Investing
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, Lumber Liquidators, Take-Two, Urban Outfitters, Apigee, Akamai, Intuit and More
May 19, 2015 8:50 am
Stocks were indicated higher yet again on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 hitting new highs. Tuesday’s news may be driven by overseas action rather than earnings, after a 3% gain in Shanghai. The one trend that keeps getting proven is that investors line up in droves to buy stocks on weakness. This trend is now nearing four years old. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each day of the week to find new trading and investment ideas. Some analyst calls cover stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or avoid.Source: Jon Ogg
These are Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Buy with a $142.00 price target at Bernstein. Here was the Carl Icahn take on how to get Apple to $240, an even more ambitious view than his prior call (but, of course, he is also just talking up his book).
Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy by Cantor Fitzgerald. What is interesting here is that the firm only recently started its positive coverage, but now after earnings it notes that there are just too many regulatory and legal risks to justify its Buy rating, and the negative PR continues to gain momentum while the near-term picture looks cloudier.
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $32 price target at Sterne Agee CRT after earnings. Credit Suisse maintained its Neutral rating and cut the price target to $28 from $32. Take-Two shares were up over 7% at $26.00 or so in early-bird trading indications.
Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan after poor earnings and guidance. It was maintained as Buy at Mizuho, but the target was cut to $36 from $43. Janney Capital Markets maintained its Buy rating but cut its fair value estimate to $45 from $48 in the call. Piper Jaffray downgraded it to Neutral from Overweight and slashed its price target to $36 from $53. Shares were down almost 15% around $34.80 in early Tuesday trading indications.
Apigee Corp. (NASDAQ: APIC) saw its quiet period end. It was started as Outperform with a $21 price target (versus a $14.42 close) at Credit Suisse. The firm said that its platform, leadership and domain expertise could drive strong, sustainable new customer and usage growth. JMP Securities started it as Outperform with a $19 price target. Nomura started it as Buy with an $18 price target. JPMorgan started it as Neutral and just with a $15 price target. Morgan Stanley started it as Overweight with a $19 price target.
ALSO READ: 4 Stocks That Should Thrive Under Higher Interest Rates
Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades for Tuesday were as follows:
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