Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Cypress Semi, Groupon, Humana, Infosys, Monster Beverage, Transocean and More

July 18, 2016 by Jon C. Ogg

The stock market hit a new high last week, and now the markets have to deal with a failed coup attempt in Turkey. The markets now are indicated higher, with the S&P 500 indicated up five points and with the Dow up about 30 points. We have moved past the Brexit uncertainty, and the market is not even bowing to high valuations. If one thing has been proven, it is that investors are willing and able to buy their favorite stocks on pullbacks.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning in an effort to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other reports feature stocks to sell or to avoid.

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

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: CY) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with an $11 price target (versus an $11.36 prior close) at Morgan Stanley. Shares were last seen indicated down 2% at $11.36, with a 52-week trading range of $6.30 to $12.46. The consensus analyst price target is $11.22.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and the price target was raised to $6 from $4 (versus a $3.49 close) at Piper Jaffray. The consensus price target is $4.08, and the 52-week range is $2.15 to $5.28.

Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $210 price target (versus a $158.89 close) at Jefferies. It has a consensus price target of $212.71 and a 52-week range of $151.30 to $192.49.

Infosys Ltd. (NYSE: INFY) saw its shares fall almost 9% on Friday to $16.81 on lowered sales expectations (with a Brexit blame). The stock was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse. It has a 52-week range of $15.71 to $20.47 and a consensus price target from analysts of $19.66.

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Wells Fargo. It closed down 2.1% at $12.15 on Friday and was indicated up at $12.22 on Monday, versus a 52-week range of $7.67 to $17.19. The consensus price target is under the current price, down at $9.01.

Monster Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: MNST) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo. It has a 52-week range of $113.08 to $162.77 and a consensus price target of $163.93.

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Other top analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen as follows:

Antero Resources Corp. (NASDAQ: AR) was raised to Hold from Underperform and the price target was raised to $27 from $24 (versus a $26.37 close) at Jefferies.

Apartment Investment and Management Co. (NYSE: AIV) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $50 from $45 (versus a $42.30 close) at Robert W. Baird.

Fidelity National Financial Inc. (NYSE: FNF) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $39 price target (versus a $37.30 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

QEP Resources Inc. (NYSE: QEP) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the price target was raised to $24 from $18 (versus a $17.92 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform with a $23 price target (versus a $22.88 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. (NASDAQ: SFM) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $24 price target (versus a $23.17 close) at JPMorgan.

Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO) is now off of its IPO quiet period and analyst have started it as follows:

  • Neutral at Goldman Sachs
  • Neutral at JPMorgan
  • Market Perform at JMP Securities
  • Outperform at William Blair
  • Sector Weight at Pacific Crest
  • Hold at Canaccord Genuity

Wesco Aircraft Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: WAIR) was downgraded to Underperform from Hold and the price target was cut to $12 from $14 (versus a $14.03 close) at Jefferies.

In addition, Jefferies has AbbVie, Pfizer and Eli Lilly as top pharma stocks.

Four speculative biotech and biohealth stocks were given massive upside targets.

Nine analyst picks from last week in stocks trading under $10 were given very large upside target prices.

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