Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apache, Broadcom, Intel, Verizon and More

Investing

Published: September 17, 2013 8:35 am

Last Updated: September 17, 2013 8:39 am

Stocks have been in rally mode, and now investors have to decide whether they will chase stocks or sell them into strength. 24/7 Wall St. reviews literally dozens of Wall Street analyst research reports each morning with a goal of finding fresh ideas for investors and traders. Some turn out to be stocks to buy and others turn out to be stocks to sell. These are Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.

American States Water Co. (NYSE: AWR) was Raised to Buy from Hold with a $28 price target (versus $25.22 close) at Brean Capital.

Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) was raised to Outperform from Perform with a $100 price target (versus $87.00 close) at Oppenheimer.

Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) was raised to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) and US Airways Group Inc. (NYSE: LCC) were raised to Overweight from Neutral at J.P. Morgan.

Deutsche Bank A.G. (NYSE: DB) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Extreme Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: EXTR) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $6.00 (versus $4.37 close) by Wedbush.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was reiterated as Outperform but its price target was raised to $30 from $28 (versus $23.39 close) at Credit Suisse.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (NYSE: RBS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $54 price target (versus $48.30 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Goldman Sachs maintained a Buy rating but removed Extra Space Storage Inc. (NYSE: EXR) from its prized Conviction Buy List. Goldman Sachs reiterated Conviction Buy List ratings for Simon Property Group Inc. (NYSE: SPG) and for Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. (NYSE: OHI).

Credit Suisse initiated coverage on three different 3D printing stocks: 3D Systems Corp. (NYSE: DDD) was started with an Outperform rating and $62.00 price target (versus $50.06 close); Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) was started as Neutral with a $103 price target (versus $93.45 close); ExOne Co. (NASDAQ: XONE) was started as Underperform with a $48 target price (versus $50.80 close).

One key research note bodes very positively for the battered high-yield dividend mortgage REIT sector.

Good news for iShares MSCI Turkey Investable Market Index (NYSEMKT: TUR) and for Turkish Investment Fund Inc. (NYSE: TKF): Credit Suisse has raised Turkey back to positive as 10% (Overweight) in emerging market portfolios from 5% (Underweight) as it believes the environment has changed significantly for the better for Turkey.

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