Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ABBV, AKAM, BBRY, COCO, DV, GOOG, HLF, JNJ, JCP, MCP, NOK, PFE, SLW, SYK, TE, VCLK, V)

Investing

Published: February 7, 2013 8:20 am

These are some of this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall St. research calls.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) cut to Hold at Jefferies and cut to Neutral at Janney.

BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Corinthian Colleges Inc. (NASDAQ: COCO) named Bear of the Day as the shift in for-profit education landscape continues to impact it at Zacks.

DeVry Inc. (NYSE: DV) raised to Neutral at J.P. Morgan.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) started as Neutral at Stern Agee (late-Wednesday call).

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) named Bull of the Day as mother of all short squeezes at Zacks.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) cut to Underperform but raised target to $73 at Credit Suisse.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) reiterated Buy with $35 target as multiyear turnaround story at Argus.

Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) raised to Neutral from Underweight at J.P. Morgan.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) reiterated Hold at Argus and noted, “Nokia, though no longer on the brink of catastrophe, is still in a fierce fight with Android, iOS, and newly renamed Blackberry.”

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW) raised to Outperform with $49 price target at Credit Suisse.

Stryker Corp. (NYSE: SYK) cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

TECO Energy Inc. (NYSE: TE) cut to Hold at Argus.

ValueClick Inc. (NASDAQ: VCLK) started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Credit Card Companies Are Doing Something Nuts

Credit card companies are at war. The biggest issuers are handing out free rewards and benefits to win the best customers.

It’s possible to find cards paying unlimited 1.5%, 2%, and even more today. That’s free money for qualified borrowers, and the type of thing that would be crazy to pass up. Those rewards can add up to thousands of dollars every year in free money, and include other benefits as well.

We’ve assembled some of the best credit cards for users today. Don’t miss these offers because they won’t be this good forever.

Flywheel Publishing has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Flywheel Publishing and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.