Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Baidu, Enterprise Products, Kinder Morgan, Kinross Gold, Marketo, Office Depot, Staples, Disney, Williams and More

May 11, 2016 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were looking for direction on Wednesday morning. Investors may not be full of too much excitement, but they are not full of fear either. At this point investors still seem to be looking for opportunities ahead. Buying the dips has prevailed.

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 others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

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

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was maintained as Overweight but the price target was cut to $200 from $230 (versus a $166.21 prior close) at Morgan Stanley. Baidu’s consensus analyst price target is $212.29 and the 52-week trading range is $100.00 to $217.97.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) was started as Outperform with a $33 price target (versus a $25.69 close) at Bernstein. This is considered one of the best master limited partnerships (MLPs) of them all. It has a consensus price target of $31.92 and a 52-week range of $19.00 to $34.56. Its distribution yield-equivalent is just over 6%.


Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) was started as Market Perform with a $20 price target (versus a $17.18 close) at Bernstein. The consensus price target is $20.78, making this Market Perform rating almost sound like a Buy rating, and the 52-week range is $11.20 to $42.99.

Kinross Gold Corp. (NYSE: KGC) was raised to Neutral from Sell and the price target was hiked way up to $5.30 from $2.10 (versus a $5.52 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus price target is $4.53. The 52-week range is $1.31 to $5.82.

Marketo Inc. (NASDAQ: MKTO) was up over 24% at $26.77 on eight times normal volume after Bloomberg said it has hired advisors to explore strategic alternatives. Credit Suisse has an Outperform rating and a $30 price target, but the firm said that SAP seems to be the most likely acquirer and it calculated that that warranted price is between $37.03 and $51.67.

Office Depot Inc. (NASDAQ: ODP) was indicated down 34% at $3.98 after the Staples deal was called off. It was downgraded to Sell from Neutral and the price target was cut to $4 from $5.50 at UBS. Jefferies downgraded Office Depot to Hold from Buy, and the $11 price target was more than halved to $5.25.

Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) was last indicated down 15% at $8.75 after the acquisition of Office Depot has formally been terminated. UBS downgraded it from Buy to Neutral with a price target cut to $10.50 from $14.00. Jefferies downgraded it to Hold from Buy and the price target was slashed to $9 from $17 in that call.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) was indicated lower by 5% at $101.05 after earnings disappointed. Jefferies maintained a Hold rating and $92 price target.

Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) was started as Outperform with a $25 price target (versus a $19.14 close) at Bernstein. The consensus price target is $24.69, and the 52-week range is $10.22 to $61.38.

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Here are many other analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls:

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) was maintained as Buy at Jefferies, but the price target was cut to $44 from $50.

Align Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN) was started as Outperform with an $84 price target (versus a $76.56 close) at Credit Suisse.

American States Water Co. (NYSE: AWR) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $39 price target (versus a $39.73 close) at Ladenburg Thalmann.

Atento S.A. (NYSE: ATTO) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Calgon Carbon Corp. (NYSE: CCC) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $20 fair value estimate (versus a $14.90 close) at Janney.

Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) was raised to Buy from Hold with a price target of $61 (versus a $53.03 close) at Argus.

EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna.

Integrated Device Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price objective is $26 (versus a $20.50 close) at Merrill Lynch.


Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. (NYSE: IVR) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Wells Fargo.

Kosmos Energy Ltd. (NYSE: KOS) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform with a $7 price target (versus a $4.83 close) at Raymond James.

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: SEAS) was downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at Credit Suisse, and the price target was cut to $15 from $27 (versus an $18.43 close).

West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. (NYSE: WST) was maintained as Buy but the fair value estimate was raised to $90 from $69 (versus a $71.83 close) at Janney.

Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Bats Global Markets, Eli Lilly, Gap, Hasbro, JD.com, Nike, Pfizer, SolarCity and over a dozen more companies. Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Altria, BB&T, Capital One, CenterPoint, Occidental Petroleum, Vale, Workday and over a dozen more.

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