Stocks were higher on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial recapturing the 18,000 level again. This marked the 2016 high and also is the first close above 18,000 going back to July 2015.
Investors have decided that the right path is a strategy of buying every dip, as was seen from 2011 to 2015. Now investors are looking for value and undiscovered or overlooked opportunity. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations each morning from the top brokerage firms. Some of the daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or avoid.
These are Tuesday’s top analyst initiations, upgrades and downgrades seen from major research calls.
Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $36 price target (versus a $32.01 prior close) at Morgan Stanley. It has a consensus analyst target price of $32.65 and a 52-week trading range of $18.07 to $70.48.
Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) has seen multiple analysts be cautious after its third earnings pre-announcement with news that some customers are outsourcing to service providers. Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy, and it was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Cantor Fitzgerald. Janney maintained a Neutral rating but lowered its fair value estimate to $145 from $160. Illumina closed up 2.6% at $178.13 on Monday but was indicated down 18% or so at $146.00 on Tuesday. Its consensus target price was $185.63 before this news, and the 52-week range is $130.00 to $242.37.
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Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James. It closed at $8.80, has a consensus target price of $13.43 and has a 52-week range of $7.10 to $22.60.
Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ: PNRA) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $245 price target (versus a $211.36 close) at Jefferies.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $14 (versus a $16.76 close) at Barclays. The consensus target price is $17.21, and shares have traded in a range of $14.64 to $33.80 over the past year.
Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $10.50 price target (versus an $8.76 close) at FBR Capital Markets. The consensus analyst target is $9.96, and the 52-week range is $7.00 to $10.87.
Southwestern Energy Co. (NYSE: SWN) was downgraded to Sell from an already unenthusiastic Neutral rating, and the price target is now just $9.00 (versus a $10.47 close), at UBS. The consensus target price is $8.73, and shares have traded in a range of $5.00 to $29.61 over the past 52 weeks.
Sunoco L.P. (NYSE: SUN) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $36 price target (versus a $33.72 close) at Credit Suisse. It has a consensus price target of $42.40 and a 52-week range of $22.86 to $54.83.
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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen in the following:
ADTRAN Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTN) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $17 price target (versus a $20.43 close) at Goldman Sachs.
American Tower Corp. (NYSE: AMT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Evercore ISI. The close of $105.54 is against a 52-week range of $83.07 to $106.75.
BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.
California Water Service Group (NYSE: CWT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Janney.
Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX) was downgraded to Sell from Outperform at CLSA.
Genesco Inc. (NYSE: GCO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $72 price target (versus a $71.19 close) at Sterne Agee.
Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN) was started as Outperform at William Blair.
Inter Parfums Inc. (NASDAQ: IPAR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $34 price target (versus a $31.18 close) at B. Riley.
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John Bean Technologies Corp. (NYSE: JBT) was started as Outperform with a $70 price target (versus a $57.95 close) at William Blair.
Medivation Inc. (NASDAQ: MDVN) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $70 price target (versus a $53.36 close) at Canaccord Genuity.
Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $22 (versus a $26.51 close) at Barclays.
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Inc. (NASDAQ: PLKI) was started as Market Perform with a $59 price target (versus a $54.33 close) at Cowen.
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE: RS) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $72 price objective (versus a $73.32 close) at Merrill Lynch.
Trinity Industries Inc. (NYSE: TRN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel.
Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING) was started as Outperform with a $34 price target (versus a $24.28 close) at Cowen.
In case you missed Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Arcelor Mittal, Citigroup, 3M, NetApp and Union Pacific and many more.
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