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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: FireEye, Occidental Petroleum, SeaWorld, Teva Pharma, Windstream, Zynga and More
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Stocks were indicated to open higher on Friday after an unexpectedly stronger than expected payrolls report. Investors are looking for ways to make money, and they have proven over and over for more than five years that they will buy stocks on every pullback.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week in an effort to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy. Other analyst reports feature stocks to sell or avoid.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday morning:
FireEye Inc. (NASDAQ: FEYE) closed down 3% at $16.75 on Thursday, and shares were trading over 16% lower at $13.96 after a revenue miss is being followed by 300 to 400 job cuts. FireEye was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and the price target was cut to $15 from $20 (versus $16.75 close) at JPMorgan. Citigroup downgraded it to Neutral from Buy, and William Blair downgraded it to Market Perform from Outperform.
Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank. The stock closed at $74.25, has a 52-week trading range of $58.24 to $78.31 and has a consensus analyst price target of $78.59.
SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: SEAS) was down 13.2% at $12.88 on Thursday after earnings were dragged down by attendance in Florida. It was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie. Its 52-week range is $12.58 to $21.85.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA) rose 3.5% to $55.45 on Thursday after earnings. Oppenheimer decided to downgrade the shares to Perform from Outperform after the move. Teva Pharma is one of our own stocks to own for the decade due to generic dominance, and it has a consensus price target of $70.29 and a 52-week range of $48.01 to $71.08.
Windstream Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: WIN) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James. It closed at $8.98 and was indicated down 1.8% at $8.82 after the cut, versus a 52-week range of $4.75 to $9.74 and a consensus target price of $9.03.
Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) was reiterated as Buy with a $5 price target (versus a $2.97 prior close) at Jefferies. The firm noted that it was a solid quarter and that the outlook seems overly conservative. Shares were indicated down 6% at $2.79 after earnings. The consensus price target is $3.00, and the 52-week range is $1.78 to $3.02.
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Other key analyst upgrades and downgraded were seen as follows:
American States Water Co. (NYSE: AWR) was raised to Neutral from Sell and the price target was raised to $35 from $39 (versus a $42.03 close) at Janney.
Armstrong World Industries Inc. (NYSE: AWI) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at KeyBanc Capital Markets.
FTD Companies Inc. (NASDAQ: FTD) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Monness Crespi Hardt.
Harman International Industries Inc. (NYSE: HAR) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird.
Imperva Inc. (NYSE: IMPV) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Wunderlich. Needham raised its rating to Buy from Hold with a $64 target price. Shares closed at $45.01.
Intellia Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: NTLA) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies, but the price target was kept at $33, based on a recent sell-off. Shares closed at $17.66.
Newfield Exploration Co. (NYSE: NFX) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight but the price target was raised to $44 from $35 (versus a $45.68 close) at Barclays. KLR Group downgraded it to Hold from Accumulate.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird.
Sierra Wireless Inc. (NASDAQ: SWIR) was downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform with a $13 price target (versus a $17.17 close) at CIBC.
Here are multiple points to view the overvalued market today to see whether you should worry about the next crash or serious correction.
Merrill Lynch believes that now is the time to buy biotech, with specific winners.
Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Apollo Global, ADM, Celgene, Total, Whole Foods, Targa Resources and over a dozen more.
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