Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AK Steel, AEP, Duke, Qualcomm, Solazyme, Whole Foods and More

Investing

Published: November 6, 2014 8:20 am

Stocks were taking a breather on Thursday morning after Wednesday’s post-election gains took the broader markets to new all-time highs. Investors keep proving that they will buy stocks when they are discounted or overlooked. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research calls each morning of the week to find new investment and trading ideas. Some of these analyst research reports are on stocks to buy, while other reports cover sell or avoid.

These are this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) was reiterated as Outperform with a $12 price target at Macquarie.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) saw its price target lowered to $90 from $95 at Canaccord Genuity. Sterne Agee maintained its Buy rating and $82 price target, but lowered its estimates. Credit Suisse maintained its Outperform rating but lowered estimates for 2015. Oppenheimer maintained its Outperform rating and $84 target.

Solazyme Inc. (NASDAQ: SZYM) missed its third-quarter revenue guidance and we have seen several downgrades: to Market Perform at Cowen, to Sector Perform at Pacific Crest and to Neutral at Baird.

Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) was maintained as Hold at Jefferies, but the price target went up from $41 to $43. Argus maintained its Buy rating and raised its one-year price objective to $50 from $48. Canaccord Genuity maintained its Buy rating and $49 price target.

ALSO READ: Can 10% Dividend Yield Stocks Still Be Trusted?

Other Key Analyst Calls

American Electric Power Co. (NYSE: AEP) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Coeur Mining Inc. (NYSE: CDE) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Planar Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: PLNR) is seeing its shares surge after beating earnings and raising guidance. Needham raised its rating to Buy from Hold and raised the target to $7, versus a close of $3.70 and versus premarket indications of $5.50.

Ruckus Wireless Inc. (NASDAQ: RKUS) was started with an Outperform rating and a $17 price target at RBC Capital Markets.

ALSO READ: Alibaba Analysts Stepping Over Themselves for Price Target Hikes

Tableau Software Inc. (NYSE: DATA) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform and the price target was raised to $100 from $78 at RBC Capital Markets.

Web.com Group Inc. (NASDAQ: WWWW) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at J.P. Morgan.

Wisconsin Energy Corp. (NYSE: WEC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

In case you missed Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Chuy’s, ConocoPhillips, Estee Lauder, FireEye, Intel, LINN Energy, Time, Yahoo! and many more.

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