Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Arcelor Mittal, Chesapeake Energy, Domino’s, Juniper Networks, 3M, QEP Resources, Starbucks, YuMe and More

April 12, 2016 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were indicated higher on Tuesday, but that is after Monday’s sharp gains turned into a small loss. The market is still barely hanging positive so far for the year, and investors have to decide whether they should be selling rallies or buying pullbacks.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week. Our aim is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these daily analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

These are top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday morning:

Arcelor Mittal S.A. (NYSE: MT) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, and it was also added to the prized Conviction Buy List. The stock closed at $5.03, has a consensus analyst target of $4.06 and has a 52-week trading range of $2.93 to $11.95. This move is after a rights offering raised cash to tender debt.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) was raised to Hold from Sell at Tudor Pickering. Shares rose 19.7% to close at $4.50 on Monday, and the 52-week trading range is $1.50 to $16.98. The consensus analyst target price is $3.86.


Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $138 price target (versus a $137.24 prior close) at Maxim Group. It has a consensus price target of $133.75 and a 52-week range of $98.01 to $139.42.

Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) issued an earnings and revenue warning after the close. Oppenheimer warns that the guidance was not cautious enough and that headwinds are growing. UBS downgraded Juniper to Neutral from Buy. The stock was indicated down 7.5% at $23.02 on Tuesday morning. Its consensus price target is $28.59, and it has a 52-week range of $21.49 to $32.39.

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) was reiterated as Buy at Jefferies, but the firm raised its price target from $175 to $187 in the call. The firm said that favorable short-term indicators could support further upside, but valuations at cycle-highs are starting to look stretched. The consensus price target is $163.38, and the 52-week range is $134.00 to $167.99.

QEP Resources Inc. (NYSE: QEP) was started as Overweight with a $17 price target (versus a $14.42 close) at JPMorgan. It has a consensus price target of $17.07 and a 52-week range of $8.54 to $24.04.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $64 price target (versus a $60.90 close) at Deutsche Bank. The consensus price target is $68.26, and the 52-week range is $42.05 to $64.00.

YuMe Inc. (NYSE: YUME) was started as Neutral with a $4 price target (versus a $3.61 close) at Citigroup. YuMe’s consensus price target is $3.75, and it has a 52-week range of $2.35 to $5.76.

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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen on Tuesday in the following:

Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $5 (versus a $4.85 close) at Piper Jaffray. The consensus price target is $4.57, and Avon has a 52-week range of $2.21 to $9.47.

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. (NYSE: BAH) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.

Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE: OFC) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $29 price target (versus a $26.06 close) at Credit Suisse.

Entergy Corp. (NYSE: ETR) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Shares closed most recently at $76.82, while the consensus price target is $76.38 and the 52-week range is $61.27 to $80.06.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HLT) was started as Buy and was assigned a $27 price target (versus a $22.30 close) at CLSA. It has a consensus price target of $26.05 and a 52-week range of $16.16 to $31.60.

Insys Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: INSY) was maintained as Buy but the target price was cut to $17 from $23 at Jefferies. The firm noted that the impact of lower revenue was much more pronounced than anticipated and warned that scrutiny on opioid prescribing has had an impact on physician behavior.

PHH Corp. (NYSE: PHH) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $13 target (versus a $10.28 close) at Sterne Agee.


SAP A.G. (NYSE: SAP) was raised to Buy from Hold at Berenberg. The American depositary shares closed at $76.90 and were indicated up at $77.15 on Tuesday morning. SAP has a consensus price target of $90.38 and a 52-week range of $62.57 to $81.24.

Spark Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCE) was started as Buy at Evercore.

STORE Capital Corp. (NYSE: STOR) was started as Buy with a $28 fair value estimate (versus a $26.49 close) at Janney.

T2 Biosystems Inc. (NASDAQ: TTOO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the fair value estimate was cut to $8 from $13 at Janney.

If you missed Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Alphabet, Exelon, Kinross Gold, Noble, Potash, Seagate Technology, Western Digital and a dozen or so more.

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