Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AMD, IBM, Google, eBay, Verizon and More

Investing

Published: October 18, 2013 8:25 am

Last Updated: October 18, 2013 9:43 am

Earnings season is well into full reporting, and a debt deal has been reached in Washington, D.C. Now that the S&P 500 Index has hit a new all-time high, many investors are wondering which stocks to buy and which to sell or avoid. 24/7 Wall St. peruses dozens of analyst research calls from Wall Street each morning to find new ideas. Some are stocks to buy and some are stocks to sell or to avoid. These are some of this Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) was reiterated as Underperform with a $3 price target at Credit Suisse, Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded AMD to Neutral from Buy and Citigroup lowered its price target to $4.50 from $5.00.

Albemarble Corp. (NYSE: ALB) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy on valuation and lowered estimates at Sterne Agee.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) was reiterated as Buy with a $65 price target (versus a $51.38 close) as an attractive entry point at a discount after the weakness from earnings, according to Argus.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) was reiterated as Outperform, but the price target was raised to $1,200 from $1,000 at Credit Suisse; Canaccord Genuity raised its price target up to $1,000 from $940.

HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: HBC) was removed from the Credit Suisse Europe Focus List.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) was downgraded to Hold at Argus, and it also was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS late in the day on Thursday.

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $78 price target (versus a $68.00 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (NYSEL KMP) was reiterated as Buy with a $93 target (versus a $80.69 close) at Argus.

LG Display Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LPL) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: RNR) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral, but the price target was raised to $90 from $86 (versus a $93.49 close), at Credit Suisse.

Total S.A. (NYSE: TOT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche bank.

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