Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Harley-Davidson, Lululemon, Nike, SunPower, Walmart and More

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By Jon C. Ogg Published
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Stocks were trying to hold on to gains on Friday morning after a marginal gain in eurozone GDP indicates that quantitative easing is needed over there. The one lesson we have seen in the last two months is that investors have proven over and over that they will buy stocks when they are discounted or overlooked. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week to find new trading ideas and new investment ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports are about stocks to buy, and some of analyst reports cover sell or stocks to avoid.

24/7 Wall St. has also created a list of the most revered DJIA stocks since the October 15 V-bottom.

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

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) was started Buy with an $80 price target (versus a $63.63 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Children’s Place Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE) was started as Neutral at Sterne Agee.

Empire State Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: ESRT) was raised to Buy from Hold with an $18 price target (versus a $16.01 close) at Stifel.

Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $81 from $66 at Goldman Sachs.

IAMGOLD Corp. (NYSE: IAG) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at HSBC.

ALSO READ: How Analysts Rate Cisco Now After Earnings

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $39 price target (versus a $45.19 close) at Sterne Agee.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) was started as Neutral at UBS.

NetEase.com Inc. (NASDAQ: NTES) is up after earnings, and it was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS. HSBC raised its rating to Overweight from Underweight.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee.

Ross Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST) was downgraded to Sell from Hold but the price target was raised to $72 from $68 at Canaccord Genuity.

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) was maintained as Buy and with a $36 price target at Canaccord Genuity, despite a disappointing outlook and no formal decision on a yieldco yet.

ALSO READ: How Halliburton-Baker Hughes Merger Looks Versus Schlumberger

TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) was downgraded to Sell from Hold but the price target was raised to $58 from $54 (versus a $63.50 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform with a $78 price target (versus a $82.94 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

In case you missed Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Alliant Techsystems, Applied Materials, Broadcom, SanDisk, Cisco Systems, Discover Financial Services, Macy’s, Marvell Technology and a dozen or so more.

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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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