Stocks were indicated marginally lower on Tuesday, but investors just keep proving that they want to buy the pullbacks. That trend has been in place for four years now. The Dow and S&P 500 have also come back within about 3% or 4% of their highs. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy and others cover stocks to sell or avoid. These are this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

BioDelivery Sciences International Inc. (NASDAQ: BDSI) was resumed with a Neutral rating at Janney Capital Markets, although the firm assigned a $7.00 fair value estimate, versus a $5.28 (up 8%) prior closing price, which implies some 30% upside. The firm thinks future cash flows from Belbuca are worth $5 to $8 per share, but it sees little upside in the next year due to the slow launch of Bunavail.

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: MACK) was reiterated as Outperform at Oppenheimer, and the firm raised its price target to $15 from $13 (versus a $9.59 prior close). The firm’s call is after the FDA approved Onivyde in combination with fluorouracil and leucovorin for the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer after disease progression following gemcitabine-based therapy, making it the first and only FDA approved treatment option in this setting.

Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW) was started as Overweight and was assigned a target price of $18.00 (versus a $14.27 close) at Barclays. Silver Wheaton has a consensus price target of just over $20 and a 52-week trading range of $11.03 to $24.22.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (NYSE: VRX) was reiterated as Buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, but the price objective was slashed to $173 from $290, based on higher risk and from discounted cash flows. Valeant closed down 5% at $110.04 on Monday after the call, but shares were initially trading much lower. RBC lowered its target to $231 from $250 in in its call.

Weatherford International PLC (NYSE: WFT) was raised to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna, and the $12.00 price target compares to a $9.61 close. Weatherford has a $12.39 consensus price target and a 52-week range of $7.21 to $17.27.

ALSO READ: 8 Analyst Picks With 50% to 100% Implied Upside

Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations on Tuesday were in shares of the following:

American Capital Agency Corp. (NASDAQ: AGNC) was indicated lower after missing earnings expectations. It was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $19.50 from $21.00 (versus a $19.07 close) at Wunderlich Securities. Credit Suisse maintained its Outperform rating and $22 price target

Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc. (NYSE: AHT) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS.

Children’s Place Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE) was downgraded to Underperform from Buy with a $46.00 price objective (versus a $57.06 close) at Merrill Lynch. The firm sees comparable store sales headwinds limiting its margin turnaround.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE: DPS) was raised to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital Markets, and the firm raised its target price to $90 from $68 (versus an $89.88 close).

Endologix Inc. (NASDAQ: ELGX) was maintained as Outperform at Credit Suisse, but the firm cut its target price to $16 from $17 (versus a $13.73 close). The call is based on its acquisition of Trivascular and on earnings. BMO Capital Markets lowered its rating to Market Perform from Outperform and cut its target price to $12.00 from $16.00.

ALSO READ: America’s Most (and Least) Expensive Cars

JAKKS Pacific Inc. (NASDAQ: JAKK) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets.

Kraton Performance Polymers Inc. (NYSE: KRA) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) was initiated with a Buy rating at Gabelli.

La Quinta Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LQ) was started as Market Perform at Raymond James.

Pearson PLC (NYSE: PSO) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse

Performance Food Group Co. (NYSE: PFGC) was started as Outperform at Credit Suisse with a $26 price target (versus a $22.03 close). The firm called it industry-leading growth at discount valuations that will work higher.

UDR Inc. (NYSE: UDR) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse, and the price target was also raised to $38 from $36.50 (versus a $35.66 close).

Vanguard Natural Resources LLC (NYSE: VNR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $7.50 price target (versus an $8.20 close) at UBS.

ALSO READ: The 6 Most Shorted NYSE Stocks

Dialog Semiconductor, which trades overseas, was maintained as Outperform with 50% implied upside at Credit Suisse after Monday’s guidance. This matters because this is one of the issues that hurt Apple so much on Monday, and while weak guidance puts Apple volumes into question, the firm feels guidance for the next quarter may have been conservative.

In case you missed Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included of AK Steel, Apple, CONSOL Energy, IAMGOLD, Juniper Networks, Tyson Foods and over a dozen more companies.

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