Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Auxilium, Ericsson, GoldCorp, McDonald's, Micron, Sarepta and More

Investing

Published: September 24, 2014 8:55 am

Last Updated: September 24, 2014 8:56 am

Stocks were firm on Wednesday morning after two days of selling. With markets close to all-time highs, most investors still seem eager to find bargains or overlooked equity stories. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each morning of the week to find new investment and trading ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

These are this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations covered by 24/7 Wall St.

Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AUXL) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) was started as Buy at Citigroup.

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $33 from $32 at Credit Suisse.

HomeAway Inc. (NASDAQ: AWAY) was started as Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at JMP Securities.

ALSO READ: The Best Performing DJIA Stocks of 2014

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) was reiterated as Overweight at J.P. Morgan with a $102 price target, although the firm admitted frustration and that McDonald’s is likely dead money.

Medivation Inc. (NASDAQ: MDVN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was reiterated as Buy with a $40 price target at Sterne Agee ahead of Thursday’s earnings report.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at J.P. Morgan.

Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE: NBR) was started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) was started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Northern Trust Corp. (NASDAQ: NTRS) was started at Neutral by Citigroup.

Pan America Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at TD Securities, and the price target was cut to $15 from $19.

Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN) was started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RIO) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

SAGE Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SAGE) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs and the price target was set at $38 (versus a $29.56 close).

Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT) was started as Outperform and with a price target of $36 at Credit Suisse.

ALSO READ: Oppenheimer’s Top Stocks for the Rest of 2014

State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT) was started as Buy at Citigroup.

TearLab Corp. (NASDAQ: TEAR) was reiterated as Buy with a $8 price target at Canaccord Genuity, based on its new “flex” agreement sales program and updated R&D roadmap.

Ubiquiti Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: UBNT) was started as Buy with a $45 price target (versus a $38.20 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

In case you missed Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included BlackBerry, Chevron, Exxon, SanDisk, Clorox and a dozen or so more.

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