Investing
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Cisco, Dish, First Data, Level 3, Regions, SolarCity, Tesla, Twitter, Visa and More
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Stocks had tried to find some footing this week, but now the pressure from European banks was too much and stocks were getting pounded. Fed Chair Janet Yellen was not even able to tame markets with her mostly dovish testimony. For now, rallies have continued to be just another chance to sell, the opposite of the prior four years when buying all the dips worked.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each day to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports are on stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Thursday, February 11, 2016.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) hit a 52-week low on Wednesday ahead of earnings, but the stock was indicated up 6% at $23.89 (was up as much as 10%) after earnings. Cisco was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies and the target was raised to $27.50 from $26.00. Oppenheimer reiterated its Outperform rating and $30 price target.
Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $80 from $100 (versus a $39.71 prior close) at Jefferies. The firm notes that Dish’s asset valuation is overlooked and is presenting one of the best investing opportunities in its coverage.
Level 3 Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $60 price target (versus a $45.65 close) at Morgan Stanley. Level 3 has a consensus target of $61.25 and a 52-week trading range of $40.86 to $57.08.
Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight and the price target was cut to $9 from $12 (versus a $7.51 close) at Morgan Stanley. The consensus analyst target is $10.60, and the 52-week range is $7.08 to $10.87.
SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) was down 29% to $18.63 on Wednesday after a poor earnings report. Barclays downgraded SolarCity to Equal Weight from Overweight and lowered the target price to $20 from $49.
Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was maintained as Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets, but the price target was cut to $180 from $240 in the call. Tesla’s consensus price target will be lower next week as others have trimmed ratings and targets ahead of the report. That being said, even with a loss, Tesla shares were last indicated up 4.7% at $150.50 due to Elon Musk sticking by strong demand trends.
Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was slashed to $15 from $35 at Topeka Capital Markets. Pacific Crest downgraded it to Sector Weight from Overweight. RBC kept its Sector Perform rating but cut the target to $23 from $34. Barclays has an Equal Weight rating but cut the target to $19 from $33.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price objective was $75 (versus a $70.15 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Shares closed up 2.6% on Wednesday but were indicated down 2.8% from European weakness. Visa’s consensus analyst target was $85.60, and its 52-week range is $60.00 to $81.01.
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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades seen on Thursday were in following:
Apollo Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: AINV) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at JMP Securities.
ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Sanford Bernstein. RBC Capital Markets maintained its Outperform rating but cut its target to $79 from $85.
Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE: APAM) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup.
Ascena Retail Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ASNA) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Becton, Dickinson and Co. (NYSE: BDX) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $163 price target (versus a $136.14 close) at Deutsche Bank.
Cabot Microelectronics Corp. (NASDAQ: CCMP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.
Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price objective is $66 (versus a $62.24 close) at Merrill Lynch.
Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) was maintained as Outperform at RBC but the target was cut to $165 from $180.
Horace Mann Educators Corp. (NYSE: HMN) was raised to Buy at Janney Capital Markets.
MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price objective was cut to $92 from $105 (versus an $83.31 close) at Merrill Lynch.
Prospect Capital Corp. (NASDAQ: PSEC) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.
SunEdison Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ: SEMI) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup.
Sunrun Inc. (NASDAQ: RUN) was down almost 16% to $6.07 on Wednesday with a bad solar sector. Barclays downgraded Sunrun to Equal Weight from Overweight and slashed the price target to $7 from $12.
Team Inc. (NYSE: TISI) was started as Overweight with a $32 price target (versus a $22.02 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.
Tenaris S.A. (NYSE: TS) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral and the price target was cut to $21 from $27 at JPMorgan.
Wendy’s Co. (NASDAQ: WEN) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and the price target was cut to $10.50 from $12.00 (versus a $9.52 close) at JPMorgan.
If you missed Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Akamai Technologies, BBVA, Dean Foods, SolarCity, Valero Energy and over a dozen other companies.
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