Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, GE, Molycorp, Occidental, Teradata, Twitter and More

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By Jon C. Ogg Published
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Stocks were indicated lower on Friday after the Dow tried to make a run at another new high and failed. Investors remain wary, and many stocks have been battered, while others keep rising. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning for new ideas. These are this Friday’s top Wall Street analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was downgraded to Buy from Strong Buy at ISI Group, but what is interesting is that the price target was raised to $675 from $600 in the call.

Avago Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO) was started as Overweight by Barclays.

AmeriGas Partners L.P. (NYSE: APU) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.

Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform by Raymond James.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) was reiterated as Buy with a $31 price target at Argus, as the firm said that GE had solid earnings results but the Alstom purchase is uncertain.

ALSO READ: Battered Momentum Tech Stocks That Could Be Ready for a Bounce

Liquidity Services Inc. (NASDAQ: LQDT) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets, and the price target was halved to $15 from $30.

Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at J.P. Morgan. Things are bad enough here that we also have asked if Molycorp can be saved.

ALSO READ: America’s Most Unusual Public Companies

ON Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: ONNN) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.

Paylocity Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: PCTY) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

ALSO READ: Analyst Says SanDisk Can Rise to $115

Rocket Fuel Inc. (NASDAQ: FUEL) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs, and it was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

Teradata Corp. (NYSE: TDC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Merrill Lynch, just a day after Morgan Stanley made the same type of upgrade. Apparently they were worried that Twitter could bust under its IPO price too.

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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.

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