buy at Jefferies, and the firm raised its price target to $12 from $10 (versus a $8.64 close) in the call. UBS has downgraded Genworth to Neutral from Buy, a day after Morgan Stanley downgraded it to Underweight.
Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) was maintained as Neutral at Janney Capital Markets after earnings, but the firm also maintained its $9 fair value target (versus a $6.84 close) based on a multiple of 15 times its 2016 EBITDA estimate. Shares are down almost 3% at $6.65 after earnings and after revenue was guided lower. Wells Fargo maintained its Outperform rating but lowered its fair value range to $9 to $10 from $10 to $11 after cutting earnings expectations.
Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. (NYSE: NSM) saw its shares fall 25% to $19.51 after an earnings miss. Now FBR Capital Markets has downgraded the mortgage servicer to Underperform from Market Perform and slashed the price target to $15 from $25. Oppenheimer maintained its Outperform rating but cut its price target to $24 from $32, with a note that Nationstar is worth more than $19.50 even after a weak start to the year. Wells Fargo maintained its Outperform rating but lowered the fair value target range to $24.00 to $26.00 from a $32.00 to $34.00 prior range.
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SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $99 from $97 at Credit Suisse, based on new metrics highlighting value creation and the recent action offering a buying opportunity after earnings exceeded the firm’s expectations.
Zulily Inc. (NASDAQ: ZU) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer. Stifel downgraded it to Hold from Buy. These were on the heels of another poor earnings report.
Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from Wednesday were as follows:
American Electric Power Co. (NYSE: AEP) was reiterated as Buy but the price target was lowered to $65 from $70 at Argus.
Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) was reiterated as Buy and the price objective was raised to $55 at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price objective was raised to $36 from $34 (versus a $31.26 close) at Merrill Lynch.
comScore Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $58 price target (versus a $48.50 close) at Oppenheimer.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: CTB) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Douglas Emmett Inc. (NYSE: DEI) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
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Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Merrill Lynch, with a big price objective cut to $10.50 from $16.50 (versus a $12.11 close).
First Niagara Financial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: FNFG) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Fossil Group Inc. (NASDAQ: FOSL) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen. Oppenheimer maintained its Perform rating.
Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs. Wells Fargo maintained its Market Perform rating.
KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.
Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) was started as Hold at BB&T Capital Markets.
NRG Yield Inc. (NYSE: NYLD) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
QLogic Corp. (NASDAQ: QLGC) was raised to Buy with a $19 price target at Argus. The upgrade was based on market share gains, cash flow growth and margin expansion.
Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at R.W. Baird.
TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NYSE: AMTD) was downgraded to Neutral from Merrill Lynch, and the price objective was kept at $41 (versus a $36.72 close).
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In case you missed out on Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations, they were in shares of Alcatel-Lucent, AOL, Cisco Systems, EMC, Netflix, Tesla Motors and well over a dozen more companies.
On a separate note, Credit Suisse has raised its weighting on global emerging market stocks to a normal benchmark weight. The firm’s strategists feel that their currencies against the dollar are basically now the cheapest they have been for 12 years and that emerging markets should have more or less already discounted a rise in the fed funds rate over the next year.
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