Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Expedia, Hyatt, Ocwen, Strayer, SunPower, 3D Systems and More

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By Jon C. Ogg Published
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Stocks tanked on Thursday, with the Dow falling more than 300 points, and stocks were again in the red ahead of the unemployment report on Friday. Investors will still be looking for upside from stocks, but likely it will be on a very selective basis rather than from a bull market blanket view. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each and every morning to find new investment and trading ideas. Some of the analyst reports cover stocks to buy. Others are about stocks to sell or stocks to avoid.

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

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform with a $69 price target at Oppenheimer.

Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE: BYD) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, and the price target was slashed to $10 from $16.

Control4 Corp. (NASDAQ: CTRL) was down after earnings. Canaccord Genuity maintained a Buy rating, but based on a reset of expectations it lowered the price target to $18 from $25.

Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) was raised to Outperform at Raymond James with a $100 price target. Oppenheimer raised its target to $92 from $90.

Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GNRC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

Hyatt Hotels Corp. (NYSE: H) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $55 price target (versus $58.83 close) at Credit Suisse.

Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $110 price target at Credit Suisse.

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Ocwen Financial Corp. (NYSE: OCN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup, on the heels of a 13% drop on Thursday. Oppenheimer cut its target to $36 from $42.

PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $51 from $50 (versus a $44.67 close) at Credit Suisse.

Strayer Education Inc. (NASDAQ: STRA) beat earnings on slightly light revenues, and the company CFO is retiring. The for-profit education service was raised to Neutral from Underweight at Piper Jaffray. Wells Fargo raised its rating to outperform and raised its price target to $65.50 from $49.50.

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) was raised to Buy from Hold at Brean Capital Markets.

Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT) was started with an Outperform rating and was given a $45 price target at Oppenheimer.

3D Systems Corp. (NYSE: DDD) was down 10% after earnings on Thursday, and analysts were out on it this Friday. 3D Systems was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup, and Piper Jaffray cut the rating to Neutral from Overweight.

Web.com Croup Inc. (NASDAQ: WWWW) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

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Other analyst calls from Friday worth noting were as follows:

  • Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  • Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) was raised to Buy from Fair Value at CRT Capital.
  • PTC Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: PTCT) was started as Outperform with a $60 target at Oppenheimer.
  • Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GOLD) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.
  • Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) was raised to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna.

Thursday’s analyst upgrades and downgrades were in Alliance Bernstein, Buffalo Wild Wings, Ecolab, Eli Lilly, Glu Mobile, Huntington Bancshares, Lululemon, SodaStream, UPS, Yelp and close to a dozen more stocks.

Photo of Jon C. Ogg
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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