These are this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from Wall Street analysts.
Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.
AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $50 price target (versus a $41.92 close) at Cantor Fitzgerald.
Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR) had earnings that were far less bad than expected, and the coal stock was raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS. Sterne Agee maintained its Buy rating and $10 price target. Alpha Natural closed up 8% at $3.70 after earnings.
Astronics Corp. (NASDAQ: ATRO) was started as Buy with a price target of $72 (versus a $57.85 close) at Canaccord Genuity.
Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $45 price target (versus a $36.24 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel.
ALSO READ: 4 Biotech Stocks in Which Analysts See 100% or More Upside
Copa Holdings S.A. (NYSE: CPA) is indicated lower despite the Latin American air carrier beating earnings on the headline data. The stock was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform by Raymond James, and it was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight by Evercore.
inContact Inc. (NASDAQ: SAAS) was raised to Outperform from Perform and the price target was set at $12 (versus a $7.68 close) at Oppenheimer.
JD.com Inc. (NASDAQ: JD) was started as Market Perform at William Blair.
Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: NUS) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at J.P. Morgan.
Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $180 price target (versus a $156.88 close) at Credit Suisse.
RF Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: RFMD) was started with an Outperform rating by Pacific Crest.
Shoe Carnival Inc. (NASDAQ: SCVL) was raised to Buy and the price target was raised to $23 (versus a $18.46 close) at Sterne Agee.
ALSO READ: 13 Analyst Stock Picks Under $10 With Massive Upside Potential
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) was started with an Outperform rating by Pacific Crest.
Thoratec Corp. (NASDAQ: THOR) has lost more than 25% of its value and was hitting 52-week lows after lower guidance and revenue. Even an accelerated stock buyback is not going to help. The company’s stock was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs, and it was also downgraded to Neutral from Outperform by Credit Suisse.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) was maintained as an official Buy rating at Goldman Sachs, but the firm removed the health insurance giant from the prized Conviction Buy List.
Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ: VOD) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.
Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) was raised to Hold from Sell at Cantor Fitzgerald.
In case you missed Wednesday’s analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Groupon, Micron, RingCentral, Target, Tesla, Monster, Pfizer and a dozen more.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks