Earnings season is in full swing and investors want to make money in upside while avoiding the downside. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning for new ideas. Some reports cover stocks to buy and some are about stocks to sell or to avoid. These are this Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Aruba Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) was raised to Outperform from Perform by Oppenheimer.

Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AVNR) was raised to Buy from Neutral by Mizuho.

Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BTIG. Just on Thursday we noted that Avon was entering the second worst phase of a business ever — the questionable future phase.

Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Nomura.

Control4 Corp. (NASDAQ: CTRL) was maintained as Buy with a $25 price target by Canaccord Genuity after earnings and guidance were called plain and strong. This remains an active pick of our own stocks that could double in 2014.

DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

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Endo International PLC (NASDAQ: ENDP) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight by Morgan Stanley.

General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $112 price target at Goldman Sachs.

LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS. Canaccord Genuity lowered its price target to $225 from $250.

Masco Corp. (NYSE: MAS) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs, and it was raised to Strong Buy from Market Perform at Raymond James.

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Monsanto Corp. (NYSE: MON) was started as Outperform with a $130 price target at BMO Capital Markets.

New Residential Investment Corp. (NYSE: NRZ) was reinstated as Outperform with a $7 price target by Credit Suisse.

Novartis A.G. (NYSE: NVS) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies

OpenTable Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) was raised to Buy from Hold at Societe Generale.

Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SBH) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $30 from $32 at Sterne Agee.

T-Mobile US Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) was reiterated as Buy at Canaccord Genuity after record additions.

United Microelectronics Corp. (NYSE: UMC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy by UBS, but it was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Merrill Lynch.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) was raised to Buy from Neutral and given a $260 price target by Sterne Agee.

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