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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Ambarella, GoPro, LinkedIn, Mattel, Marriott, Qualcomm, Symantec and Many More

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Stocks were indicated higher going into the unemployment and payrolls report on Friday. Yet again, after two days of post-terrorism enhanced market weakness, investors have proven that they 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 Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Ambarella Inc. (NASDAQ: AMBA) was down over 8% at $53.10 in Friday’s premarket (versus a $57.88 prior close), after beating earnings but giving soft guidance. Canaccord Genuity said to aggressively Buy the weakness as the broader story remains intact, but the firm did lower its price target to $90 from $100. Topeka Capital markets maintained its Buy rating but cut its price target to $75 from $100.

GoPro Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRO) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird, and the price target was cut in half to $18.00. GoPro was indicated down over 3% at $18.25 on Friday, with a consensus analyst price target of $39.18 and a 52-week trading range of $18.75 to $73.75.

LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) was started as Buy with a $290 price target (versus a $239.44 close) at Nomura Securities. LinkedIn has a consensus price target of almost $280 and a 52-week range of $166.57 to $276.18.

Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) was started as Buy with a $27 price target (versus a $24.48 close) at Jefferies. Mattel was said to be an early turnaround story and 2016 headwinds persist, but the firm sees revenue stabilizing in 2017 and 200 basis points of upside in long-term margin opportunity.

Marriott International Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) was raised to Buy at Canaccord Genuity on the strength of the Starwood acquisition, and the firm raised Marriott’s price target to $88 from $83 (versus a $68.78 close). Marriott has a $83.28 consensus price target and a 52-week range of $63.95 to $85.00.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) was started as Overweight and was assigned a $64 price target (versus  $51.40 close) at Pacific Crest. Qualcomm has a consensus price target of $63.82 and a 52-week range of $47.52 to $75.72.

Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus, and the cut was also to Symantec’s earnings estimates and earnings power ahead. Shares closed at $19.71, has a consensus price target of $23.25 and has a 52-week range of $19.07 to $27.32.


Additional analyst upgrades and downgrades on Friday were seen in the following:

Capital Product Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: CPLP) was started as Buy with a fair value estimate of $8.00 (versus a prior $6.10 close) at Janney Capital Markets. The current yield of 15.4% is based on an expected $0.94 annualized distribution for 2015.

Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) was kept as Outperform but was added to the Top Picks List with a $90 price target at RBC Capital Markets.

Colfax Corp. (NYSE: CFX) was started as Perform at Oppenheimer.

Dover Corp. (NYSE: DOV) was started as Perform at Oppenheimer.

FibroGen Inc. (NASDAQ: FGEN) was started as Buy with a $40 price target (versus a $29.85 close) at Citigroup.


Hasbro Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) was started as Hold with a $72 price target (versus a $70.41 close) at Jefferies. Hasbro was said to be best-in-class with a robust 2020 pipeline, but potential margin headwinds and valuations merit the Hold rating.

Immunomedics Inc. (NASDAQ: IMMU) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN) was started as Outperform with a $27 price target (versus a $21.77 close) at Raymond James.

LeMaitre Vascular Inc. (NASDAQ: LMAT) was maintain as Buy and the target was raised to $18.50 from $16.50 at Canaccord Genuity after its analyst day provided a credible road map for “10 & 20” growth objective.

PVH Corp. (NYSE: PVH) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, and the firm lowered earnings estimates and cut the price target to $101 from $134 (versus a $83.02 close after an 11% drop).

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT) was maintained as Buy on the Marriott acquisition of Starwood, but it has lowered its post-deal target price to $81 from $93 (versus a $69.01 close).

Telecom Italia SpA (NYSE: TI) was raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.

Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) was maintained as Neutral and the price target was cut to $14 from $21 at Credit Suisse, based on further comparable sales deterioration likely pressuring earnings into 2016.


In case you missed Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Aeropostale, American Eagle Outfitters, Avago Technologies, Costco Wholesale, HP, Kinder Morgan, NCR, Pandora Media and well over a dozen more.

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