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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alcatel-Lucent, Alibaba, CyberArk, Yelp, Rocket Fuel, Choice Hotels and More

Stocks were higher ahead of and after the unemployment and payrolls report. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day. Some analyst calls cover stocks to buy, but other reports cover stocks to sell or avoid. With investors having lined up to buy every pullback over the past four years, we are looking for new investing and trading ideas for our readers.

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

Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS. It was also reported that Soc-Gen raised Alcatel’s rating to Buy from Hold after this week’s earnings report took shares higher.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $98 from $97 (versus a $86.00 close) at Goldman Sachs. The firm feels that revenue growth is back on track now, setting aside fears of slower gross market value and monetization of mobile. Goldman sees the $98 target based on 23 times 2017 earnings estimates.

Choice Hotels International Inc. (NYSE: CHH) was raised to Buy from Underperform and the price target was raised to $65 from $55 at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. This follows the stock’s recent underperformance, and the firm called it a less cyclical business model than most hotels with lower leverage.

CyberArk Software Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYBR) was reiterated as Buy and the price objective was raised to $70 from $60 at Merrill Lynch. The firm said that this and guidance reflect accelerating growth and strong execution trends. Oppenheimer maintained its Outperform rating and raised its target to $70. Shares were up close to 4% at $63.70 in premarket trading after earnings.

Rocket Fuel Inc. (NASDAQ: FUEL) was maintained as Buy, but the fair value target was lowered to $15.00 from $17.50 (versus a $7.63 close), at Janney Capital Markets. This stock has been battered from its highs, but Janney feels it is very cheap against revenue and growth, and they feel it can achieve revenue and profitability goals. Shares were up almost 5% at $8.00 in early Friday trading, versus a 52-week range of $7.53 to $31.84.

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Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) was maintained as Neutral with a $48 fair value target at Janney Capital Markets. They estimate that Yelp could fetch $55 to $70 in a strategic buyout. Credit Suisse maintained its Outperform rating and $70 price target.

24/7 Wall St. also has almost two dozen more research report summaries covering the likes of Apache, Coach, Diamond Offshore, Ericsson, Lennar, Monster, Nokia, NVIDIA and many more. These other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday were as follows:

Aerie Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AERI) was raised to Buy from Hold at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) was reiterated as Buy at Janney Capital Markets after earnings, and the firm established a fair value estimate of $138 per share (versus a $106.63 close).

Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) was maintained as Outperform but the price target was cut to $77 from $82 at RBC Capital Markets.

AuRico Gold Inc. (NYSE: AUQ) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Boulder Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: BDBD) was reiterated as Buy with an $11 price target (versus a $9.99 close) at Janney Capital Markets.

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) was raised to Buy from Hold at HSBC Securities.

Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform and the price target was cut to $24 from $30 (versus a $33.21 close) at FBR Capital Markets.

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Earthlink Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: ELNK) was raised to Hold from Underperform and the price target was raised to $5 from $3.75 (versus a $5.65 close) at Jefferies. Shares jumped from about $4.80 to over $5.50 this week after earnings.

Enable Midstream Partners L.P. (NYSE: ENBL) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $21 (versus a $16.51 close) at Credit Suisse.

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was raised to Buy from Underperform at Merrill Lynch. UBS raised it to Buy from Neutral as well.

General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE: GGP) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a price target of $32 (versus a $27.10 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $53 price target (versus a $46.47 close) at Barclays.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. (NYSE: MHR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Micrel Inc. (NASDAQ: MCRL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel, on the heels of a low-premium buyout by Microchip Technology. Wells Fargo also downgraded it to Market Perform from Outperform.

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Monster Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: MNST) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs, and it was removed from the Conviction Buy List. Shares were indicated down almost 6% at $135.15 on Friday morning after Thursday’s earnings report.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Roth Capital.

TreeHouse Foods Inc. (NYSE: THS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price objective was cut to $77 at Merrill Lynch. The firm said the fundamental thesis is broken.

Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE: TWO) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE: WHR) was started as Outperform with a $210 price target (versus a $182.52 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ: XTLB) was started as Buy with a $6.00 price target at H.C. Wainwright. What stands out here is that XTL closed at $2.02, against a 52-week range of $1.55 to $5.00.

In case you missed out on Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations, they included Advanced Micro Devices, 3D Systems, Tesla Motors, Whole Foods, Zynga, Chesapeake Energy, Walt Disney and over a dozen more.

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