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

Photo of Jon C. Ogg
By Jon C. Ogg Updated Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

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.

Photo of Jon C. Ogg
About the Author Jon C. Ogg →

Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. a673b.bigscoots-temp.com.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618