Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AIG, BHP Billiton, Cypress Semi, Encana, Newell Rubbermaid, Oracle, Twitter, Visa and Many More

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Stocks were indicated to rebound handily on Tuesday. The six-year bull market has perhaps stalled at the end of 2015, but the trend that has been in force for four years now is that investors have found a host of new reasons to buy each and every one of the pullbacks.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid. These are this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the price target was raised to $72 from $65 (versus a $58.42 prior close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods. AIG shares have a consensus analyst price target of $67.94 and a 52-week trading range of $48.68 to $64.93.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse, which is now modeling a 50% cut in the progressive dividend, but this still leaves BHP Billiton with 5.5% yield. Following a more than 30% fall in the share prices, Credit Suisse showed that the valuation is now at more than a 15% discount to Rio Tinto, and the firm thinks that BHP shares have more than priced in a worst case scenario for the Samarco situation. The stock closed at $23.67 and has a 52-week range of $23.21 to $52.98.

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: CY) was started as Outperform with a $14 price target (versus a $9.63 close) at Oppenheimer. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $13.13, as well as a 52-week range of $8.11 to $16.25.

Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $9.50 price target at Jefferies. Encana closed down over 8% at $5.54 on Monday, and shares were indicated up 3.8% at $5.75 early on Tuesday. Its consensus analyst price target is still listed as over $10, and its 52-week range is $5.43 to $14.73. Jefferies said that Enacana’s severe relative share price weakness was exacerbated by a surprise dividend cut, but this appears to be prudent and the stock looks inexpensive at a discount to the firm’s risk-adjusted asset value.


Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NYSE: NWL) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James, and merger target Jarden Corp. (NYSE: JAH) was downgraded to Market Perform from Strong Buy at Raymond James also.

Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) was maintained as Buy with a $44.00 price target at Canaccord Genuity. A similar call was seen Monday from another firm, but with a $50 target. This call is immediately ahead of Wednesday’s earnings report. Oracle has a consensus target price of $44.15 and a 52-week range of $35.14 to $46.71. Canaccord Genuity said that Oracle appears to be so disliked by investors that, unless the company falls flat on its face on this print and guide, the shares could inch their way back toward $40.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) saw its price target cut to $22 from $25 at Evercore ISI. This was touted as a street-low target on Twitter, but Thomson Reuters had the street-low listed as $18. Twitter most recently closed at $24.92, and it has a consensus target price of $34.03 and a 52-week range of $21.01 to $53.49.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) was maintained as Buy but was added to the prized Conviction Buy list at Goldman Sachs. Shares closed up 1% at $76.87. The consensus price target is $86.07, and the 52-week range is $60.00 to $81.01.

Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations on Tuesday were in the following:
Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE: APAM) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup.

Carlyle Group L.P. (NASDAQ: CG) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) was started as Neutral with a $152 price target (versus a $137.69 close) at UBS.

Integrated Device Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI) was started as Overweight with a $32 price target (versus a $27.36 close) at Pacific Crest.

Johnson Controls Inc. (NYSE: JCI) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SBH) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE: STNG) was started as Hold with a $9 price target (versus a $7.95 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Southwestern Energy Co. (NYSE: SWN) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SPB) was started as Outperform with a $106 price target (versus a $96.58 close) at Raymond James.

Sysco Corp. (NYSE: SYY) was started as Sell with a $37 price target (versus a $41.21 close) at Goldman Sachs.


Tenneco Inc. (NYSE: TEN) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. (NYSE: WDR) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup.

WNS Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: WNS) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $36 price target at Goldman Sachs.

WPX Energy Inc. (NYSE: WPX) was started as Buy with a $10 price target (versus a $5.84 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Zoe’s Kitchen Inc. (NYSE: ZOES) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral and the price target was cut to $27 from $36 at Credit Suisse.

Glencore’s primary listing is not in the United States, but its shares in London were raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

In case you missed Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Coach, DuPont, GoPro, Match, Puma Bio, Square, Tesla Motors and over a dozen more.

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