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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Blue Buffalo, Cisco, JC Penney, JPMorgan, Micron, Tesla and Many More
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Stocks were indicated to open slightly lower on Monday on a day with limited news outside of weak growth reported in Japan. While the market has pulled back from its highs, the trend that has prevailed for almost four years now is that investors have bought every stock market sell-off. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each morning to find new trading and investing ideas for its readers. Some of the analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid.
On Friday we saw the ultimate analyst, Warren Buffett, release his latest equity holdings.
These are this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.
Blue Buffalo Pet Products Inc. (NASDAQ: BUFF) has seen its quiet period end, after closing at $26.79. Blue Buffalo was started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo. JPMorgan started it as Overweight rating and a $32 price target. Deutsche Bank started it as Buy with a $31 price target.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $30.00 (versus a $29.03 close) at Morgan Stanley. Cisco has a consensus price target of $31.34 and a 52-week range of $22.49 to $30.31.
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) was started as Buy with a $12.50 price target (versus an $8.52 close) at B. Riley. It has a consensus target of only $8.89 and a 52-week range of $5.90 to $11.30.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $77 price target (versus a $68 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods. The consensus target for JPMorgan is almost $75 and the 52-week range is $54.26 to $70.61.
Micron Technology Inc. (NYSE: MU) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Wells Fargo. Micron was also maintained as Buy at Topeka Capital Markets, although its price target was cut to $27 from $28 in the call. Wedbush downgraded Micron to Neutral from Outperform with a $19 price target. Micron has a consensus target price of about $28.50 and a 52-week range of $16.82 to $36.59.
Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was reiterated as Overweight and named as a Top Pick at Morgan Stanley. The firm also substantially raised its price target to $465 from $280. Tesla’s consensus target is $293.07 and its 52-week range is $181.40 to $291.42.
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Other top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from this Monday were as follows:
Applied Micro Circuits Corp. (NASDAQ: AMCC) was still seen positive at Canaccord Genuity after the CFO departure and guidance maintained. The firm reiterated its Buy rating and $10 price target.
Baxalta Inc. (NYSE: BXLT) was started as Outperform at William Blair.
Commercial Metals Co. (NYSE: CMC) was started as Buy with a $20.00 price target (versus a $16.00 close) at CLSA.
Copa Holdings S.A. (NYSE: CPA) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $60 target (versus a $62.01 close) at Cowen.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) was started as Hold with a price target of $28.00 (versus a $28.26 close) at Evercore ISI.
The Fresh Market Inc. (NASDAQ: TFM) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.
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Huntsman Corp. (NYSE: HUN) was maintained as Buy at Goldman Sachs, but the chemicals player was removed from the firm’s Conviction Buy List.
Inphi Corp. (NYSE: IPHI) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and the price target was raised to $31.50 from $23.00 (versus a $22.58 close) at Morgan Stanley.
Neos Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: NEOS) was started as Market Perform at JMP Securities with a $32 price target. RBC Capital Markets started it as Outperform with a price target of $35, and BMO Capital Markets started it as Outperform with a $26 price target. Neos Therapeutics recently closed at $20.63.
Oasis Petroleum Inc. (NYSE: OAS) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the $16.00 price target was maintained at BMO Capital Markets.
Primerica Inc. (NYSE: PRI) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $50 price target (versus a $42.60 close) at Jefferies.
Silicon Motion Technology Corp. (NASDAQ: SIMO) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight with a price target of $32.00 (versus a $23.71 close) at Pacific Crest.
Summit Midstream Partners L.P. (NYSE: SMLP) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird, and the price target was cut to $26 in the call.
W.R. Grace & Co. (NYSE: GRA) was already covered with a formal Buy rating at Goldman Sachs, but it was added to the firm’s prized Conviction Buy list on Monday.
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WuXi PharmaTech Inc. (NYSE: WX) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair.
Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) was raised to Positive from Neutral with a $29.00 price target (versus a $23.37 close) at Susquehanna.
If you missed out on Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of CIT, CyberArk, Kinder Morgan, Whole Foods, Exxon Mobil, DuPont and over a dozen more.
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