Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Cablevision, Chipotle, Flextronics, GoPro, Nabors, Ocwen, Pier 1, Staples and Many More

Investing

Published: December 11, 2015 9:10 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 4:12 pm

Stocks were getting pounded lower in the early hours of Friday, making for a bad week for the stock market ahead of the holidays. The trend that investors have followed is to buy the pullbacks, which has been seen over and over, and for myriad reasons each time, over the past four years. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of the daily analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

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

Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $35 price target (versus a $29.86 prior close and a $33.34 consensus analyst target) at JPMorgan. Cablevision has a 52-week trading range of $17.66 to $33.28.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus after the drop due to contamination spreading. Chipotle shares rose 5% to $575.43 on Thursday and were indicated down 2% at $562.00 on Friday. Chipotle’s consensus analyst target price is now down to $579.50.

Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup. Flextronics closed at $10.80, has a consensus analyst price target of $13.44 and has a 52-week range of $9.55 to $12.86.

GoPro Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup. GoPro shares rose 11.5% to $18.83, and they were indicated down 2% at $18.45 on Friday. The consensus price target is still up around $37.00, and the 52-week range is $16.77 to $69.75.

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Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE: NBR) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup. Nabors closed at $9.21, has a consensus price target of $12.77 and has a 52-week range of $8.62 to $16.99

Ocwen Financial Corp. (NYSE: OCN) was started as Neutral at Piper Jaffray. Ocwen closed up 1.4% at $6.36 on Thursday but was down 2.8% at $6.18 in early trading indications on Friday. It has a $9.33 consensus price target and a 52-week range of $5.66 to $23.17.

Pier 1 Imports Inc. (NYSE: PIR) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse. Pier 1 shares rose 3.5% to $6.42 on Thursday, but the consensus analyst price target is up at $10.18. Pier 1 also has a 52-week range of $5.83 to $17.52.

Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) was downgraded to Underperform from Buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Staples shares were up 1% at $9.96 on Thursday, but the stock was down 3.7% at $9.59 on Friday. Staples had a consensus analyst price target of over $15.00 and the prior 52-week range was $9.75 to $19.40.

Other key analyst calls on Friday were seen in the following:
America Movil SAB de C.V. (NASDAQ: AMOV) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Cardtronics Inc. (NASDAQ: CATM) was started as Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

Colfax Corp. (NYSE: CFX) was raised to Outperform at Cowen.

Demandware Inc. (NYSE: DWRE) was started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Hain Celestial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN) was started as Buy at Wunderlich.

Helmerich & Payne Inc. (NYSE: HP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.

Hologic Inc. (HOLX) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Stifel.

Hortonworks Inc. (NASDAQ: HDP) was started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) was reiterated as Buy with a $45 price target at Canaccord Genuity.

Marketo Inc. (NASDAQ: MKTO) was started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

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National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup.

Party City Holdco Inc. (NYSE: PRTY) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch.

Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.

Teradata Corp. (NYSE: TDC) was started as Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Zendesk Inc. (NYSE: ZEN) was started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.

If you missed Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Apollo Global, Avago Technologies, CyberArk Software, First Solar, JC Penney, KKR, Lululemon Athletica, MobileEye, Perrigo, Tesoro and more.

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