Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Broadcom, Caterpillar, Sirius XM, Newmont, Palo Alto, Perrigo, Sarepta, Xerox and More

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Stocks were indicated marginally higher on Tuesday, but the markets still seem to be looking for a new directional bias after weeks of rallies took the market back to 2016 highs. It still seems that investors have voted to remain buying pullbacks, as from 2011 to 2015, but that might not mean endless chasing the market higher.

As a reminder, the S&P 500 is now valued at 17.8 times its forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, after peaking at 17.9 last week.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week to find new investing and trading ideas. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, whiles cover stocks to sell or avoid.

These are top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday morning:

Broadcom Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO) was maintained as Buy with a $200 price objective at Merrill Lynch, but the firm added it to the prized US 1 list as its target implies 33% upside. Broadcom has a consensus analyst price target of $179.04 and a 52-week trading range of $100.00 to $159.65.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was raised to Buy from Hold at Argus after last week’s earnings, and the firm established a price target of $92 (versus a $76.79 prior close). Argus noted that this implies upside of 20% from current levels, but noted that this is still 20% below the latest cycle highs. The consensus price target is $67.06, and the 52-week range is $56.36 to $89.62.


Liberty Sirius XM Group (NASDAQ: LSXMA) was started as Buy with a 12-month price objective of $44 at Merrill Lynch. The firm believes that Liberty Sirius XM Group should benefit from solid underlying trends at Sirius XM, as well as a reduction in the net asset value discount.

Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $40 price target (versus a $31.11 close) at RBC Capital Markets. It has a consensus price target of $65.33 and a 52-week trading range of $47.11 to $75.72.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $190 price target (versus a $150.51 close) at Wunderlich. The consensus price target is $195.61, and the 52-week range is $111.09 to $200.55.

Perrigo Co. PLC (NYSE: PRGO) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, and the price target was cut to $112 from $163 (versus a $99.40 close). The cut is on its CEO leaving to run Valeant, but also the firm expects big slowdowns in the 2016 guidance. Stifel downgraded Perrigo to Hold from Buy. Shares closed down 18% at $99.40 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $98.81 to $200.96. The consensus price target is $152.88.

Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT) was indicated down more than 40% early Tuesday, at $8.40 or so, under its 52-week range of $10.20 to $41.97, after the FDA panel disappointed. Sarepta was maintained as Hold but the price target was slashed to $7 from $14 at Jefferies. The firm now sees no accelerated FDA approval after the panelists voted negative on eteplirsen efficacy despite strong pressure from points advocacy. Piper Jaffray downgraded Sarepta to Underweight from Neutral and cut its target price to $6 from $15. Oppenheimer cut its rating to Perform from Outperform.

Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) was maintained as Neutral at Credit Suisse after earnings, but the firm cut the price target to $10 from $11 as the road to a breakup is not smooth. Brean Capital downgraded it to Hold from Buy. The consensus price target is $11.55, and the 52-week range is $8.48 to $11.88.

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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades from this Friday were seen in shares of the following:
Alliance Data Systems Corp. (NYSE: ADS) was started as Neutral with a $228 price target (versus a $203.90 close) at Susquehanna.

AMC Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: AMCX) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with an $82 price target (versus a $65.42 close) at Macquarie.

Canadian National Railway Co. (NYSE: CNI) was downgraded to Underperform from Buy at Merrill Lynch, now that the stock has risen 10% above its price objective. CIBC downgraded it to Sector Perform from Sector Outperform, while TD Securities downgraded it to Hold from Buy as well.

Charles River Laboratories International Inc. (NYSE: CRL) was started as Buy with a price target of $96 (versus an $81.67 close) at Gabelli.

Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX) was started with an Overweight rating and was assigned a $15 price target (versus a $12.12 close) at JPMorgan.

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN) was started as Neutral with an $82 price target (versus a $73.29 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Hain Celestial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN) was reiterated as Buy with a $50 price target (versus a $42.18 close) at Jefferies, but the firm added it to the Franchise Pick list due to a market that could double and with any market share losses being transitory.


Medidata Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: MDSO) was downgraded to Underperform but the price target was raised to $36 from $35 at Jefferies. The firm sees its total addressable market being more mature than investors realize and that will cap its revenue growth potential.

Spark Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: SPKE) was started as Outperform with a $27 price target (versus a $22.40 close) at FBR Capital Markets.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Zions Bancorp (NASDAQ: ZION) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $30 from $27 (versus a $27.29 close) at Credit Suisse. The firm said that provisions were higher, but better net interest margin offset this along with loan growth and controlled expenses. Evercore ISI downgraded Zions to Hold from Buy.

Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Baidu, Caterpillar, General Electric, Honeywell, Kimberly Clark, Schlumberger, Southern Energy and over a dozen more.

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