Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: 3D Systems, BlackBerry, Coach, Oracle, Trina Solar, Kroger and More

Investing

Published: June 20, 2014 8:35 am

It is Friday and stocks are looking for direction after new highs this week. Investors and traders are now routinely told that the bull market has become a stock picker’s market. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week, on the lookout for new research ideas for our readers. Some of these Wall Street research reports cover stocks to buy, while some cover stocks to sell or stocks to avoid.

These are this Friday’s top Wall Street analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

3D Systems Corp. (NYSE: DDD) was started as Buy with a $67 price target (versus a $53.22 close) at Jefferies.

AutoNation Inc. (NYSE: AN) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) was not upgraded per se, but many price hikes have been seen and positive comments made. BMO raised its target to $9 from $8, and Nomura raised its target to $10 from $9. Canaccord Genuity said that there was a favorable business mix and solid cost controls driving slight upside, but also that it is still the early days on long road to potential profits.

ALSO READ: Four Defensive Stocks That Will Hold Up in a Market Correction

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets, downgraded to Market Perform at William Blair and downgraded to Neutral at HSBC.

Deckers Outdoor Corp. (NYSE: DECK) was started as Outperform and given a price target range of $92 to $98 (versus a $79.80 close) at Wells Fargo.

ExOne Co. (NASDAQ: XONE) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $32 from $50 at Jefferies.

ITC Holdings Corp. (NYSE: ITC) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral on elevated ROE risk, but the price target was raised to $34.50 at Credit Suisse.

JA Solar Holdings (NASDAQ: JASO) was started as Neutral with a target price of $12 at Credit Suisse.

JinkoSolar Holding Co. (NYSE: JKS) was started with an Outperform rating and was given a target price of $45 (versus a $27.81 close) at Credit Suisse.

Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $52 price target (versus a $49.66 close) at Goldman Sachs.

ALSO READ: 12 Analyst Stocks Under $10 With Huge Implied Upside

Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) has already seen many upgrades this week, and now Jefferies has raised its rating to Buy from Hold with a $75 price target (versus a $64.67 close).

Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) was trading down more than 5% after earnings. Citigroup downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy.

Pier 1 Imports Inc. (NYSE: PIR) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche bank.

Sonic Automotive Inc. (NYSE: SAH) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, with a $22 price target (versus a $26.65 close).

ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) was started as Underperform and given a target price of $3.25 (versus a $2.99 close) at Credit Suisse.

Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) was started with a Buy rating and given a $140 price target (versus a $101.62 close) at Jefferies.

Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) was started as Neutral and with a target price of $19 at Credit Suisse.

ALSO READ: Seven Speculative Alternative Energy Stocks With Massive Potential Upside

Voxeljet A.G. (NYSE: VJET) was started as Hold with a $13.50 price target (versus a $16.02 close) at Jefferies.

In case you missed Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Amazon, Celgene, Cisco, FedEx, Nvidia, Starbucks and many more. Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Cisco, Diamond Foods, GNC, Garmin, SunPower, Tyson Foods and many others.

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