Stocks were indicated higher again on Wednesday, which might make for a three-day rally. Is it possible that investors are wanting to rejoin their prior four-year trend of buying pullbacks? In 2016, at least so far, investors have used rallies to sell into.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each day to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Wednesday, February 17, 2016.
Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN) reported inline earnings but bookings appear to be a tad light on contract slips, and shares were indicated down 12.5% at $48.55. Jefferies maintained its Buy rating but cut the price target from $76.00 to $68.00. Evercore ISI downgraded it to Hold from Buy and cut the price target to $52 from $68.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was maintained as Sector Perform but the price target was lowered to $31 from $33 at RBC Capital Markets. Intel closed at $28.78, has a consensus analyst target of $36.24 and has a 52-week trading range of $24.87 to $35.59.
Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee CRT. This is a day after BB&T downgraded Peabody as well, and shares were down almost 5% to $2.31 on Tuesday.
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Rackspace Hosting Inc. (NYSE: RAX) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was slashed to $22 from $50 (versus an $18.17 prior close) at Credit Suisse. Stifel downgraded it to Hold from Buy, and Barclays cut its rating to Equal Weight from Overweight and lowered the target price to $21 from $35. Rackspace closed up 3% at $18.17 ahead of earnings, but seeing 2016 revenues below plan had shares down 15% at $15.40 on last look.
Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY) was maintained as Buy at Argus, but the price target was cut to $28 from $43. Shares closed up 5% at $23.77 on Tuesday. The consensus analyst target is $34.50, and the 52-week range is $22.06 to $35.75.
Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) was started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo. The stock closed at $30.90, and it has a consensus analyst target of $29.50 and a 52-week range of $28.07 to $57.57.
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Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday were in the following:
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) was reiterated as Buy after earnings with a fair value estimate of $45.00 (versus a $37.08 close) at Janney Capital Markets.
Antero Resources (NYSE: AR) was raised to Neutral from Reduce at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Carlyle Group L.P. (NYSE: CG) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $20 price target (versus a $13.42 close) at Morgan Stanley.
Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH) was maintained as Outperform but the price target was cut to $18 from $45 at RBC Capital Markets on the heels of Tuesday’s massive drop. Wedbush Securities has a Neutral rating and lowered its price target to $18 from $27.
Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) was raised to Hold from Sell with a $48 price target (versus a $44.15 close) at Wunderlich.
Energy Transfer Equity L.P. (NYSE: ETE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
EnLink Midstream LLC (NYSE: ENLC) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
EnLink Midstream Partners L.P. (NYSE: ENLK) also was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
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Flexion Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: FLXN) was reiterated as Buy and the fair value estimate was raised to $33 from $27 (versus a $10.90 close) at Janney Capital Markets.
Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies based on its premium valuation.
IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $270 price target (versus a $237.89 close) at Argus.
KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE: KKR) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight and the price target was cut to $14 from $18 at Morgan Stanley.
Martin Midstream Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: MMLP) was downgraded to Underperform from Buy at Merrill Lynch.
Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE: SCCO) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.
SunEdison Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ: SEMI) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Western Gas Equity Partners L.P. (NYSE: WGP) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
If you missed Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Broadcom, Dollar General, Goldman Sachs, Peabody Energy, Qualcomm, SunEdison and over a dozen more.
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