Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AMD, Dunkin' Brands, EOG, Time Warner, Wendy's and Many More

Investing

Published: July 18, 2014 8:25 am

Stocks had tanked on geopolitical news of Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine woes on Thursday, but the markets were staging a recovery on Friday. Many investors have decided that they want to selectively pick good companies with solid prospects now. The bull market is approaching five and half years old now. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of brokerage analyst reports each morning to find new research-driven ideas for our readers. Some of the research reports cover stocks to buy, and some analyst calls cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

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

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) was downgraded to Market Perform from outperform at FBR Capital Markets after the company’s poor earnings and guidance. Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded AMD to Underperform from Neutral as well, cutting the target to $4 from $4.50. Canaccord Genuity said that its underexposure to enterprise PC upgrades and crypto-currency collapse yielded disappointing results and guidance, causing the firm to lower the target $4.50 from $5.00. AMD shares were down more than 15% ahead of the opening bell on Friday morning.

Andersons Inc. (NASDAQ: ANDE) was raised to Buy at BB&T.

America’s Car-Mart Inc. (NASDAQ: CRMT) was started as Underperform at Merrill Lynch, with a $36 price target (versus a $37.57 close).

ALSO READ: High-Yielding MLPs That Can Outperform for the Rest of 2014

Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DNKN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was cut to $45 from $56 at Janney Capital Markets.

EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG) was downgraded to Market Perform at Bernstein.

Iron Mountain Inc. (NYSE: IRM) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Baird.

Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: NUS) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

RealPage Inc. (NASDAQ: RP) was downgraded to Underperform at William Blair, and lower guidance had shares down more than 20% on Friday.

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $100 from $80 at Sterne Agee.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) was reiterated Outperform at Credit Suisse, but the target price was raised to $95 from $82 at Credit Suisse.

ALSO READ: 4 Top Biotechs Expected to Beat Earnings Expectations

Wendy’s Co. (NASDAQ: WEN) was started as Buy with an $11 price target (versus a $8.10 close) at Buckingham Research.

Wolverine World Wide Inc. (NYSE: WWW) was downgraded to Hold from Buy, based on a weaker outlook, at Argus.

In case you missed Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included AIG, Intel, Aflac, eBay, EOG Resources, PetSmart, Pier 1 Imports and many more.

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