Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Stocks to Buy: Apple, Intel, Sprint, Nucor and More

Stocks are showing the concern over the shenanigans taking place in Washington, and investors have to worry which stocks they should be buying, selling or avoiding. It turns out that analysts think many companies will be nearly immune to the political wrangling, and there are many stocks to buy. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of fresh research reports each morning to find great ideas. These are this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, initiations and positive analyst research calls seen from Wall Street.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated at Buy and the price target was raised to $580 from $560 because the iPhone and iPad mix will benefit near-term results, according to Canaccord Genuity.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) was started as Buy at SunTrust.

Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: IDIX) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was raised to Buy from Neutral at B. Riley, reiterated Outperform with $30 price target at Credit Suisse and reiterated Buy with $28 target at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) was started as Buy at SunTrust

Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. (NYSE: MMC) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $48 from $45 (versus a $43.85 close) at Credit Suisse.

Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies, roughly the third upgrade this week.

Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) was started as Outperform with a $55 price target (versus $a 49.48 close) at Credit Suisse.

Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $7.50 price target (versus a $6.03 close) at Macquarie.

Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) was started as Outperform with a $20 price target (versus a $17.22 close) at Credit Suisse.

The Fresh Market Inc. (NASDAQ: TFM) was started as Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) was started as Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

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