Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: CenterPoint, Micron, Paychex, Qualcomm, SolarCity, Southern Copper and Many More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: July 1, 2016 8:50 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 6:10 am

The stock market has recovered a majority of its post-Brexit losses, with the Dow’s 900+ point drop from last Thursday to being less than 100 points down. Investors have different reasons each time, but they have bought their favorite stocks after major sell-offs.

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

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from this Friday morning:

CenterPoint Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNP) was reiterated as Buy at Argus and the firm raised its price target to $28.00 from $26.00 (versus $24.00 close). The firm likes the 4.4% yield, and it sees upside from a growing rate base through an expanding infrastructure improvement program. CenterPoint has a consensus analyst price target of $22.54 and has a 52-week range of $16.05 to $24.11 and shares hit a new 52-week high on Thursday.

Micron Tecnology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was up 4.3% to $13.76 ahead of earnings, but the reaction had shares down 9% at $12.50 or so on Friday’s pre-market as the earnings interpretation went south. Stifel maintained a Buy rating but lowered its price target to $15.00 from $16.00 in the call. Standard & Poor’s maintained its Hold rating but raised its target price to $13.00 from $11.00. Goldman Sachs has a Neutral rating but cuts its target price to $12.00 from $13.00. Deutsche Bank has a Buy rating but cut its price target to $15.00 from $16.00.

Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) was reiterated as Buy at Argus, and the firm raised its price target to $70.00 (versus $59.50 close). The firm talked up the notion of Paychex growth opportunities in smaller businesses, being favorably valued from several angles, and likes its 3.1% yield.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $55.00 from $60.00 (versus $53.57 close) at Evercore ISI. This is the second downgraded in two days, with Bernstein having lowered its rating to Market Perform the prior day. Qualcomm
has a consensus analyst price target of $57.19 and has a 52-week range of $42.24 to $66.05.

SolarCity Corporation (NASDAQ: SCTY) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was slashed to $27.00 from $38.00 (versus $23.93 close) at Credit Suisse. The firm said that a deeper reflection of the proposed acquisition by Tesla has a better chance of closing now (60% to 70% chance) but it also is concerned on corporate governance along with worries over a limited strategic and financial rationale for the deal. SolarCity has a consensus analyst target of $28.41 now and has a 52-week range of $16.31 to $61.72.

Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE: SCCO) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse, and the firm lowered its price target to $20.00 from $28.00 per share (versus $26.98 close). Southern Copper has a consensus analyst price target of $28.69 and has a 52-week range of $21.55 to $31.31. The firm sees its outlook for copper over the next one to two years being far more challenging than gold.

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Other top analyst upgrades and downgrades ahead of the July 4 holiday weekend were seen as follows:

Avery Dennison Corporation (NYSE: AVY) was downgraded to Underperform from Buy at BofA Merrill Lynch. Avery Dennison closed up 2.6% at $74.75, and it has a consensus analyst price target of $81.50 and a 52-week range of $53.56 to $77.38.

Boise Cascade Company (NYSE: BCC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA Merrill Lynch. Boise Cascade closed up 8% at $22.95 on Thursday, and it has a consensus analyst price target of $29.00 and a 52-week range of $13.80 to $36.93.

Celanese Corp. (NYSE: CE) was started with a Positive rating at Susquehanna. Celanese closed at $65.45, and it has a consensus analyst price target of $76.00 and a 52-week range of $54.35 to $74.55.

Corrections Corp. (NYSE: CXW) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was cut to $34.00 from $37.00 (versus $35.01 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Corrections Corp. has a consensus analyst price target of $35.02 and has a 52-week range of $24.21 to $35.48.

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE: DRI) was maintained as Hold but the price target was cut to $64.00 from $66.00 (versus $63.34 close) at Jefferies. Darden Restaurants has a consensus analyst price target of $70.45 and has a 52-week range of $53.38 to $75.60.

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GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup. GSK’s ADSs closed up 2% at $43.34 and has a 52-week range of $37.24 to $45.49.

ManpowerGroup Inc. (NYSE: MAN) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight and the price target was cut to $65.00 from $85.00 (versus $64.34 close) at Barclays.

Sprague Resources LP (NYSE: SRLP) was started with a Buy rating and the fair value estimate was assigned as $30.00 (versus $24.12 close) at Janney. Sprague Resources has a consensus analyst price target of $25.33 and a 52-week range of $15.55 to $28.10. Spreague also has that high distribution rate with an 8.8% yield equivalent.

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades were in Motorola, Nokia, ProLogis, Qualcomm, Silver Wheaton, Yamana Gold and close to a dozen more companies.