Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: BofA, Google, Intel, Fairchild, Mobileye, NOV and More

Stocks were mixed on Friday, looking for direction. One issue is that stocks have rallied handily and the Greek deal looks closer but is still in the air. Shanghai was up another 3.5% to end the week. It is amazing to observe, but the trend of buying each and every single stock market dip is now almost four years old.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each day of the week to find new trading and investing ideas for its readers. Some analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

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

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was raised to Buy from Hold at Argus. The firm set a $20 price target (versus a $17.95 close). Argus noted that the bank’s positive earnings surprise was impressive on several fronts after missing consensus estimates in three of the past four quarters.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) had a strong earnings report with lower spending and shares went to a new high. We have seen positive price target actions by Credit Suisse ($750), Deutsche Bank ($78), Jefferies ($800), Piper Jaffray ($725), RBC ($750) and Bank of America Merrill Lynch ($750). Google A shares closed up 3% at $601.78 ahead of earnings, but shares were indicated up almost 13% around $680 in Friday’s premarket.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was reiterated as Buy with a $39 price target at Canaccord Genuity. Shares closed up 0.7% at $29.90 on Thursday after Wednesday night’s earnings. Intel has a consensus price target of $33.62 and a 52-week trading range of $28.82 to $37.90.

Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. (NASDAQ: FCS) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $20 price target (versus a $15.07 close) at FBR Capital. Note that Fairchild’s share price fell by 10% on Thursday, and it did so on about five times normal volume. It has a 52-week range of $12.01 to $20.84.

Mobileye N.V. (NYSE: MBLY) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $76 from $66 (versus a $60.38 close) at Barclays. Mobileye has a consensus price target of $63.30 and a 52-week range of $31.11 to $61.66.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $35 price target (versus a $43.49 close) at UBS. NOV has a consensus price target of $49.50 and a 52-week range of $43.38 to $86.55. What stands out here is that this is now the lowest of all analyst price targets.

ALSO READ: Why Every Analyst Is Chasing Netflix Higher

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades from this Friday were in the following:

ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) was raised to Buy from Hold at Investec.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) was downgraded to Underperform and the price objective was slashed to $32 from $45 (versus a $34.90 close) based on a mixed product cycle and limited catalysts for multiple expansion. It faces resistance at $39 to $41 and support at $32 to $33.

Credit Suisse Group A.G. (NYSE: CS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) was reiterated as Neutral but the price target was raised to $70 from $65 at Mizuho.

Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) was maintained as Outperform but the price target was slashed to $13 from $24 at Northland Securities.

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) was started as Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

ALSO READ: Hertz Finally Back on Track

Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: KPTI) was started as Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (NASDAQ: LFL) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Rovi Corp. (NASDAQ: ROVI) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at Pacific Crest.

Ruckus Wireless Inc. (NYSE: RKUS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Solarwinds Inc. (NYSE: SWI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank, and the price target was cut to $45 from $60.

StoneMor Partners L.P. (NYSE: STON) was reiterated as Buy with a $33 fair value estimate (versus a $30.67 close) at Janney Capital Markets.

Syntel Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNT) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair.

Travelers Companies Inc. (NYSE: TRV) was started as Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

ALSO READ: Kinder Morgan Raising Dividend on Lower Earnings

Waste Connections Inc. (NYSE: WCN) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

In case you missed out on Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of Altria, General Motors, Intel, Netflix, Paychex, Walgreens Boots Alliance and over a dozen other companies.

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