Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Activision Blizzard, Berkshire Hathaway, FireEye, Immunomedics, Square, SunPower, Weatherford, Williams and Yelp

May 6, 2016 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were indicated lower on Friday as payrolls came in soft on Friday’s key employment report. The Dow is still down about 500 points from the April highs, and investors are debating whether they should be buying dips and pullbacks or resume the early 2016 trend of selling into rallies. Another consideration is that the S&P 500 is valued at over 17.6 times forward 12-month earnings.

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

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

Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) handily beat earnings expectations, and shares were up 6% at $37.00 on Friday morning. Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating and $45 target, calling it a franchise pick as the Overwatch effort is a catalyst. Shares closed most recently at $34.91. The consensus analyst price target is $38.43, and the 52-week trading range is $24.04 to $39.93.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) was started as Buy at UBS for the B-shares, with a $163 target (versus a $143.88 close). 24/7 Wall St. would caution that this is a catch-up call as UBS had already initiated coverage with a Buy on the A-shares over a month ago. As a reminder for the Warren Buffett watchers, Berkshire Hathaway rarely gets analyst coverage. Berkshire Hathaway has a 52-week range of $123.55 to $148.57 on its B-shares.


FireEye Inc. (NASDAQ: FEYE) was last seen down 11% at $14.20 after disappointing earnings. It was maintained as Market Perform with a fair value range of $16 to $17 at Wells Fargo. Oppenheimer reiterated its Outperform rating and $35 target. FireEye has a consensus price target of $24.85 and a 52-week range of $11.35 to $55.33.

Immunomedics Inc. (NASDAQ: IMMU) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised handily to $5.00 from $1.50 at Jefferies. Wells Fargo maintained its Outperform rating with a valuation range of $3.00 to $3.50, noting that IMMU132 has emerged as a major value driver accelerating its approval potential. The stock closed down 7.5% at $3.46 on Thursday. Its 52-week range is $1.50 to $5.05.

Square Inc. (NYSE: SQ) was last seen down 16% at $10.90 after earnings missed the mark. Square was downgraded to Underperform from an already unenthusiastic Neutral rating, and the price target was cut to $9 from $11, at Wedbush Securities.

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) closed down 3.7% ahead of earnings and was indicated down another 1.3% at $17.00 on Friday. The stock was reiterated as Buy and the fair value estimate was maintained as $30 (versus a $17.23 close) at Janney. Credit Suisse maintained its Outperform rating and $32 target. The consensus price target is $35.39, and the 52-week range is $17.14 to $33.29.

Weatherford International Inc. (NYSE: WFT) was maintained as Buy and the price target was cut to $9 from $10 at Jefferies, with wider losses expected. Wells Fargo downgraded it to Market Perform from Outperform. The stock has a consensus price target of $9.38 and a 52-week range of $4.95 to $14.90.

Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James. The stock closed at $20.57, has a consensus analyst target of $24.44 and has a 52-week range of $10.22 to $61.38.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) was reiterated as Buy at Jefferies, and the price target was bumped up handily from $20 to $28 in the call. Wells Fargo maintained its Outperform rating but raised its valuation range up to $22 to $24 from the prior $19 to $21 range.

You can follow @Jonogg to get the daily analyst calls and market reports directly on your Twitter feed.

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Dick’s Sporting Goods, Randgold Resources, Royal Dutch Shell, Sysco, Tesla Motors and more than a dozen others.

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