Top Analyst Upgrades and Positive Views from Wall Street

Investors are on the hunt for fresh research ideas that will lead to higher income or more profits. Each and every morning we review many fresh research calls from Wall St. and from independent research firms looking for ideas from value stocks to growth stocks to dividend stocks. We are breaking out the positive analyst calls as far as stocks to buy and positive research calls today. These are some of this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, initiations and positive analyst research calls seen from Wall St. today.

Agrium Inc. (NYSE: AGU) was started as Overweight at HSBC.

American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) started as Outperform along with a $50 price target at BMO Capital Markets, representing close to 30% in implied upside from the $38.56 closing price.

ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ: ASML) raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank and shares are indicated up more than 3% in New York while the ADR’s local shares were up as much as almost 5% in Amsterdam trading.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) saw its price target raised to $30 from $24 at Jefferies, with the note being that business is so far tracking in-line or better than expectations.

Holly Frontier Corp. (NYSE: HFC) raised to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Johnson & Johnson Inc. (NYSE: JNJ) reiterated Buy but the price target was raised all the way up to $96 from $80 by Argus after its earnings report. Outside of the analyst calls, we expect and have projected a dividend hike yet again next week from J&J.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) was started as Overweight at HSBC.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) is up marginally after earnings. The flash memory leader was reiterated as Outperform at Credit Suisse, but the firm raised the price target to $75 from $55 as its structural growth is expected to be better than the semiconductor sector.

Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) has one analyst defending the stock after a 13.5% drop on Wednesday. J.P. Morgan has raised its rating to Overweight from Neutral and assigned a $30 price target. Shares closed at $25.51 on Wednesday, versus $29.35 the prior day, and its 52-week range is $21.97 to $31.30.

Theravance Inc. (NASDAQ: THRX) is already up 16% or so at $32.50 after positive data on its COPD drug with GlaxoSmithKline, but BofA/Merrill Lynch reiterated a Buy rating and raised its price target to $40 from $34 along with its earnings estimates from 2013 to 2015.

The Travelers Companies Inc. (NYSE: TRV) was started as Outperform with a $95 price target at BMO Capital Markets.

United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.

See also: Analysts Defend Battered Gold Mining Stocks