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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Amazon, Best Buy, Caterpillar, EMC, JetBlue, Intel, Microsoft and More
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Stocks were indicated up sharply higher on Friday morning, on the heels of a surprise rate cut in China and on word that Mario Draghi and the European Central Bank are ready to expand their asset purchasing program. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports from brokerage firms each morning of the week to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and some of them cover stocks to sell or avoid.
These are this Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.
Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) was started as Buy at Jefferies.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was started as Buy with a $410 price target at Nomura.
Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) was reiterated as Outperform but the price target was raised to $42 from $40 at RBC Capital Markets.
BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was started as Buy at Stifel.
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Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) was started as Buy at Jefferies.
Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen.
Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) was started as Hold at Stifel.
Dillard’s Inc. (NYSE: DDS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $125 price target (versus a $121.04 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) was started as Buy with a $36 price target at Merrill Lynch.
JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) was reiterated as Outperform at Imperial Capital after its seat space cut and baggage fee hike, but the price target was raised to $20 from $16.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) raised its dividend and gave a solid footing for guidance in 2015 at its investor day. FBR Capital markets maintained its Outperform rating but raised its target to $40 from $36.
Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) was raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was started as Underperform with a dismal $40 price target at Jefferies.
National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) was started as Neutral at Citigroup.
Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) was started as Hold at Jefferies.
RingCentral Inc. (NYSE: RNG) was started as Buy at Jefferies.
Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) was started as Underperform at Jefferies.
Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) was started as Underperform with a $20 price target at Jefferies.
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VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) was started as Buy at Jefferies.
Zebra Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: ZBRA) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at J. P. Morgan.
In case you missed Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of American Express, Apache, Cliffs Natural Resources, International Paper, JetBlue Airways, Yum! Brands and a dozen or so more stocks.
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