Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Akamai, BBVA, Dean Foods, SolarCity, Valero and Many More

February 10, 2016 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks got a big boost on news that Janet Yellen is talking down the Federal Reserve’s desire to hike interest rates no matter what. Investors in 2016 have used rallies a chance to sell, with a prior four-year history of buying up every dip. The climate still points to investors wanting to look for value in a volatile market.

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

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) was started as Neutral with a $45 price target (versus a $39.57 prior close) at Credit Suisse. Shares were last seen up 17% after a solid earnings report at $46.25, in a 52-week trading range of $39.43 to $78.44.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (NYSE: BBVA) was raised to Outperform from Underperform at BNP Paribas. The stock closed down 3.2% at $6.09 on Tuesday but was indicated up 5.5% at $6.42 early Wednesday. The consensus target price is listed as $6.60 (may be imperfect for American depositary shares) and the 52-week range is $5.89 to $10.75.


Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the price target was raised to $25 from $21 (versus a $19.02 close) at Bernstein. It was also raised to Buy from Hold at BB&T Capital.

SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James, but the price target was cut to $60 from $75. Credit Suisse maintained its Outperform rating, but the firm thinks positive value creation will continue and it lowered the price target to $89 from $124. Roth Capital downgraded SolarCity to Neutral from Buy and slashed and burned its target to $19 from $64 in the call. SolarCity shares were last seen down 30% at $18.50, after closing down 5.7% at $26.35 on Tuesday. The prior 52-week range was $24.07 to $63.79.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) was maintained as Buy but was removed from the Conviction Buy list, and the price target was cut to $74 from $83, at Goldman Sachs. The consensus analyst target is about $80, and the 52-week range is $51.68 to $73.88.

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades seen on Wednesday were in the following:
Atlassian Corp. PLC (NASDAQ: TEAM) was started as Neutral with a $23 price target (versus $18.92 close) at R.W. Baird.

CTI BioPharma Corp. (NASDAQ: CTIC) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and the price target was cut to $0.75 from $4.00 (versus a $0.50 close) at Piper Jaffray.

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. (NYSE: RDY) was raised to Buy from Underperform at CLSA.

Knight Transportation Inc. (NYSE: KNX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Evercore ISI.

Lake Shore Gold Corp. (NYSE: LSG) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at CIBC.

Medley Capital Corp. (NYSE: MCC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $7 from $9 at Jefferies.

Plains Group Holdings L.P. (NYSE: PAGP) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Shire PLC (NASDAQ: SHPG) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.

RetailMeNot Inc. (NASDAQ: SALE) was downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.


Ruckus Wireless Inc. (NYSE: RKUS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was cut to $8.50 from $14 (versus a $7.48 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Seattle Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: SGEN) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $38 price target (versus a $29.04 close) at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Tahoe Resources Inc. (NYSE: TAHO) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

TransDigm Group Inc. (NYSE: TDG) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.

Trimble Navigation Ltd. (NASDAQ: TRMB) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $24 price target (versus an $18.82 close) at Needham.

XL Group PLC (NYSE: XL) was downgraded to Sell from Hold and the price target was cut to $34 from $40 at Deutsche Bank.

If you missed Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Apple, Freeport-McMoRan, Kinross Gold, Pfizer, Plains All American, Salesforce.com, Tesla, Yelp and over a dozen more companies.

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