24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning to find new trading and investing ideas for its readers. Some of the analyst calls cover stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell. These are this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Stifel Nicolaus, and the price target was set at $24 in the call (versus an $18.91 close). Abercrombie has a consensus price target of $20.42 and a 52-week trading range of $15.42 to $42.97.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James, and the price target was at $640 (versus a $500.77 close and a $648.24 consensus). Amazon was named as one of the seven bull market leaders to buy at Oppenheimer after the sell-off.
Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) was started as Overweight with a $120 price target at Morgan Stanley. Monsanto closed at $97.08. Piper Jaffray trimmed its price target to $133 from $139 after the Syngenta merger failed.
Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) was reiterated as Buy with a $112 price target at Argus. The firm cited strong synergies from the Cameron buyout. Also, we noted yesterday that three different analysts see an even cheaper entry opportunity in Schlumberger now.
SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $93 price target (versus a $43.05 close) at Morgan Stanley. SolarCity has a consensus analyst target price of $78.71 anda 52-week range of $34.65 to $75.90.
Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) was started as Outperform and the valuation range was set at $100.00 to $110.00 at Wells Fargo. Western Digital closed at $78.63, has a consensus price target of $101.79 and has a 52-week range of $74.44 to $114.69.
ALSO READ: 10 Stocks That Performed Well in the Recent Sell-Off
Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $22 price target (versus a $23.38 close) at B. Riley. Yelp has a consensus price target of $33.70 and a 52-week range of $20.50 to $86.88.
Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades this Thursday include the following:
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACAD) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Piper Jaffray, but the firm’s $48 price target was maintained.
Aflac Inc. (NYSE: AFL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $68 (versus a $56.92 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.
BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at BNP Paribas.
Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $20 price target (versus a $16.37 close) at Goldman Sachs.
CNOOC Ltd. (NYSE: CEO) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
C.R. Bard Inc. (NYSE: BCR) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $220 price target (versus a $189.44 close) at Goldman Sachs.
ALSO READ: A Very Brave Upgrade of IBM
CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $35 price target (versus a $26.37 close) at Stifel Nicolaus.
ING Groep N.V. (NYSE: ING) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Puma Biotechnology Inc. (NASDAQ: PBYI) was started as Overweight with a $122 price target at JPMorgan.
Sabra Healthcare REIT Inc. (NASDAQ: SBRA) was raised to Market Perform from Market Underperform at JMP Securities.
Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. (NASDAQ: SHEN) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $45 price target (versus a $39.38 close) at Raymond James.
SunTrust Banks Inc. (NYSE: STI) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $46 price target at Evercore ISI. This was also just featured as a big bank back under book value again due to the pullback.
Teladoc Inc. (NYSE: TDOC) was started as Outperform and with a $35 price target (versus a $25.28 close) at Leerink.
ALSO READ: 7 Bull Market Leaders to Buy After the Sell-Off
From a Wells Fargo Advisors strategist: “It may be difficult for investors to step in and buy equities when there appears to be so much uncertainty, but the current pullback represents a buying opportunity in our opinion.”
If you missed Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they include Amazon.com, Best Buy, Google, IBM, Marathon Petroleum, Nike, WisdomTree Investments and over a dozen more. In case you missed Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of Apple, Bank of America, Canadian Solar, Garmin, Regions Financial, Euronav and over a dozen more.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks