Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AT&T, Chesapeake, Facebook, Qualcomm, Weatherford and Many More

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By Jon C. Ogg Updated Published
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Stocks were indicated lower by almost 1% on Monday after China’s Shanghai market suffered its biggest loss in about 8 years on Monday. The one trend that has held up for almost 4 years now in the U.S. is that investors have bought every stock market sell-off when they think there are bargains to be had. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each morning to find new trading and investing ideas for its readers. Some of these analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while other analyst calls cover stocks to sell or stocks to avoid.

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

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) was started as Neutral with a $37 price target (versus $34.29 close) at Goldman Sachs. Canaccord Genuity reiterated its Hold rating, but raised its target to $35 from $34. Argus reiterated its Buy rating and $42 price target after closing on the DirecTV deal. AT&T has a consensus price target of $37.10 and a 52-week range of $32.07 to $37.48.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) was raised to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Chesapeake closed down almost 5% at $8.28 on Friday, and it has a consensus price target of $13.39 and a 52-week range of $8.20 to $27.27.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) was reiterated as Outperform at Raymond James, and the price target was raised to $110 from $90 in the call based on video helping earnings. Facebook closed Friday at $96.95, has a consensus price target of $99.23, and a 52-week range of $70.32 to $99.24. We also just showed why Facebook will have to crush earnings expectations to keep the social media bulls happy.

QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $75 price target (versus $61.64 close) at Morgan Stanley. Qualcomm would have been worse with earnings had it not been for an activist-styled restructuring. It has a consensus price target of $71.90 now and a 52-week range of $60.83 to $78.53.

Weatherford International PLC (NYSE: WFT) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight with a price target of $12.00 (versus $10.64 close) at Barclays. Weatherford closed at $10.64, has a consensus price target of $15.11 and a 52-week range of $9.40 to $24.09.

ALSO READ: 6 Oil Stocks Analysts Want You To Buy Now

Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations from this Monday were seen in shares of the following companies:

Anthem, Inc. (NYSE: ANTM) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Sterne Agee CRT.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) had a trainwreck of earnings and guidance report. It was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $316 price target (versus $300.03 close) at R.W. Baird.

Box, Inc. (NYSE: BOX) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight with a $24 price target (versus $16.29 close) at Pacific Crest.

Cametek Ltd. (NASDAQ: CAMT) was started as Buy with a $4.00 price target (versus $2.86 close) at Needham & Co.

CIGNA Corp. (NYSE: CI) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $190 price target (versus $145.72 close) at Sterne Agee CRT.

CNX Coal Resources LP (NYSE: CNXC) was started as Outperform with a $22 price target (versus $14.63 close) at Credit Suisse. BofA Merrill Lynch started it as Buy with a $17 price target. JPMorgan started it as Overweight with a $18 price target. Stifel started it as Buy with a $19 price target. Goldman Sachs assigned a Neutral rating.

DealerTrack Holdings (NASDAQ: TRAK) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Hormel Foods (NYSE: HRL) was started as Neutral with a $61 price target (versus $57.56 close) at Credit Suisse.

Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $122 price target (versus $99.59 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral and the price target was cut to $15 from $22 (versus $17.66 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Quality Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: QSII) was raised to Sector Perform from Underperform with a price target of $14 (versus $12.65 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

SFX Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: SFXE) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

Teladoc, Inc. (NYSE: TDOC) was started as Buy with a $37 target (versus $32.15 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Here is the Full Teladoc quiet period expiration coverage.

Terex Corp. (NYSE: TEX) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $18 price target (versus $21.49 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Ultragenyx (NASDAQ: RARE) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $126 price target (versus $131.36 close) at Morgan Stanley.

In case you missed out on Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of Amazon, GM, SolarCity, Sunesis, UAL, Disney, Valero and over a dozen 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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