Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Ally Financial, GE, HP, Monster Beverage, Oracle, Qualcomm, Zions Bancorp and Many More

Photo of Jon C. Ogg
By Jon C. Ogg Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Stocks were looking for direction Wednesday morning after a big rally on Tuesday. Investors have proved over and over that they will buy sell-offs and dips, a trend that is about four years old. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning to find new trading and investing ideas for its readers. Some analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid. These are this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Ally Financial (NYSE: ALLY) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) was maintained as Outperform with a $31.00 price target at Credit Suisse. What matters about this call is that GE was added to prized US Focus List and to the Global Focus List at Credit Suisse. The risk-reward is shown as favorable and the recent market drop is viewed as giving a favorable entrance.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) was maintained as Outperform and with that high $45.00 price target (versus a $27.11 prior close) at Credit Suisse. This is after the analyst day. The firm talked up cost cutting and said that it believes that several businesses are in the later stage of transition toward growth.

Monster Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: MNST) was downgraded to Outperform from Buy at CLSA. Monster was just featured as one of the recent share buybacks just too large to ignore.

Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) was raised to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. The firm’s target price was set at $48 after a $37.99 close. This is an important call because it is the morning ahead of the corporate earnings report, due from Oracle after the close.

ALSO READ: Jefferies Has 3 Compelling Value Stocks to Buy Now

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) was reiterated as Buy with an $80 price target at Argus. The firm believes the new processors and health opportunities have created a chance to buy the stock cheap on weakness.

Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $35 price target (versus a $28.75 close) at Goldman Sachs. Zions was one of the banks at or under book value in a recent review as well.

Additional analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations were seen in the following Wednesday morning:

Blue Bird Corp. (NASDAQ: BLBD) was started as Outperform with a $14 price target (versus an $11.58 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Cedar Fair L.P. (FUN) was started as Buy and the fair value estimate was $67.00 at Janney Capital Markets.

LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) was raised to Hold from Sell at Brean Capital.

Madison Square Garden Co. (NYSE: MSG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

Monro Muffler Brake Inc. (NASDAQ: MNRO) was started as Buy and with a $75 price target (versus a $63.88 close) at Jefferies.

O’Reilly Automotive Inc. (NASDAQ: ORLY) was started as Buy and with a $290 price target (versus a $244.27 close) at Jefferies.

SAP A.G. (NYSE: SAP) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

Six Flags Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: SIX) was started as Buy with a fair value estimate of $55.00 at Janney Capital Markets.

ALSO READ: 8 Buybacks and Dividends Just Too Big to Ignore

Sirona Dental Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRO) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ: WBMD) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $53.00 price target (versus a $39.81 close) at Cowen.

In case you missed out on Tuesday’s analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Fitbit, Kimberly-Clark, NiSource, Raptor Pharmaceuticals, Yelp, Sonic, Teradyne, UBS and over a dozen more.

Photo of Jon C. Ogg
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.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618