Stocks were indicated a tad lower on Thursday, but not so much that the path of the day looks set in stone. The Dow and S&P 500 might be swinging up and down on the tail end of earnings season, but despite the notion of “sell in May and go away” investors have proven over and over that they are looking for opportunities and will buy the big market dips.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week. Our goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and other reports feature stocks to sell or stocks to avoid.

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

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was last seen up 5% at $26.72 after beating earnings. Credit Suisse maintained its Underperform rating but raised it estimates and raised its downside price target to $24 from $22. RBC maintained an Outperform rating and raised its target to $33. Wunderlich raised its target to $28. Wells Fargo reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its valuation range to $33 to $35 from the prior range of $29 to $32.

CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) was started with an Underperform rating and was assigned a price target of $27 (versus a $25.75 prior close) at CLSA. It has a consensus analyst price target of $27.71 and a 52-week trading range of $21.33 to $35.87.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HLT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch. The stock closed at $21.08, and it has a consensus price target of $26.46 and a 52-week range of $16.16 to $29.71.

L Brands Inc. (NYSE: LB) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was cut to $66 from $84 (versus a $63.78 close) at Robert W. Baird. MKM Partners also downgraded it to Neutral from Buy, with a target cut to $60 from $83. The consensus price target is $83.28, and the 52-week range is $62.99 to $101.11.

Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform with a $244 price target (versus a $241.58 close) at RBC Capital Markets. It has a consensus price target of $242.44 and a 52-week range of $181.91 to $245.37.

Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) was last seen trading up almost 6% to $82.50 after beating earnings and raising guidance. Mizuho reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $100 from $90. Credit Suisse reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target price to $115 from $110.

Teck Resources Ltd. (NYSE: TCK) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $12 price target (versus a $9.39 close) at Goldman Sachs. It has a consensus price target of $9.56 and a 52-week range of $2.56 to $13.13.

Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $100 price target (versus a $79.48 close) at UBS. The stock has a consensus price target of $107.04 and has a 52-week range of $67.80 to $119.67.

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Other key analyst upgrades and downgraded were in about two dozen more companies. These were seen as follows for this Thursday:
American Superconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: AMSC) was started as Outperform with a price target of $14 (versus a $10.04 close) at FBR Capital Markets.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARWR) was started with a Buy rating and an upside price target all the way up at $12.00 (versus a $4.99 close) at Chardan Capital. Arrowhead Pharma has a consensus price target of $8.92 and a 52-week range of $3.07 to $9.36.

AVEO Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AVEO) was started as Overweight with a $1.70 price target (versus a $0.88 close) at Piper Jaffray.

Blueknight Energy Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: BKEP) was started as Neutral with a fair value estimate of $6 (versus a $5.18 close) at Janney.

Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) was raised to Hold from Sell with a $135 price target (versus a $146.42 close) by Berenberg. The consensus analyst target is $156.00, while the 52-week range is $145.33 to $266.62.

Credit Suisse Group A.G. (NYSE: CS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

CyberArk Software Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYBR) was maintained as In-Line but the price target was raised to $45 from $41 at Imperial Capital. The consensus price target is $48.67. The stock has a 52-week range of $31.50 to $76.35.

DepoMed Inc. (NASDAQ: DEPO) was reiterated as Buy with a $28 fair value (versus a $19.16 close) at Janney, after news that a court extended a 30-month stay for its Nucynta. Its consensus price target is $23.36, and it has a 52-week range of $12.25 to $33.74.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX) was started with a Neutral rating and a $12 price target (versus a $10.54 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus price target is $10.91, and the 52-week range is $3.52 to $21.56.

Hersha Hospitality Trust (NYSE: HT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch.

Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (NASDAQ: KALU) was started with a Sell rating and a $76 price target (versus an $84.37 close) at Goldman Sachs. The stock has a consensus price target of $88.38 and a 52-week range of $70.14 to $96.06.

Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) was started as Underperform at CLSA. The stock closed at $91.49 and was trading down 1% or so on the news. It has a consensus analyst target price of $99.06 and it has traded in a range of $62.20 to $101.24 in the past 52 weeks.
L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LLL) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform and the price target was raised to $150 from $137 (versus a $136.61 close) at RBC Capital Markets. The consensus price target is $144.30. The 52-week trading range is $101.11 to $137.84.

Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC) was started with a Sell rating and was given a $34 price target (versus a $36.74 close) at UBS. It has a consensus price target of $52.20 and a 52-week range of $29.24 to $60.38.

Mazor Robotics Ltd. (NASDAQ: MZOR) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at $13.28 at Wells Fargo. The company is a small-cap with a mere $278 million value. After shares closed at $13.28, the consensus price target is $17.10, and they have traded in a range of $8.31 to $14.99 in the past 52 weeks.

Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) was started with an Outperform rating and was given a $98 price target (versus an $85.51 close) at CLSA. It has a consensus price target of $91.46 and a 52-week range of $64.51 to $98.75.

Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform with a $222 price target (versus a $214.14 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) was started as Neutral and was given a price target of $84 (versus a $78.13 close) at UBS. The consensus price target is $90.85, and the shares have a 52-week range of $69.79 to $94.12.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE: RLJ) was downgraded to Underperform from Buy at Merrill Lynch.

Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP) was started with a Sell rating and was given a $79 price target (versus an $82.48 close) at CLSA. The consensus price target is $90.81. The 52-week trading range is $67.06 to $105.65.

Vipshop Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: VIPS) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie, just a day after JPMorgan lowered its rating from Overweight to Neutral with an $11 price target. Merrill Lynch has a Neutral rating but lowered estimates and targets. The consensus price target is $16.45, and the 52-week range is $10.37 to $26.95.

Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Apple, Brocade Communications, Clean Harbors, Eldorado Gold, Exxon Mobil, First Solar, Home Depot and Vipshop and many more.

Credit Suisse issued several key notes on a global equity theme on Wednesday. Two that stood out were as follows:

• Quality growth will do well against the background of a challenged global economy. The recent underperformance of quality as a style has also had an impact on the performance of its key growth themes. The strongest ranked themes in terms of quality have weak and/or declining valuation conditions.
• The strongest themes in terms of quality and momentum characteristics are heavily exposed to technology and new media and are the Potential of Internet (1st), Content is King (2nd) and Big, Fast Data (3rd). Shale remains bottom ranked although momentum is improving.

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