Stocks were indicated higher on Tuesday as the markets start slowing for the Christmas exodus. The markets are still fighting for a positive December and a positive 2015, but the trend that has lasted for four years is that investors have bought every single market pullback.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy. Other reports cover stocks to sell or avoid. These are this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.
Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) was maintained as Buy at Stifel but the price target was cut to $14 from $15 (versus a $9.32 prior close). Alcoa has a consensus analyst price target of $11.38 and a 52-week trading range of $7.81 to $17.10.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was maintained as Market Perform at Cowen, but the firm lowered its price target to $130 from $135 (versus a $107.33 close). Apple has a consensus price target of $148.98, and it has a 52-week range of $92.00 to $134.54.
Box Inc. (NYSE: BOX) was started as Outperform with an $18 price target (versus a $14.05 close) at JMP Securities. The consensus analyst price target is $19.86, and the 52-week range is $10.93 to $24.73.
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Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and the price target was cut to $555 from $630 at JPMorgan. This downgrade is on the heels of more E. coli news, but the stock has a consensus price target of $579.50 and a 52-week range of $508.10 to $758.61.
CyberArk Software Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYBR) was started as Hold at Evercore ISI. The stock closed at $45.41, has a consensus price target of $57.62 and has a 52-week trading range of $33.00 to $76.35.
Ecana Corp. (NYSE: ECA) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets. It closed at $4.92 and has a consensus analyst price target that is supposedly still above $9. Shares have traded between $4.85 and $14.73 in the past 52 weeks.
NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform and the price target was slashed to $28 from $38 (versus a $27.60 close) at RBC Capital Markets. NetApp has a $32.65 consensus price target and a 52-week range of $27.41 to $43.32.
Whiting Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: WLL) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the price target was slashed to $13 from $27 (versus an $8.31 close) at BMO Capital Markets. Whiting still supposedly has a consensus price target of well over $20, but its 52-week range of $8.22 to $41.57 may explain some of that.
Other key analyst upgrades, initiations and downgrades on Monday were seen in the following:
American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) was started as Market Perform at JMP Securities.
Biota Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: BOTA) was started as Outperform and was assigned a $6 price target by FBR Capital Markets.
BioTime Inc. (NASDAQ: BTX) was started as Outperform with a $10.00 price target (versus a $4.15 close) at Oppenheimer.
Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) was started as Hold with a $78 price target at Evercore ISI.
Digital Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: DLR) was started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
Finish Line Inc. (NASDAQ: FINL) was raised to Buy from Underperform at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
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Foot Locker Inc. (NYSE: FL) was raised to Neutral from Underperform with a $70 price objective at Merrill Lynch.
Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: KPTI) was started as Buy with a $20 price target (versus a $13.56 close) at Canaccord Genuity.
ServiceMaster Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SERV) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.
Spirit Airlines Inc. (NASDAQ: SAVE) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel.
Syngenta A.G. (NYSE: SYT) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
Tidewater Inc. (NYSE: TDW) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus.
If you missed out on Monday’s key analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Avago Technologies, BlackBerry, Ciena, First Solar, Nabors Industries, Rackspace, SunPower, Tiffany, Yelp and over a dozen more.
If you missed Friday’s key analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Boeing, CVS Health, DuPont, Fitbit, LifeLock, Microsoft, NXP Semiconductors, Red Hat, Under Armour and many more.
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