Stocks were indicated higher on Thursday, but that is after the gains this week have been harder and harder to hold on to. Investors keep demonstrating that they will buy their favorite stocks and other value stocks or opportunities. 24/7 Wall St. reviews looks for these opportunities for its readers, and as such reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Some of these analyst calls cover stocks to buy and others cover stocks to sell or avoid. These are this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) saw its price target raised to $28 from $27 at Canaccord Genuity, noting a solid third-quarter earnings report that highlighted stabilizing trends. Jefferies reiterated its Hold rating on eBay and raised its target to $28.00 from $27.00 as well.

GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $40.00 price target (versus a $26.86 prior close) at UBS. GoDaddy has a consensus price target of $33.00 and a post-IPO trading range of $20.00 to $33.00, but what stands out is that UBS is now $4.00 higher than the prior street-high analyst price target of $36.00.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel, despite the higher dividend announcement. Credit Suisse downgraded Kinder Morgan to Neutral from Outperform with a $39.00 price target. Kinder Morgan was talking about alternative financing that hurt the stock and exposure to oil prices as “not immune,” so shares were down 6.4% at $29.40 in early trading Thursday. Its 52-week range is $25.81 to $44.71.

Owens Corning (NYSE: OC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. RBC Capital Markets has a Sector Perform rating but raised its target price to $52 from $50 (versus a $45.95 close). Owens Corning has a consensus analyst price target of $48.38 and a 52-week range of $30.82 to $47.90.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus on the heels of the Western Digital buyout news. SanDisk closed up 2% at $76.78 on the formal earnings report, but it was up massively from before the rumors broke about the deal. The consensus target price was closer to $70, based on its own fundamentals.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley, and the price target was raised to $58 from $55 in the call. Shares were indicated up 8% at $56.00 in early trading after solid earnings.

VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer, with its tech analyst saying it is now just too long to wait for the cycle. VMware was down 19% at $55.42 on Wednesday, and the new 52-week range is $52.72 to $93.43.

ALSO READ: 9 Great Stocks That Can Raise Dividends for a Decade

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen Thursday in the following:

Callaway Golf Co. (NYSE: ELY) was reiterated as Buy with a $16.00 (versus an $8.94 close) price target at Jefferies, noting strong results and a faster turnaround.
CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie, with a price target of $65.00 (versus a $39.88 close) at Macquarie. Shares were indicated up 6.5% at $42.50.

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel. The long and short of the matter is that EMC was down 6% Wednesday at $25.77 as that Dell acquisition is looking less and less positive.

Genesis Energy L.P. (NYSE: GEL) was reiterated as Buy with a $48.00 fair value estimate (versus a $41.90) close at Janney Capital Markets in a call that took place late Thursday saying that the pullback was unwarranted.

Kilroy Realty Corp. (NYSE: KRC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel.

KLA-Tencor Corp. (NASDAQ: KLAC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham, on the heels of its buyout news.

ALSO READ: 4 Analyst Picks That Could Rise 50% to 100%

Motorola Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MSI) was started as Underweight and was assigned a $60.00 price target (versus a $69.47 close) at Macquarie.

Newtek Business Services Corp. (NASDAQ: NEWT) was started at a Market Perform rating at Raymond James.

Oclaro Inc. (NASDAQ: OCLR) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel.

Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE: PII) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Realty Income Corp. (NYSE: O) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $55.00 from $50.00 (versus a $48.88 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SBH) was downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Samnina-SCI Corp. (NASDAQ: SANM) was downgraded to Sell from an already cautious Neutral rating at Goldman Sachs, and the price target of $20.00 compares to a $22.97 close, after more than a 4% drop on Wednesday.

ALSO READ: How the Bulls See Hewlett-Packard’s Break Up

If you missed Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Apple, Coach, Dollar General, Micron, VMware, Waste Management and over a dozen more companies. Also, here were six key analyst downgrades that were just too large to ignore.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.