Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Analog Devices, First Solar, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Urban Outfitters and More

November 23, 2016 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks have hit new all-time highs on a post-election Trump rally, with the Dow over 19,000 and the S&P 500 hitting 2,200. Markets were looking for direction ahead of Thanksgiving and many investors are already out of the office or have their foot out the door. Investors have proven over and over that they will buy the market on any real pullback. Those same investors are also looking for new ideas for where they should be investing in 2017 and beyond.

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

Investors need to understand that we have had one massive rally in the last two weeks without a single pullback. That is just not normal. Bond yields have risen and the Federal Reserve wants to hike interest rates. Stocks are at all-time highs and the earnings multiples are also very high. Some of the key stocks that are beneficiaries of the election have even risen 15% to 20% in the last two weeks. Also, the bull market is now nearing eight years old.

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

Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $85 price target (versus $72.89 close, after a 4.4% gain) at BofA Merrill Lynch. Analog Devices has a 52-week range of $47.24 to $74.87 and has a consensus analyst price target of $73.31.

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie. First Solar rose almost 1% to $29.66 on Tuesday and was indicated down almost the same amount at $29.40 on Wednesday. First Solar also has a 52-week range of $28.60 to $74.29 and it has a consensus analyst target that has come down to about $37.00.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE: HPE) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $27 from $29 (versus $22.87 close) at Jefferies. Mizuho has a Neutral rating but they raised their target to $22 from $20. HP Enterprise was down 1% ahead of its mixed earnings report, and shares were indicated down 3.3% at $22.10 on Wednesday.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was reiterated as Buy with a $45 price target at Argus based upon AI and deep learning sales coming next year. This was also noting a combined value in the high $40s.Intel has a 52-week range of $27.68 to $38.36 and has a consensus analyst price target of $40.26.

Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) was up almost 5% at $39.01 before disappointing earnings and guidance, and shares were last seen down 9.9% at $35.15 on Wednesday morning. It was reiterated as Buy with a $45 price target at Jefferies. Wedbush Securities maintained its Neutral rating and $34 target after results and margins look lower, while Wunderlich downgraded Urban Outfitters to Hold from Buy and the target was cut to $32 from $40.

You can follow @Jonogg on Twitter if you want the daily analyst calls and research updates directly on your Twitter feed.

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades seen on Wednesday were in shares of the following companies:

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) was downgraded to Sell from Hold with a $13 price target (versus $15.49 close) at Deutsche Bank. This call follows roughly 10 downgrades and target cuts in recent days.

Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE: ALV) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.

Camden Property Trust (NYSE: CPT) was raised to Buy from Neutral at BofA Merrill Lynch.

Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Sanford Bernstein.

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ: CTSH) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair.

Diplomat Pharmacy, Inc. (NYSE: DPLO) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Education Realty Trust (NYSE: EDR) was raised to Buy from Neutral at BofA Merrill Lynch.

McKesson (NYSE: MCK) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

PAREXEL International Corp. (NASDAQ: PRXL) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Koninklijke Philips N.V. (NYSE: PHG) was started as Buy at Citigroup.

Ternium S.A. (NYSE: TX) was started as Buy at Berenberg.

ZTO Express (NYSE: ZTO) was started as Overweight at J.P. Morgan.

Credit Suisse’s global equity strategy team upgraded Japanese equities to Overweight and they increased their mid-2017 Nikkei price target to 20,000.

Merrill Lynch has 5 buy and hold forever dividend payers.

Are there more worries for electric utilities in 2017?

Trump tax changes could be a boom for 5 tech giants.

Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades were in shares of Duke Energy, Ford, GM, Huntington Bancshares, Tyson Foods and in a dozen or so more companies.

 

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