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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AMD, Agios Pharma, Baidu, Diamond Offshore, LyondellBasell, Occidental Petroleum and More
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Stocks were indicated lower on Monday, ahead of this week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting and Brexit vote. Investors have shown frequently that they are more than willing to buy the stock market on dips. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our aim is to dig up new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and other reports feature stocks to sell or avoid.
Last week, 24/7 Wall St. warned that the S&P 500 was trading at 18 times expected 2016 per-share earnings, a level not seen since September of 2009. That is of course with commodities/materials and energy earnings being nonexistent, but it is a serious premium for market valuations. Now we have a note from Credit Suisse’s equity strategy team that says S&P 500 valuations are approaching troublesome territory.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Monday morning:
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) was reiterated as Buy at Jefferies, and the firm raised its price target to $5.50 from $4.50 (versus a $4.32 close). The firm believes that AMD is having good execution on its 14nm Polaris GPU and on pending ramps of three new semi-custom products. AMD has a consensus analyst price target of $3.56 and a 52-week trading range of $1.61 to $4.71.
Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AGIO) shares were indicated up 8% at $54.50 after presenting data for Phase 2 DRIVE-PK study of AG-348, showing rapid and sustained hemoglobin increases. The stock was maintained as Neutral at Janney, but the fair value was lowered to $47 from $52. JPMorgan raised its rating from Neutral to Overweight with a $62 price target.
Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was cut to $180 from $238 (versus a $164.28 close) at Citigroup. The consensus price target is $209.10, and the 52-week range is $100.00 to $217.97.
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO) was started with a Buy rating at Merrill Lynch with a $34 price objective (versus a $24.32 close). The consensus price target is $20.61. The 52-week range is $14.18 to $29.21.
LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE: LYB) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the price target was cut to $87 from $105 (versus an $80.47 close) at Cowen. It has a consensus price target of $94.37 and has a 52-week range of $69.10 to $106.50.
Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley. It has a consensus price target of $78.04 and a 52-week range of $58.24 to $79.75.
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Other top analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen in the following:
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC) was started with an Outperform rating and was assigned a target price of $34 at Credit Suisse.
Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE: CVE) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Cinemark Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CNK) was started as Neutral with a $33 target price at Credit Suisse.
Endologix Inc. (NASDAQ: ELGX) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $15.50 price target (versus $12.68 close) at Canaccord Genuity.
ENSCO International PLC (NYSE: ESV) was started with an Underperform rating and was assigned a $9 price objective (versus a $10.53 close) at Merrill Lynch.
Gulfport Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: GPOR) was downgraded to Accumulate from Buy with a $34 price target (versus a $32.69 close) at KLR Group.
InterXion Holding N.V. (NASDAQ: INXN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $36 price target at Jefferies.
Lexington Realty Trust (NYSE: LXP) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $10 price target (versus a $9.76 close) at Evercore ISI.
NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $56 from $45 (versus a $46.20 close) at Jefferies. The firm also has it as a top pick in the chip sector, noting that Deep Learning algorithms for chat-bots, stock trading and medical and shopping issues could even outweigh the growth potential of virtual reality.
ON Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: ON) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight with a $13 price target (versus a $9.80 close) at Pacific Crest.
OraSure Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: OSUR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.
Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC) was started with a Neutral rating and was assigned a target price of $20 (versus a $19.89 close) at Credit Suisse.
Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: RIGL) was started with an Overweight rating and was given a $10 price target (versus a $2.39 close) at Piper Jaffray. It has a $6.50 consensus price target and a 52-week range of $1.88 to $3.68, but the market cap is $220 million.
SITO Mobile Ltd. (NASDAQ: SITO) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $8 price target (versus a $3.29 close) at Maxim Group. It has very thin volume and is a micro-cap stock with a $57 million market cap.
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: SIX) was reiterated as Buy with a fair value estimate of $68 (versus a $57.79 close) at Janney.
Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ: VOD) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie.
Friday’s top analyst calls were in shares of AbbVie, Amazon.com, Cliffs Natural Resources, Corning, Dynegy, Joy Global, Stanley Black & Decker and many more.
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