Stocks were indicated lower, with the S&P 500 down 14 points and the Dow down about 100 points, a return to safety after a three-day weekend. So far, even considering the extreme weakness at the start of 2016, investors have still found numerous reasons each time to buy their favorite stocks after major sell-offs.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other reports feature stocks to sell or avoid. These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday morning:
Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James. Shares closed most recently at $58.91, and it has a consensus analyst price target of $64.57 and a 52-week trading range of $49.59 to $75.00.
Energy Transfer Equity L.P. (NYSE: ETE) was started with an Overweight rating and was assigned a $20 price target (versus a $13.80 prior close) at Barclays. Its units have a consensus price target of %15.56 (plus an 8% distribution rate) and a 52-week range of $4.00 to $33.06.
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Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (NYSE: HPE) was reiterated as Buy at Jefferies, and the price target was raised to $25 from $24 (versus an $18.49 close). This call was after management meetings brought greater comfort around M&A risk, hopes of a dividend increase and higher confidence in the outlook of the core business.
Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham. Shares closed up over 5% at $96.67 on Friday, and they were indicated down 1.6% at $95.15 on Tuesday morning after the July 4 holiday. The consensus price target is $117.22, and the 52-week range is $79.95 to $133.27.
KeyCorp. (NYSE: KEY) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $15 price target (versus a $10.96 close) at Morgan Stanley. The consensus price target is $14.22. The 52-week range is $9.88 to $15.46.
Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus. The stock closed at $111.95 on Friday but this was at $97.14 last week before the Mondelez buyout interest surfaced. Its consensus analyst valuation was last seen at $91.54 on a standalone basis, so there is a large merger premium already in the price, even if the company is rejecting the initial bid.
CyberArk Software Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYBR) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $60 price target (versus a $48.37 close) at Barclays. It has a consensus price target of $50.80 and a 52-week range of $31.50 to $64.30.
Other top analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen as follows:
- Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at Pacific Crest. The consensus price target is $45.22, and the shares have a 52-week range of $24.56 to $40.98.
- Celyad S.A. (NASDAQ: CYAD) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was more than halved to $27 (versus a $24.60 close) at UBS.
- China Online Education Group (NYSE: COE) was started with an Outperform rating at Credit Suisse.
- PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) was reiterated as Buy at Jefferies with a $119 price target (versus a $105.63 close). The call is based on the stock being attractively valued just two days before earnings. PepsiCo has a consensus analyst target of $111.89 and a 52-week range of $76.48 to $106.94.
- Skyworks Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at Pacific Crest. It was recently featured in big tech stocks trading at less than 10 times expected earnings.
- WNS Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: WNS) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $35 price target (versus a $26.87 close) at R.W. Baird.
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