Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Adobe, Alcoa, Apple, Cogent, GameStop, Micron, Under Armour and More

Stocks were indicated marginally higher on Friday ahead of a delayed health care vote in the House of Representatives. Despite recent selling, the stock indexes all remain very close to their all-time highs and the bull market is now more than eight years old. One trend that has held up without fail is that investors have managed to buy stocks on every single pullback. Those same investors are also looking for new trading and investing ideas.

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 analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other reports cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Some color has been added on many of the following calls, and the consensus analyst price targets referenced are from Thomson Reuters. These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday, March 24, 2017:

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $150 from $125 (versus a $126.87 prior close) at Credit Suisse. Adobe Systems has 52-week trading range of $90.35 to $130.30 and a consensus analyst price target of $141.09.

Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $40 price target (versus a $33.31 close) at Berenberg. The 52-week range is $20.00 to $39.78 and the consensus price target is $41.10.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $165 from $135 at Instinet (Nomura). Shares closed at $140.92 on Thursday and were indicated to open at $141.25 on Friday. Apple has a 52-week range of $89.47 to $142.80 and a consensus price target of $144.48.

Cogent Communications Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CCOI) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $48 price target (versus a $41.85 close) at Deutsche Bank. The consensus analyst target is $45.25, and the 52-week range is $34.23 to $44.40.

GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) was maintained as Outperform but the price target was cut to $25 from $28 at Wedbush Securities. Credit Suisse is at a more cautious Neutral rating, and it cut the target to $20 from $22. The firm expects GameStop shares to trade at a compressed earnings multiple until it slows the decline in its core video game business. GameStop has a 52-week range of $20.10 to $33.72 and a consensus price target of $25.84.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $40 from $35 after the company blew out its earnings expectations. What is interesting here is that Credit Suisse had just raised its target right ahead of earnings. and the new mantra is that it is still too early to call a peak.

Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UAA) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $27 price target (versus an $18.98 close) at Jefferies, and the firm also added it to its Franchise Picks List. The 52-week range is $18.40 to $47.95. The consensus price target is $22.45.

Follow @Jonogg on Twitter to get analyst calls and research summaries posted directly to your feed.

Other key analyst calls were seen as follows:

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