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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Avago, BlackBerry, Ciena, First Solar, Nabors, Rackspace, SunPower, Tiffany, Yelp and Many More

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Stocks were pounded lower on Friday but were indicated up marginally Monday morning as bargain hunters are looking for oversold opportunities. While 2015 and the year-end trading have both proven to be quite choppy, the fiscal reality is that investors have bought every single market pullback in the past four years. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. The aim is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy. Other such reports cover stocks to sell or avoid.

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

Avago Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO) was maintained as Outperform but was added to the Top Picks List and the price target was raised to $170.00 from $155.00 at RBC Capital Markets. Avago has a consensus analyst price target of $172.46 and a 52-week trading range of $95.18 to $150.50.

BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) was started as Neutral at JPMorgan, and the firm’s $9.00 price target is versus an $8.61 prior close. BlackBerry has a consensus price target of $7.49 and has a 52-week range of $5.96 to $12.63.

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies, and the price target was raised to $25.00 from $22.50 (versus a $19.80 prior close). The firm likes the risk/reward on Ciena shares and sees this as a valuation call, given that the stock has traded down to 11.4 times its calendar 2017 EPS estimate.


First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) was reiterated as Buy and the fair value estimate was raised to $82.00 from $79.00 (versus a $63.41 close) at Janney Capital Markets. This is for the anticipated investment tax credit impacts in the new U.S. budget. First Solar has a consensus price target of $66.05 and a 52-week range of $39.18 to $66.65.

Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE: NBR) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse, and the price target was raised to $12.00 from $9.00 (versus a $7.87 close). The consensus price target is $12.65, and the 52-week range is $7.84 to $16.99.

Rackspace Hosting Inc. (NYSE: RAX) was started as Neutral with a $27.00 price target (versus a $24.91 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus price target is $38.88. The 52-week range is $23.65 to $56.20.

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) was maintained as Neutral but the fair value estimate was raised to $28.00 from $23.00 at Janney Capital Markets. This call is also based on the anticipated investment tax credit impacts in the new U.S. budget. SunPower has a consensus price target of $36.07 and a 52-week range of $18.25 to $35.11.

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies, and the price target was raised to $100 from $88 (versus a $71.84 close). The firm said that it has a greater appreciation for the top-line and margin tailwinds, with over 100 basis points of margin improvement expected in fiscal year 2017. Tiffany has a consensus price target of $95.04 and a 52-week range of $71.80 to $109.00.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) was started as Neutral at Guggenheim. Shares closed at $27.17, with a $31.50 consensus price target and a 52-week range of $20.50 to $57.70.

Other key analyst upgrades, initiations and downgrades seen on Monday were in the following:
AVANGRID Inc. (NYSE: AGR) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $44.00 fair value estimate at Janney Capital Markets.

BOK Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: BOKF) was started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

EnLink Midstream LLC (NYSE: ENLC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Joy Global Inc. (NYSE: JOY) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at FBR Capital Markets.

New Jersey Resources Corp. (NYSE: NJR) was reiterated as Buy with a $36.00 fair value estimate (versus a $30.60 close) at Janney Capital Markets.

Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. (NASDAQ: ODFL) was started as Hold at Evercore ISI.

PacWest Bancorp (NASDAQ: PACW) was started as Market Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Plains All American Pipeline L.P. (NYSE: PAA) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.


Superior Energy Services Inc. (NYSE: SPN) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE: TRGP) was downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at Credit Suisse, and the price target was slashed to $36.00 from $79.00 (versus a $25.74 close).

TC Pipelines L.P. (NYSE: TCP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

U.S. Silica Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SLCA) was started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp. (NYSE: WAB) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel.

If you missed Friday’s key analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Boeing, CVS Health, DuPont, Fitbit, LifeLock, Microsoft, NXP Semiconductor, Red Hat, Under Armour and many more.

 

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