Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Abbott, BioMarin, CBS, Cisco, GameStop, Petrobras, Sirius XM, SunPower, Yelp and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: November 13, 2015 8:50 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 5:13 pm

Stocks were indicated slightly lower on Friday the 13th, but that is also after a sharp drop on Thursday. Sell-offs create panic, but they also create opportunity. So far, the trend has been in place for over four years now that investors use each pullback as an opportunity to buy stocks on the cheap.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each day to find new ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, but other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid. These are this Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Air Lease Corp. (NYSE: AL) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRN) was reiterated as Buy with a $166 price target (versus a $111.15 prior close) at Jefferies. The firm thinks there is upside from a high likelihood of a positive FDA panel vote for Kyndrisa.

CafePress Inc. (NASDAQ: PRSS) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.

CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) was reiterated as Buy with a $62 price target (versus a $50.36 close) at Argus.

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Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was indicated down 5% at $26.40 in early trading after lower guidance. Credit Suisse reiterated its Underperform rating and $22.00 price target, although it did actually raise Cisco’s estimates and said that it is performing well into a decelerating market place.

Deutsche Bank A.G. (NYSE: DB) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup. Shares were indicated down 4% at $42.50 after closing at $44.53, and its 52-week trading range is $31.69 to $47.83.
Digital Ally Inc. (NASDAQ: DGLY) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was cut to $7.00 from $16.00 (versus a $5.83 close) at Roth Capital.

El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LOCO) was last seen down 17% at $9.57 (a new post-IPO low) after bad earnings. R.W. Baird downgraded shares to Neutral from Outperform and lowered its price target to $12 from $18.

Extra Space Storage Inc. (NYSE: EXR) was raised to Strong Buy from an already-positive Outperform rating and the price target was raised to $90 from $80 (versus a $79.08 close) at Raymond James.

F5 Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at JMP Securities.

GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at Pacific Crest.

Harman International Industries Inc. (NYSE: HAR) was started as Outperform at William Blair.

KBR Inc. (NYSE: KBR) was started with a Sell rating and was assigned an $18 price target (versus an $18.08 close) at Citigroup.

Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) was already rated as Buy at Goldman Sachs, but now it has been added to the prized Conviction Buy list. The stock closed at $74.21, and the 52-week range is $55.54 to $79.50.

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Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTA) was started as Overweight and was assigned a $26 price target (versus a $17.76 close) at JPMorgan.

Outerwall Inc. (NASDAQ: OUTR) was started as Buy with an $80 price target (versus a $61.92 close) at Roth Capital.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. — Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) was maintained as Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch as key concerns remain, despite beating its earnings targets with weak sequential trends.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) was maintained as Buy with a $5.00 price objective (versus a $4.11 close) at Merrill Lynch. The call is after upbeat views from the Liberty-Sirius analyst day with a tracking stock plan.

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) was reiterated as Buy at Merrill Lynch and the price objective is $42 (versus a $24.93 close). The firm says that SunPower is a stable ship in the solar storm that still offers long-term growth.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) has received an upgrade and a higher price target, something you normally don’t see any longer. RBC Capital Markets raised its rating to Outperform from Sector Perform, and it raised its price target to $42 from $34 (versus a $25.90 close). Yelp’s consensus analyst price target is $30.98, its 52-week range is $20.50 to $90.00 and its shares were indicated up 3% around $26.50 on last look.

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If you missed Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Devon Energy, eBay, Freshpet, Range Resources, Raytheon, SeaWorld, Zynga and over a dozen more companies.