Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Ford, GM, Hecla Mining, Vale, Waste Management and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: August 9, 2016 8:50 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 4:48 am

Stocks have been hitting new all-time highs, and Tuesday’s opening bell was indicated to open higher. Stocks are valued at about 18 times forward earnings on the S&P 500 Index, but investors are still looking for ways to make money via dividends, overlooked opportunities, value and more. Those same investors have proven over and over, for about six years, that they will buy stocks on every pullback.

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

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

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) was started as Underperform with a $10 price target (versus a $12.18 prior close) at Jefferies. The stock has a 52-week trading range of $10.44 to $15.84 and a consensus analyst price target of $13.53.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) was started with a Hold rating and assigned a $33 price target (versus a $30.88 close) at Jefferies. The 52-week range is $24.62 to $36.88. The consensus price target is $36.53.

Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with an $8 price target (versus a $6.78 close) at JPMorgan. Its shares were up 4.3% on Monday, and it has a consensus price target of $6.16 and a 52-week range of $1.45 to $6.90.

Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley. It closed at $6.03 on Monday and has a consensus price target of $4.64. The 52-week range is $2.13 to $6.26.

Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WM) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight with a $74 price target (versus a $65.51 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Also, Merrill Lynch raised estimates and said it liked earnings, but valuation keeps it rated as Neutral. Waste Management has a 52-week range of $48.79 to $70.50 and a consensus price target of $70.78.

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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen as follows:

AppFolio Inc. (NASDAQ: APPF) was started as Neutral with a $18 price target at Credit Suisse.

Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) was raised to Neutral from Underperform with a $165 price target (up from $130 and versus a $169.97 close) at Credit Suisse.

Changyou.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYOU) was started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Community Health Systems Inc. (NYSE: CYH) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Leerink.

Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $62 price target (versus a $51.29 close) at Macquarie.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: INO) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Maxim Group.

MercadoLibre Inc. (NASDAQ: MELI) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $170 price target (versus a $173.72 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: SOHU) was started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Spectranetics Corp. (NASDAQ: SPNC) was downgraded to Buy from Strong Buy at Needham.

Terex Corp. (NYSE: TEX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $25 price target (versus a $24.45 close) at Jefferies.

Tucows Inc. (NASDAQ: TCX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Cantor Fitzgerald after earnings.

U.S. Ecology Inc. (NASDAQ: ECOL) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight and the price target was cut to $40 from $48 (versus a $45.82 close) at Barclays.

Vivint Solar Inc. (NYSE: VSLR) was raised to Outperform from Perform with a $7 price target (versus a $3.19 close) at Oppenheimer.

Five larger gold stocks have not kept up with the broader gold rally in 2016.

Jefferies has made several key changes to its Franchise Picks list.

Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included BlackRock, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Level 3 Communications, NVIDIA, Monsanto, Twenty-First Century Fox and over a dozen more.