Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Carnival, Devon, J.C. Penney, Netflix, Dow Chemical and More

Investing

Published: May 20, 2014 8:05 am

Stocks are trying to find direction on Tuesday, with no clear path in place. The DJIA and S&P 500 hit new all-time highs early last week, and investors want to profit from gains and avoid losses. It is also now called a stock picker’s market. 24/7 Wall St. reviews many analyst research reports each morning of the week on the hunt for new ideas. Some analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid. These are this Tuesday’s top Wall Street analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral by Credit Suisse, although the price target was raised to $42 from $41 (versus a $44.06 close) in the call.

DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight by Morgan Stanley.

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General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus after the stock has enjoyed a strong run up.

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform and given a $10 price target (versus a $7.21 close) by Raymond James.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform and the price range was cut to $5 to $6 from $6 to $7 by Wells Fargo.

LifeLock Inc. (NYSE: LOCK) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs, but the target price was slashed in half — to $12.50 from $25 — in the call.

Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight and given a $2.50 price target (versus a $2.85 close) at Morgan Stanley.

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Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was started with a rating Buy and given a $421 price target at Topeka Capital Markets.

Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: SWHC) was raised to Outperform and the price target was raised to $20 from $13 at Wedbush.

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