Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Boot Barn, Chevron, Priceline, SolarCity, Verizon and More

Stocks were indicated higher on Monday ahead of a shortened workweek. Despite new highs, investors keep proving that will buy stocks discounted by the market or when an overlooked story arises. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports from brokerage firms each morning on the hunt for new trading and investing ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

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

Alamo Group Inc. (NYSE: ALG) was started as Overweight with a $58 price target (versus a $46.89 close) at Piper Jaffray.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC) was started as Buy with a $30 price target (versus a $25.03 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Boot Barn Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BOOT) was started as Overweight with a $23 price target (versus a $20.00 close) at Piper Jaffray. Jefferies started it as Buy with a $24 price target. Baird started as Outperform with a $23 price target. Wells Fargo started as Outperform with a $22 to $24 valuation range.

Cash America International Inc. (NYSE: CSH) was downgraded to Market Underperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy with a $140 price target (versus a $118.58 close) at Raymond James.

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Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) was started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Fifth Street Asset Management Inc. (NASDAQ: FSAM) was started as Outperform with an $18 price target (versus a $14.76 close) at Credit Suisse. J.P. Morgan started it as Overweight with a $20 price target. Started as Neutral with an $18 price target at Goldman Sachs.

Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $100 price target (versus a $85.21 close) at Raymond James.

HomeAway Inc. (NASDAQ: AWAY) was started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Imperva Inc. (NYSE: IMPV) was started as Buy at Needham.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral and the target price was cut to $40 from $46 (versus a $49.08 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Kate Spade & Co. (NYSE: KATE) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price objective was raised to $34 from $33 (versus a $30.22 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform with a $105 price target (versus a $87.60 close) at Raymond James.

Orbitz Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: OWW) was started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Priceline Group Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) was started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with an $83 price target (versus a $55.05 close) at Baird.

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TripAdvisor Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) was started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE: TYC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the price target was cut to $42 from 44 at FBR Capital Markets.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

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