Stocks were looking for direction on Thursday, but the markets have bounced handily over the past two weeks. The investing community remains mixed over whether this is a bear market rally or the market has bottomed. Still, the trend of selling into every rally in 2016 has seemed to migrate in the past week or two to the prior “buy the dips” trend of the prior four years.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each morning of the week. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Thursday, March 3, 2016.
Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Its shares closed at most recently at $9.62 and have a consensus analyst target price of $10.19 and a 52-week trading range of $6.14 to $14.56.
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $135 price target (versus a $119.65 prior close) at Canaccord Genuity. This matters as Canaccord, one of the more bullish firms, now has thrown in the towel. Boeing has a consensus analyst target of close to $141 and a 52-week range of $102.10 to $155.99.
Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS. The stock closed up over 15% at $8.97 on Wednesday. It has a consensus target price of $6.30 and a 52-week range of $3.52 to $23.97.
[recirclink id=318270]
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $38.00 price target (versus a $30.54 close) at R.W. Baird. The consensus price target is $36.03 and the 52-week range is $24.87 to $35.59.
SunEdison Inc. (NYSE: SUNE) was downgraded to Hold from Neutral at Needham. Macquarie downgraded it to Neutral from Outperform. The shares closed up 19% at $1.79 on Wednesday, and the consensus analyst target may be irrelevant now (listed as $9.16). The 52-week trading range is $1.21 to $33.45. SunEdison needs a new CEO.
Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $120 price target (versus a $97.00 close) at Piper Jaffray. Disney has a consensus price target of $108.39 and a 52-week range of $86.25 to $122.08.
You can follow @Jonogg if you wish for the analyst reports and daily research and market calls to appear directly on your Twitter feed.
Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations were seen in the following on Thursday:
- InterXion Holding N.V. (NASDAQ: INXN) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $35 price target (versus a $32.03 close) at Raymond James.
- LKQ Corp. (NASDAQ: LKQ) was started as Buy with a $38 price target (versus a $28.54 close) at Sterne Agee.
- MercadoLibre Inc. (NASDAQ: MELI) was raised to Hold from Reduce at HSBC.
- Pearson PLC (NYSE: PSO) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
- Potbelly Corp. (NASDAQ: PBPB) was raised to Neutral from Underweight with a $13 price target (versus a $13.23 close) at Piper Jaffray.
- Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $219 price target (versus a $194.49 close) at Wunderlich.
- TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) was maintained as Market Perform but the price target was cut to $9.50 from $10.00 at FBR Capital Markets.
If you missed Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included American Water Works, Bonanza Creek, Dollar Tree, SanDisk, Valeant Pharmaceuticals and about a dozen more.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks