Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Aeropostale, American Eagle, Avago, Costco, HP, Kinder Morgan, NCR, Pandora and Many More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: December 3, 2015 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 4:32 pm

Stocks had been indicated earlier after a massacre event took stocks lower on Wednesday. A disappointing ECB meeting without much new on quantitative easing then took the markets lower. The trend that has been static for four years now is that investors will buy stocks on pullbacks. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning in an effort 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 avoid.

These are this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Aeropostale Inc. (NYSE: ARO) was maintained as Hold at Jefferies, but the price target was slashed to $0.60 from $1.25. Telsey Advisory has an Underperform rating and lowered the price target to $1.00 from $1.50. Aeropostale closed at $0.59 Wednesday and was one of the 24/7 Wall St. picks as one of 10 brands likely to disappear in 2016.

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) was reiterated as Buy with a $24 price target (versus a $15.81 prior close). The firm said that American Eagle remains poised to gain share in the teen space as sales momentum continued into the fourth quarter with a solid Thanksgiving weekend.

Avago Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO) was reiterated as outperform at RBC and the price target was raised to $155 from $150. Mizuho Securities reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $175 from $165. Canaccord Genuity has a Buy rating and raised its price target to $179 from $165.

ALSO READ: 5 Top Dividend Hikes Expected Before the End of 2015

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $180 from $162 at Stifel. Deutsche Bank reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $200 from $152. Costco closed at $161.09.

HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) was reiterated as Buy at Argus, based on its views on the PC and printer company and valuations. Argus is modeling a 5% revenue decline for fiscal 2016, principally because of currency, and it has a split-adjusted 12-month target price of $16.00 (versus a $11.95 close).

Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus. The firm sees risks of additional declines in Kinder Morgan shares from ongoing investor concerns about reduced dividend growth guidance, repeated earnings misses against consensus, and Kinder Morgan’s ability to fund its five-year $21.3 billion project backlog. RBC maintained an Outperform rating but lowered its price target to $29 from $36 in the call.

NCR Corp. (NYSE: NCR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer. NCR closed at $27.23, has a consensus analyst price target of $29.43 and has a 52-week trading range of $21.79 to $36.50.

Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) was started as Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets. Pandora also was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $17 price target (versus a $14.27 close) at Raymond James. Pandora has a 52-week range of $11.38 to $22.60 and a consensus analyst price target of $19.25.

ALSO READ: RBC Top Stock Picks With as Much as 100% Upside Potential

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

American Campus Communities Inc. (NYSE: ACC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) was reiterated as Hold at Canaccord Genuity. The firm likes the business model change but thinks there is too big a premium from what a would-be activist investor might be able to do.

Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) was reiterated as Buy at Canaccord Genuity, and the price target was raised to $59 from $54 in the call, but this is tied to the Avago buyout of Broadcom.

Depomed Inc. (NASDAQ: DEPO) was started as Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Education Realty Trust (NYSE: EDR) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Gulfport Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: GPOR) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $36 from $38 at Jefferies. The latest closing price was $25.14, and Jefferies said that Gulfport’s recent underperformance on a lower growth outlook is now overdone.

ALSO READ: 4 Top Jefferies Biotech and Specialty Pharma Growth Stocks to Buy Now

iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT) was reiterated as Buy at Canaccord Genuity, along with its $40 price target, in a response to activist Red Mountain’s filing showing a 6.1% stake and a letter to management.

Mallinckrodt PLC (NYSE: MNK) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and the price target went to $88 from $74 (versus a $72.36 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was reiterated as Outperform at FBR Capital Markets, which raised the price target to $235 from $210 in the call.

Platform Specialty Products Corp. (NYSE: PAH) was reinstated with a Neutral rating and with a target price of $14 at Credit Suisse.

Sanderson Farms Inc. (NASDAQ: SAFM) was raised to Outperform from Underperform at CLSA.

Silver Spring Networks Inc. (NYSE: SSNI) was started as Buy with a $17 price target (versus a $14.05 close) at Wunderlich.

Travelers Companies Inc. (NYSE: TRV) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $120 price objective (versus a $114.71 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. As a reminder, Travelers is a Dow stock and that is often forgotten about by investors.

ALSO READ: Deutsche Bank Says 3 Bank Stocks Best Pure Play on Rising Rates

Unum Group (NYSE: UNM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $39 price objective (versus a $36.76 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNT) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, and the price target was lowered to $45 from $60 after lower guidance. Verint was maintained as Outperform at RBC and the price target was cut to $52 from $62 in that call. Verint was last seen down 12% at $40.88.

If you missed out on Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of Athenhealth, AT&T, Cepheid, Chevron, Dollar General, Mobileye and over a dozen more companies.