Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Ciena, Delphi, Harley-Davidson, Regions Financial, Wal-Mart, Weatherford and Many More

courtesy of Jon Ogg

Stocks were indicated to open higher on Monday ahead of Janet Yellen’s speech, which will be her last real public appearance prior to the coming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decision at the June meeting. Investors believe that the weak payrolls report on Friday took a June rate hike off of the table. And investors have proven over and over that they will buy on dips and after bad news.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other reports feature stocks to sell or avoid.

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

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) rose 5% to $21.03 on Friday after earnings and many analysts raised their target prices. Merrill Lynch came out on Monday morning and reiterated its Buy rating, while raising its price objective to $25 from $23. On top of strong earnings, Merrill Lynch’s take is that its Waveserver platform is gaining traction with top Web 2.0 companies.

Delphi Automotive PLC (NYSE: DLPH) was maintained as Buy at Goldman Sachs, but the company was removed from the prized Conviction Buy list. Shares closed most recently at $67.07. The consensus analyst price target is $91.47, and the 52-week trading range is $55.59 to $90.57.

Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs. Its shares were indicated down 1.35% at $45.17 on Monday, versus a consensus analyst target of $50.14 and a 52-week range of $36.36 to $60.67.

Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform with an $11 price target (versus a $9.73 prior close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods. The consensus price target is $9.97, and the 52-week range is $7.00 to $10.87.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies, but the firm raised its price target to $82 from $60 (versus $79.87 close). The firm believes that Wal-Mart’s store investments are yielding broadly improved store conditions, and first-quarter sales results seem to confirm this.

Weatherford International PLC (NYSE: WFT) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and the price target was raised to $8 from $7 (versus a $6.12 close) at Barclays. It was maintained as Buy at Jefferies, but the firm lowered its price target to $8 from $9.

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

Autohome Inc. (NYSE: ATHM) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $31 price target (versus a $24.88 close) at Brean Capital.

Barracuda Networks Inc. (NYSE: CUDA) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at JMP Securities.

Cadence Designs Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS) was started with an Outperform rating and was assigned a $29 price target (versus a $24.70 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

CNH Industrial N.V. (NYSE: CNHI) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, and it was added to the Conviction Buy list. The shares closed up almost 5% at $7.45 on Friday and were indicated up 3% at $7.69 on Monday.

Continental Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLR) was started with a Neutral rating and was assigned a $43 price target (versus a $41.39 close) at Credit Suisse.

Endo International PLC (NASDAQ: ENDP) was started with a Neutral rating and was assigned a $20 price target (versus a $17.59 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Entergy Corp. (NYSE: ETR) was reiterated as Buy at Goldman Sachs, but the firm added the stock to the prized Conviction Buy list with a price target of $88 (versus a $78.24 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Impax Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: IPXL) was started with a Sell rating and was given a $33 price target (versus a $34.37 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Lion Biotechnologies Inc. (NASDAQ: LBIO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was cut to $30 from $37 at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Mirati Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: MRTX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $17 from $27 (versus an $18.35 close) at Jefferies. The firm sees its science as still solid after ASCO data, but thinks it will take more time to optimize 265. Leerink downgraded Mirati to Market Perform from Outperform and cut its target to $20 from $37.

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (NASDAQ: PPC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

Portland General Electric Co. (NYSE: POR) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $38 price target (versus a $42.18 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) was downgraded to Neutral and removed from the Conviction Buy list at Goldman Sachs. The stock closed up 2.5% at $109.46 on Friday and hit a 52-week high of $109.90, so this is a fulfillment of the price target rather than due to adverse events.

SiteOne Landscape Supply Inc. (NYSE: SITE) is seeing its quiet period come to an end, and the $28.11 close was against a 52-week range of $25.49 to $29.99 and versus a $21.00 IPO price. The following initiations were seen for SiteOne:

  • Deutsche Bank started it as Buy with a $33 price target.
  • Goldman Sachs started it as Neutral with a $31 price target.
  • R.W. Baird started it as Outperform with a $38 price target.
  • SunTrust Robinson Humphrey started it as Buy with a $35 price target.
  • UBS started it as Buy with a $32 price target.

Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. (NYSE: RGR) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at BB&T Capital Markets.

Synopsys Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS) was started with an Outperform rating and was assigned a $64 price target (versus a $52.03 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Turning Point Brands Inc. (NYSE: TPB) is seeing its quiet period come to an end, and the $10.58 price was against a post-IPO trading range of $9.90 to $12.10 and IPO price of $10.00. Cowen started it as Outperform with a $13 price target.

Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Avon Products, Big Lots, Broadcom, Deere, Dish Networks, Union Pacific, Yelp and over a dozen more.

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