Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: CenturyLink, Facebook, Keurig, SodaStream, Sprint and More

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By Jon C. Ogg Published
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Stocks are looking for direction on Thursday after a volatile start of the week. Now investors keep hearing that it is a stock picker’s market rather than a raging bull market. Each morning, 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports for new ideas. Some of the analyst calls cover stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or to avoid. These are this Thursday’s top Wall Street analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) was downgraded to Sell from an already cautious Neutral rating at Citigroup.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ARCO) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at HSBC.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) was started with a Market Perform rating at Bernstein.

CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL) was started as Market Perform by Bernstein.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Evercore Partners, and the price target was raised to $75 from $69.

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Keurig Green Mountain Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Roth Capital.

Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE: NBR) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $31 from $28 at Jefferies.

SodaStream International Ltd. (NASDAQ: SODA) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight and the price target was cut to $35 from $40 by Barclays.

Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) was started as Market Perform by Bernstein.

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Spartan Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: SPTN) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $25 from $20 at Cantor Fitzgerald.

STMicroelectronics N.V. (NYSE: STM) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at HSBC.

T-Mobile US Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) was started as Market Perform at Bernstein.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) was started as Outperform at Bernstein.

Windstream Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: WIN) was started with an Outperform rating at Bernstein, which is significant considering that the 10.7% yield has been scrutinized before and is the highest yield of the S&P 500.

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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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