Stocks were indicated surprisingly higher after international markets recovered more than might have been expected. The trend that has been static for 4 years now is that investors want to buy stocks on weakness and pullbacks. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each day of the week in order to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other calls cover stocks to sell or stock to avoid.
These are this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.
American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) was started as Neutral and the former $76 price target was now put at $81.00 (versus $71.63 close) at Piper Jaffray. AmEx has a consensus analyst price target of $81.24 and a 52-week range of $70.21 to $94.89.
Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) was started as Buy with a $60.00 price target (versus $50.39 close) at HSBC Securities. Carnival has a consensus analyst price target of $57.29 and a 52-week range of $41.85 to $54.59.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) was maintained as Buy but was removed from the prized Conviction Buy list at Goldman Sachs, although the price target was raised to $33.00 from $30.00 (versus $29.00 close).
HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) was maintained as Buy with a $16 price target (versus $14.64 close) at Jefferies, based on low valuations after keeping free cash flow targets despite a slight guide-down in printing.
IAMGOLD Corp. (NYSE: IAG) was started as Underperform with a $1.35 price target (versus $1.52 close) at Morgan Stanley. IAMGOLD has a consensus price target of $2.06 and a 52-week range of $1.15 to $3.39.
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) was raised to Neutral from Reduce at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Pfizer closed at $31.97, has a consensus analyst price target of $40.27 and has a 52-week range of $28.47 to $36.46.
Tech Data Corp. (NASDAQ: TECD) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Raymond James. Tech Data closed at $68.09, has a consensus analyst price target of $67.00 and has a 52-week range of $52.93 to $79.06.
ALSO READ: Why Credit Suisse Removed GE From its Focus List
Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades seen in major companies this Wednesday were as follows:
Alliance Data Systems (NYSE: ADS) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and the price target was raised to $350 from $305 (versus $285.46 close) at Piper Jaffray.
Boulder Brands (NASDAQ: BDBD) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey was downgraded to Neutral from Buy.
DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW) was maintained as Hold with a $19 price target at Canaccord Genuity, with the firm remaining cautious on its trends.
Frontline Ltd. (NYSE: FRO) was raised to Neutral from Underperform and the price target was raised to $4 from $2 (versus $3.08 close) at Credit Suisse.
Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with an $80 price target at Stephens.
ALSO READ: RBC Top 4 Tech Picks for 2016
ImmunoGen Inc. (NASDAQ: IMGN) was started as Buy with a $16 price target (versus $12.84 close) at Jefferies. the firm said that Mirvetuximab is showing signs Of activity in ovarian cancer.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: JAZZ) was started as Market Perform at Bernstein.
Noodles & Co. (NASDAQ: NDLS) was started as Buy at Citigroup.
PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ: PTCT) was downgraded to Underperform from Hold and the price target was cut to $18 from $26 (versus $31.75 close) at Jefferies.
QAD Inc. (NASDAQ: QADA) was maintained as Buy at Canaccord Genuity after missing revenue estimates and guiding lower.
TerraForm Power, Inc. (NASDAQ: TERP) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS.
The Valspar Corporation (NYSE: VAL) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight, but the price target was raised to $85 from $83 (versus $85.37 close) at JPMorgan. Valspar was cut to Underperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.
Veeva Systems (NYSE: VEEV) was reiterated as buy and the price target was raised to $35 from $33 at Canaccord Genuity.
ALSO READ: 3 Top Value Picks From Jefferies for 2016
In case you missed out on Tuesday’s analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of Avon products, Brocade, Emerge Energy, GameStop, Infoblox, Kinross Gold, Teladoc and over a dozen more. Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades were in shares of Blackstone, Chipotle, Constellation, KeyCorp, Pepsico, Phillips 66, SunEdison and over a dozen more.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks