Stocks were indicated slightly higher on Friday and the week is looking solid with new highs having been challenged in the S&P and Nasdaq. The trend that has been in place for almost four years now is that investors line up and buy stocks on weakness. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of research reports from analysts each day in order to get new trading and investment ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

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

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. The price target was set at $535, up from the close of $389.99 and after a 12% gain to $438.50 or so. Amazon showed that it is still willing to lose money, but the Amazon Web Services is growing faster than expected. Janney Capital Markets also raised its rating to Buy from Neutral with a $488 fair value target. Credit Suisse maintained its Outperform rating and raised its target price to $480 from $412.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: JPM) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $40 from $45 (versus a $36.13 close) at JPMorgan.

ALSO READ: 4 Must-Own Security Software Stocks to Buy

Callaway Golf Co. (NYSE: ELY) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James. This was after earnings, but we would also remind readers that Jefferies just gave Callaway a huge price target that implies almost 60% upside if they are right.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was maintained as Buy at Goldman Sachs, but the networking and communications technology maker was added to the prized Conviction Buy List.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Nomura after earnings, and the price target was set at $50 (versus a $43.34 close and $45.50 in early trading). Credit Suisse reiterated its Outperform rating and kept a $55 price target. Bank of America Merrill Lynch said that at $45 it is inclined to take profits — the firm has an Underperform rating with a $39 price objective.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) was downgraded to Hold from Overweight and the price target was cut to $104 from $107 in the call (versus a $101.11 close) at HSBC.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price objective was raised to $92 from $86 (versus a $81.93 close) at Merrill Lynch. The firm indicated that target should benefit from an improving mid-cycle consumer backdrop and that Target is in the midst of a turnaround under its new CEO.

Weatherford International PLC (NYSE: WFT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $15 price target (versus a $14.21 close) at Sterne Agee. The firm is concerned about valuation, a lack of free cash flow generation, limited visibility on earnings in the current downturn and a more formidable competitor from the Halliburton and Baker Hughes merger.

ALSO READ: GW Pharma Upgraded Into Cannabinoid FDA Orphan Drug Designation

Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen this Friday were as follows:

Boulder Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: BDBD) was started as Neutral and with a $10.50 price objective (versus a $10.19 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) was raised to Hold from Sell at Brean Capital after the reports that Comcast is walking away from its acquisition of Time Warner Cable.

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

Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $91 price target (versus a $86.64 close) at Raymond James.

C.R. Bard Inc. (NYSE: BCR) was raised to Buy with a new price objective of $200 (versus a $176.25 close) at Merrill Lynch. Unlike most one-notch upgrades, this one was raised from Underperform, based on confidence in Lutonix and Bard’s potential for near-term strategic activity.

ALSO READ: 5 Cheap Large Cap Stocks to Buy in an Expensive Stock Market

DARA BioSciences Inc (NASDAQ: DARA) was started as Buy with a $2.00 price target (versus a $0.77 close) at HC Wainwright. Keep in mind that this is only a $15 million market cap (very micro-cap), and this is after DARA acquired the exclusive North American rights to Oravig.

Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE: HBI) was reiterated as Buy with a $38 fair value target at Janney Capital Markets. Sterne Agee also reiterated its Buy rating with a $38 price target.

Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $11.50 (versus a $10.94 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

ITT Corp. (NYSE: ITT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $45 price target (versus a $41.13 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird.

Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was jacked up to $37 from $26 (versus a $28.92 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Maxwell Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: MXWL) was down about 8% after earnings before a slight recovery this week. Canaccord Genuity decided to step back from its prior positive call, downgrading it to Hold from Buy and cutting the price target to $7 from $9 (versus a $7.18 close).

Omnicare Inc. (NYSE: OCR) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform with a price target of $82 (versus a $86.31 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Proto Labs Inc. (NYSE: PRLB) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $73 (versus a $75.60 close) at Piper Jaffray.

Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE: SU) was started as Buy at UBS.

Ubiquiti Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: UBNT) was indicated down 15% after its chief financial officer stepped down and the company issued preliminary guidance. It was downgraded to Market Perform from Market Outperform at JMP Securities. BMO Capital Markets also downgraded the stock to Market Perform from Outperform.

ALSO READ: Why Analyst Thinks This High-Yield MLP Has 50% Upside

In case you missed out on Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Barrick Gold, Facebook, Halcon Resources, Qualcomm, Synchrony Financial, Texas Instruments and a dozen or so more big companies.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.