Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Intel, Petrochina, Skullcandy, StemCells, 3D Systems, Rockwell Collins and More

December 30, 2015 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were indicated lower on Wednesday, after big gains on Tuesday. The stock market is still fighting for a positive 2015. Still, the trend that has prevailed for over four years now is that investors have bought every single market pullback — without a single 10% formal pullback in all three major U.S. equity indexes.

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

As a reminder, 14 strategists are calling for a positive, but mixed, S&P 500 performance in 2016.

These are this Wednesday’s top analyst calls.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was reiterated as Buy at Needham, and the firm raised its price target to $38.00 from $37.00 (versus a $35.44 prior close). Intel has a consensus analyst price target of $36.19 and a 52-week trading range of $24.87 to $37.49.

Petrochina Co. Ltd. (NYSE: PTR) was reiterated as Buy at Jefferies, but its targets were in Hong Kong and implied close to 63% upside. The call is after selling gas assets and likely plans to sell more in 2016.

Skullcandy Inc. (NASDAQ: SKUL) was started as Outperform with an $8.00 price target (versus a $4.78 close) at Oppenheimer.


StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ: STEM) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $2.00 from $1.50 (versus a $0.45 close) at H.C. Wainwright.

3D Systems Corp. (NYSE: DDD) was maintained as Buy at Needham, but the firm lowered its price target to $14.00 from $15.00 (versus a $9.10 close). The consensus price target is $12.79, and the 52-week range is $8.44 to $33.97.

Rockwell Collins Inc. (NYSE: COL) was reiterated as Hold at Jefferies, but the firm raised its estimates and raised its price target to $95.00 from $92.00 (versus a $93.29 close). The consensus price target is $97.38. The 52-week range is $78.15 to $99.37.

Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations were seen in the following on Wednesday:

Avangrid Inc. (NYSE: AGR) was started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Carmike Cinemas Inc. (NASDAQ: CKEC) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $37.00 from $39.00 (versus a $23.34 close) at Topeka Capital Markets.

DDR Corp. (NYSE: DDR) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was lowered to $17.00 from $19.00 (versus a $17.04 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Memorial Production Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: MEMP) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight and the price target was cut to $6.00 from $8.00 (versus a $2.42 close) at Morgan Stanley.

National Retail Properties Inc. (NYSE: NNN) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $43.00 from $41.00 (versus a $40.23 close) at Stifel.

Performance Sports Group Ltd. (NYSE: PSG) was started with an Outperform rating at Oppenheimer.

Realty Income Corp. (NYSE: O) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $54.00 from $52.00 at Stifel.

Suburban Propane Partners L.P. (NYSE: SPH) was maintained as Buy at Stifel, but the firm’s price target was cut to $30.00 from $38.00.

USD Partners L.P. (NYSE: USDP) was maintained as Buy at Janney Capital Markets. The firm said that the company’s current yield of 16.7% is based on an expected annualized distribution level of $1.17 for 2015. Janney’s fair value estimate for the shares is $15.00.

Vanguard Natural Resources LLC (NYSE: VNR) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight and the price target was slashed to $7.00 from $11.00 (versus a $3.16 close) at Morgan Stanley.


Washington Trust Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: WASH) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the price target was raised to $44.00 from $42.00 at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

If you missed Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Albermarle, Atara Biotherapeutics, Chimerix, IHS, NetApp, Pure Storage and more.

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