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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Citigroup, Exxon, Sprint, Tiffany and More
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Stocks have pulled back ahead of the jobs data, and investors need to be considering how to position their portfolios going into year-end and 2014. 24/7 Wall St. reviews many Wall Street research reports each morning looking for ideas for our readers. Some turn out as stocks to buy and some as stocks to sell. These are Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank on Thursday. This is on the heels of Citigroup being removed from the prized Conviction Buy List earlier in the week. It is ahead of next week’s Volcker Rule, which is now expected to be more harsh than originally believed.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy and the price target was maintained at $102 at Raymond James. The move comes as Exxon shares are approaching a 52-week high after closing at $94.67 and is on the heels of the firm reportedly maintaining its production targets for 2014.
Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Nomura. The big part of the call is that the target price was raised to $10.50 from $6.00. It is believed that Sprint can double its EBITDA based on modest revenue growth and significant cost reductions.
Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SPR) was started as Buy with a $39.00 price target at Citigroup, and it was raised to Buy from Hold with the price target raised to $38 from $28 at Canaccord Genuity. Shares are indicated up more than 1% above $32.00. Keep in mind that the company is in the middle of enjoying record airplane demand as Boeing and Airbus are launching new planes.
Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) was raised to the prized Conviction Buy List from Neutral and the price target was raised to $105 from $97 by Goldman Sachs. The firm called it a top pick into 2014 and going into year-end, with upside on gross margins and free cash flows. The headwinds against the jeweler are believed to be unfolding now.
Other notable calls were as follows:
Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ: CELG) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
CommVault Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CVLT) was started with an Outperform rating at BMO Capital Markets.
Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) was downgraded to Hold from a prior Buy rating at Deutsche Bank.
Morgan Stanley started Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NASDAQ: ADP) as Equal Weight and started Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) with an Underweight rating.
ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus.
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