Stocks were indicated to open higher ahead of the key unemployment and payrolls report. After two weeks of rally, now investors are wondering if the old trend of buying the dips has replaced the newer 2016 trend of January and the first half of February in which investors just sold into every rally.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each morning of the week. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday, March 4, 2016.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Buy with a $130 price objective at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The firm noted that Apple devices will play a significant role in personal health care by building the various pieces of the ecosystem with Apple Watch and iPhone accessories as sensory input devices and Health App, alongside HealthKit, ResearchKit and iPadPro.
Broadcom Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO), the surviving name of the Broadcom-Avago merger, was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $180 from $160 (versus a $137.33 prior close) at Credit Suisse. Merrill Lynch already had a Buy rating but it raised the price objective to $200 from $180. Broadcom’s consensus analyst target price was $170, and this call was after an earnings beat. Shares were last indicated up over 7% at $148.00 or so.
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DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $26 price target at Credit Suisse. The firm said that DSW’s current brand portfolio no longer supports the company’s historic brand proposition, and now they expect low- to mid-single-digit revenue growth and a mid-single-digit growth rate going forward.
SBA Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: SBAC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo. SBA was said to be in a catalyst struggle, but the firm said that the long-term model and the outlook still remain strong. The stock’s valuation range was cut to $95.00 to $100.00 from a prior range of $110.00 to $112.00.
Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at BB&T Capital markets. Tyson closed at $66.02, has a consensus analyst target of $68.82 and has a 52-week trading range of $37.10 to $66.67.
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Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations were seen in the following on Friday:
ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB) was downgraded to Reduce at Nomura.
AutoNation Inc. (NYSE: AN) was maintained as Market Perform at Wells Fargo, but the firm raised its estimates and raised its valuation range to $49.00 to $51.00 from the prior $40.00 to $44.00 range.
Brown-Forman Corp. (NYSE: BF-B) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price objective was lowered to $100 at Merrill Lynch.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (NYSE: CNQ) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.
Essex Property Trust Inc. (NYSE: ESS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was cut to $32 from $46 at Wedbush Securities. Credit Suisse lowered its price target to $34 from $36 but maintained a Neutral rating.
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Papa John’s International Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.
Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ: TITN) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at R.W. Baird.
Tumi Holdings Inc. (NYSE: TUMI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZBH) was downgrading to Hold from Buy at Argus, based on its weaker sales outlook.
If you missed Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Alcoa, Boeing, Freeport-McMoRan, Intel, SunEdison, Walt Disney and about a dozen more.
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