24/7 Wall St. Top Analyst Calls of the Week (ALU, AMZN, AAPL, CSCO, CSC, CXW, DF, EPD, GNW, GMCR, GRPN, HD, MPEL, PIR, SRDX, TEVA, VRTX, YRCW, ALIM)

Each morning 24/7 Wall St. issues a summary list of key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations issued by Wall Street research firms.  We review these calls and other calls made throughout the week to see which stand out the most.  Some are great calls that were full of insight, while others were total flops.  After reviewing and filtering all of these research reports, we end up with the top analyst calls of the week.

We had many key calls that stood out this week in shares of the following: Alcatel-Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU); Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN); Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL); Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO); Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC); Corrections Corporation of America (NYSE:CXW); Dean Foods Company (NYSE: DF); Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE: EPD); Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW); Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR); Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN); The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD); Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL); Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (NYSE: PIR); SurModics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRDX); Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA); Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX); and YRC Worldwide. Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW).

We have broken each of these calls out and added in color where applicable.

Alcatel-Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU) can’t get off the floor and it keeps disappointing.  Shares even closed at $1.99 after seeing a year low of $1.92 on Friday.  Alcatel’s chart looks almost the same as the chart of late-2008, but it cannot blame the market this time.  We saw three downgrades worth noting this last week: Cut to Sell at Citigroup; Cut estimates and target at Argus; and Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) had two big calls this last week.  The main call was on Friday when Nomura issued a very unenthusiastic NEUTRAL rating.  The other call came on Thursday when Zacks added it to the STRONG SELL list.  With valuations still very high and with profit margins running razor-thin, it seems that at least some caution should prevail unless the holiday season is going to blow the doors of the hinges here.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) may not sound like much, but S&P Capital IQ cut the rating to “Buy” from “Strong Buy” this week.  Some boutiques were also noting a lower demand and Apple closed down marginally on Friday at $384.62 and that was the lowest closing price since October 7.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) beat earnings and shares rose.  We saw three more analysts get on board this week as the largest communications equipment provider continues its recovery: raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank; raised to Buy at Citigroup; and its target was raised to $26 from $25 at Credit Suisse.

Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC) tanked this week after missing revenue figures and lowering its earnings forecast for the year.  CSC was downgraded to Underweight at JPMorgan on Thursday, but the scare here is that things just keep getting worse and worse and it is not normal for that firm to trim a “value stock” to an “Underweight” rating even if it was an after the fact downgrade.

Corrections Corporation of America (NYSE:CXW) is a prison operator in America and it recently announced the closing down of the Delta Correctional Facility in Mississippi.  Mid-week came news from Zacks that it was the value stock of the day and the call seems aggressive considering that it is fairly valued, is in a very controversial business segment, and it does not even pay a dividend.

Dean Foods Company (NYSE: DF) is one turnaround that investors just aren’t sure if it can or will ever turn around.  Apparently, the analyst community is at war too.  The milk and dairy player was given two big competing calls when it was downgraded to SELL at S&P Capital IQ late on Wednesday but when it was maintained with a “Buy” rating by BofA Merrill Lynch the following morning. Earlier in the week its rating was raised to Overweight at Stephens.

Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE: EPD) is one of the top three leading MLPs in most funds that track the sector and it is truly a monster in its market capitalization.  This week came a call from Zacks noting it as the Bull of the Day and it assigned a street high price target in this upgrade.  We are interested in this one enough that we did our own take and even found two other fresh independent opinions that show the good and the caution of the MLP.

Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW) won’t sound like much on the surface.  Citigroup removed its SELL rating and raised the stock to NEUTRAL because of asset sales.  What does a 6.1% gain sound like to you?  That is how much shares rose just because the real negative rating just went to what is still just “less bad.”

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) managed to steamroll all of its analysts who were remaining positive and pounding the table over the efforts of short seller David Einhorn.  A 7% gain on Friday was preceded by a drop of 39% on Thursday.  This one was very painful for many analysts.

Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) has only been public a week and the huge underwriting group has another month and change before any of those analysts can initiate coverage of the daily-deals leader.  A boutique called Benchmark is not bound by any quiet period and that firm issued a “Buy” rating with a $32.00 [price target on Groupon this week.

The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) is in retail that covers the housing and home improvement market.  Neither segment is expected to flourish compared to the past, at least for a while.  So it was a surprise to see Home Depot raised to “Outperform” at RBC Capital Markets and taking the price target to $42 from $38 on this last Monday. Shares rose about 4% this last week to $38.06 and its 52-week range is $28.13 to $39.38.  Keep in mind that this was a week ahead of Home Depot’s earnings so the analyst is not expecting a lame report.

Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) is back under $10.00 and analysts seem to have lost some zeal that they previously had.  In some ways, this feels oversold.  In others, it still feels expensive.  Melco Crown was maintained as Neutral at J.P. Morgan but the target was cut to $14 on the stock.  Morningstar called it an attractive entry point.

Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (NYSE: PIR) is a retail stock that looks and feels like it is a constant turnaround mode,  Despite the stock actually being extremely close to 52-week highs ($13.30 versus a range of $8.60 to $13.68), Wells Fargo came out and started coverage on the retailer with an “Outperform” rating and price target range of $14 to $16 for the stock and shares rose close to 3% this last week.

SurModics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRDX) is a small molecule delivery player which has seen its share of ups and downs over time. The company got past earnings the week before and the volume is rather light on this name.  That made it a surprise to see it named as an Aggressive Growth Pick at Zacks on Thursday, and it was actually up about 5.5% on Friday to $11.98 against a 52-week trading range of $8.29 to $15.50.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA) is so far out of favor now with analysts that many investors are spooked by the name.  We believe the stock has been sold off to where it is valued almost entirely based on its generic drug business because its name-brand pharmaceutical studies have run into headwinds (to put it mildly).  This last Thursday brought a call from Credit Suisse where the firm reinstated coverage as “Outperform” with a $53.00 price target and this was after the company just raised $5 billion in a debt offering.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX) had a rough week after its “positive Phase II results” in a hepatitis C study were panned by the street.  Downgrades were issued by RBC to Sector Perform on Monday, and then on Tuesday it was downgraded to Neutral at R.W. Baird and also downgraded to Market Perform at JMP Securities.  Shares closed down 14% for the week, but the stock did get a recovery after Morgan Stanley said “enough is enough” and raised the rating from a very negative “Underweight” to a less-negative “Equal-Weight” rating.  It may not sound like much, but that was after three downgrades.

YRC Worldwide. Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW) is a stock which 24/7 Wall St. does not even really consider a real stock anymore.  One reverse split, maybe… But TWO?  Come on.  This pig of a trucking company was maintained as Underperform and its target was cut to $0.05 at Credit Suisse this last week.  Another call from Zacks was also maintained as a “Neutral” with a “losing share” bend to it.  If you want to question a stock’s right to existence, YRC is one where you could easily start.

Alimera Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALIM) imploded on Friday, and here is our take on its future at BioHealthInvestor.com.

JON C. OGG