Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: ABB, BofA, J.P. Morgan, SanDisk, Micron, Mylan and More

Investing

Published: September 3, 2014 8:40 am

Stocks were firm Wednesday morning after news of a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire agreement. Investors saw stocks gain handily in August, but they are still looking for value and fresh research ideas. After all, Morgan Stanley just outlined the path for the S&P 500 Index to rise 50% more to 3,000 over the next five years.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of research reports each morning of the week to find new ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other analyst calls cover stocks to sell or stocks to avoid. These are this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades from 24/7 Wall St.

ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

ASM International N.V. (NASDAQ: ASMI) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight by J.P. Morgan.

Alere Inc. (NYSE: ALR) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral by Goldman Sachs.

American Tower Corp. (NYSE: AMT) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight by Morgan Stanley.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Nomura.

Callon Petroleum Co. (NYSE: CPE) was reiterated Buy and the price target was raised to $17 from $15 (versus a $10.39 close) at Canaccord Genuity after an accretive acquisition analysis.

Concur Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: CNQR) saw its shares soar 10% on reports and rumors that it is shopping itself. Baird says to take the profit now by downgrading the stock to Neutral from Outperform.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) was reiterated as Buy and called undervalued with a $25 price target (versus a $20.51 close) at Sterne Agee.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Nomura.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was maintained as Buy with a $40 price target (versus a $31.51 close) by Sterne Agee after looking at Samsung as a proxy.

Mylan Inc. (NASDAQ: MYL) was reiterated as Buy at Argus, but the firm lowered its 2014 earnings estimates slightly.

Quest Diagnostics Inc. (NYSE: DGX) was maintained as Buy but was added to the prized Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.

Rangold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GOLD) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) was maintained as Buy with a $125 price target (versus $95.64 close) by Sterne Agee after looking at Samsung as a proxy.

Stericycle, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRCL) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Scorpio Bulkers Inc. (NYSE: SALT) was started with a Buy and given a $13 price target (versus $7.96 close) at Jefferies.

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ: SBLK) initiated with a Buy at Jefferies

In case you missed Tuesday’s analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included shares of Tesla, Sandridge, American Water Works, Exelixis, Endo Pharma, The Gap, Groupon, Staples and more.

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