Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: BlackBerry, ING, Lululemon, MannKind, Vipshop and More

Investing

Published: March 31, 2014 8:30 am

Stocks are again wanting to challenge new highs, yet investors remain anxious. They want upside from the bull market but do not want to buy the top or get stuck in the next sell-off. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning, with an eye for new ideas for our readers. Some reports cover stocks to buy, and some cover stocks to sell. These are this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.

Banco Santander S.A. (NYSE: SAN) was raised to Hold from Sell by Deutsche Bank.

Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) was raised to Buy from Hold at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) has lots of calls on Monday. The troubled smartphone maker was downgraded to Underperform from an already cautious Neutral at Credit Suisse, and the price target was cut to $6 from $7. Evercore Partners also downgraded BlackBerry, to Underweight from Equal Weight. Needham & Co. raised its rating to Hold from Underperform. Canaccord Genuity also raised its price target to $8 from $6.

Edison International (NYSE: EIX) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Exact Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: EXAS) fell on Friday despite a positive FDA recommendation of its Cologuard test. Barron’s wrote over the weekend that, despite some caution, this stock could rise close to 50% to $20 from a $12.86 closing price.

Finish Line Inc. (NASDAQ: FINL) was reiterated as Buy with a $32 price target at Canaccord Genuity. Sterne Agee maintained its Buy rating as well, with a $33 price target. Shares closed at $27.05 on Friday.

ING U.S. Inc. (NYSE: VOYA) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $43 from $38 (and the price target was $35.49) by Goldman Sachs.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) found one friend for its turnaround efforts, as Wedbush Morgan raised the rating to Outperform from Neutral with the expectation that the bad news is likely priced into the stock.

MannKind Corp. (NASDAQ: MNKD) was down 7% on Friday due to FDA concerns about its inhalable insulin, and on Monday MannKind was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

MercadoLibre Inc. (NASDAQ: MELI) was started with a Sell rating by Citigroup.

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: RNR) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Vipshop Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: VIPS) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $185 price target (versus a $138.00 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Barron’s wrote over the weekend about the case for $75 oil as the norm in five years. We disagree, and think that the baseline for oil looks more like $95.

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