Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Adobe, HP, Lululemon, Neurocrine Bio, Pepsi, Under Armour and Many More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: April 12, 2017 8:50 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 1:03 pm

Stocks were simply looking for direction on Wednesday, perhaps knowing that the markets already may be gearing up for a shortened week ahead of Good Friday. While this bull market is now more than eight years old, investors have shown for more than five years that they are willing and able to find a reason to buy all market pullbacks. Those same investors are also still looking for new trading and investing ideas.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week in an effort to find new ideas for our readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and some cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

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 Wednesday, April 12, 2017:

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $150 price target (versus a $129.95 prior close) at Stifel. Adobe has a 52-week trading range of $90.35 to $131.33 and the consensus analyst target price is $143.13.

HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $20 price target (versus a $17.54 prior close) at Citigroup. The shares were indicated up 2.2% at $17.93 on the news. HP’s 52-week range is $11.31 to $17.96, so that is almost a 52-week high. The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters was $17.54.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $60 price target at Stifel. Lululemon was down 1% at $51.70 on Tuesday and was indicated up 2.2% at $52.87 on Wednesday. It has a 52-week range of $49.40 to $81.81 and a consensus price target of $61.83.

Neurocrine Biosciences (NASDAQ: NBIX) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $65 from $59 (versus a $41.48 close) at Jefferies. The call is after the FDA approved Ingrezza for the treatment of tardive dyskinesia, and Jefferies noted that Ingrezza is indicated for all adult TD patients and is not labeled with a black box warning for suicidality/depression, differentiating it from other approved VMAT2 inhibitors. Neurocrine shares were last seen up 22% at $50.90 on Wednesday morning, in a 52-week range of $37.35 to $55.15.

PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) was raised to Positive from Neutral and the price target was raised to $132 from $118 (versus a $111.73 close) at Susquehanna. PepsiCo has a 52-week range of $98.50 to $112.76, and the consensus analyst target was $117.63.

Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UAA) was started with a Neutral rating at Wedbush Securities, although that Neutral isn’t so neutral when you consider that the athleisure brand was given an $18 price target (versus a $19.50 close —down 1.6%). The analyst’s view is that there are still some kinks in the armour (get it, even if it is lame and from the report?) that prevent it from looking favorable without a catalyst to rediscover historic growth and margins. Under Armour has a 52-week range of $18.40 to $47.95.

Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE: AB) was raised to Buy from Underperform with a $25 price objective (versus a $22.35 prior close) at Merrill Lynch.

Atlantica Yield PLC (NYSE: ABY) was started with a Hold rating and assigned a $22 price target (versus a $20.53 close) at Jefferies.

Caleres Inc. (NYSE: CAL) was started with an Outperform rating and given a $32 price target (versus a $25.51 close) at Wedbush.

Deckers Outdoor Corp. (DECK) was started as Neutral and assigned a $52 price target (versus a $56.56 close) at Wedbush. The firm noted that it is uncertain about how Deckers’ story looks for the 2018 holiday season sales.

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.

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Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Raymond James.

Jive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: JIVE) was started with a Buy rating and the price target was set at $6 (versus a $4.40 close) at B. Riley.

Keysight Technologies Inc. (NYSE: KEYS) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $50 from $45 (versus a $35.79 close) at Jefferies.

L Brands Inc. (NYSE: LB) was started with a Neutral rating and given a $48 price target (versus a $47.95 close) at Piper Jaffray.

Ormat Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ORA) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a price target of $67 (versus a $58.24 close) at Cowen.

OSI Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: OSIS) was started as Buy with an $86 price target (versus a $70.15 close) at Jefferies. The firm noted that OSI’s security business is benefiting from airport replacement trends and regulatory mandates, and also that the health care business is bottoming.

Rent-A-Center Inc. (NASDAQ: RCII) was raised to Strong Buy from Market Perform at Raymond James.

Tesaro Inc. (NASDAQ: TSRO) was started with an Overweight rating and the price target was set at $180 (versus a $141.07 close) at Piper Jaffray.

U.S. Geothermal Inc. (NYSEMKT: HTM) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $6 price target (versus a $4.07 close) at Cowen.