Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Baidu, Goldman Sachs, Intel, JC Penney, Twitter, United Tech and Many More

Investing

Published: August 31, 2015 9:05 am

Last Updated: August 31, 2015 11:02 am

Stocks were indicated lower on Monday morning. If last week proved anything, it was that the trend of buying the pullbacks remains in place. Still, the markets did finally drop to 10% or more below their peaks. Investors are still looking for value and opportunities. 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 Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $210 price target (versus a $152.13 close) at Jefferies. Baidu has a 52-week trading range of $100.00 to $251.99.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $215.00 price target (versus a $187.75 close) at Evercore ISI. Goldman Sachs has a consensus price target of $219.27 and a 52-week range of $171.26 to $218.77.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $32 price target (versus a $28.42 close) at Northland Securities. Canaccord Genuity reiterated its Buy rating and $39 price target. Intel has a consensus price target of $33.02 and a 52-week range of $24.87 to $37.90.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $12 price target (versus an $8.94 close) at Evercore ISI. The consensus target is $9.61 and the 52-week range is $5.90 to $11.30.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $38 price target (versus a $26.83 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, as the firm believes the pullback has priced in a compelling risk-reward now. Twitter shares were indicated up 3%, and it has a consensus target of $39.82 and a 52-week range of $21.01 to $55.99. We also have expanded details on this upgrade.

United Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UTX) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target cut to $100 from $120 (versus a $93.24 close) at Barclays. United Technologies has a consensus target price of $114.75 and a 52-week range of $87.17 to $124.45.

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Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Monday were in the following:

Amplify Snack Brands Inc. (NYSE: BETR) was started as Neutral with an $18 price target (versus a $13.31 close) at Goldman Sachs. William Blair started it as Outperform. Piper Jaffray started it as Overweight with an $18 price target.

Astec Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTE) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

Basic Energy Services Inc. (NYSE: BAS) was raised to Hold from Sell with a $4.00 price target (versus a $4.70 close) at Wunderlich Securities.

Bob Evans Farms Inc. (NASDAQ: BOBE) was raised to Sector Weight from Underweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Dover Corp. (NYSE: DOV) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $73.00 price target (versus a $60.37 close) at Sanford Bernstein.

Himax Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: HIMX) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Leggett & Platt Inc. (NYSE: LEG) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $48.00 (versus a $44.14 close) at Raymond James.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) was raised to Buy from Hold with a price target of $41.00 (versus a $34.05 close) at Evercore ISI.

Planet Fitness Inc. (NYSE: PLNT) was started as Buy with a $19 price target (versus a $16.78 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Cowen assigned a Buy rating with a $21 price target. Piper Jaffray started Planet Fitness as Overweight with a $19.00 price target.

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Sunrun Inc. (NASDAQ: RUN) was started as Buy with a price target of $17.00 (versus a $11.62 close) at Merrill Lynch. RBC Capital Markets started it as Outperform with a $16 price target.

Syngenta A.G. (NYSE: SYT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $62 price target (versus a $50.32 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

UTStarcom Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: UTSI) was started as Outperform with a $2.50 price target (versus a $1.92 close) at Northland Securities.

Vocera Communications Inc. (NYSE: VCRA) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $14 price target (versus an $11.14 close) at Leerink.

In case you missed out on Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Abercrombie & Fitch, Akamai Technologies, Citigroup, El Pollo Loco, Netflix, Salesforce.com and over a dozen more.

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