Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Eldorado Gold, SLM, SunPower, Disney, Yelp, Myriad Genetics and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: August 10, 2016 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 4:44 am

Stocks keep challenging all-time highs by a marginal amount each day, and the markets were indicated to open marginally higher on Wednesday. Despite high valuations for the market as a whole, investors are still looking for ways to make money. This may be from dividends, overlooked opportunities, value stocks and more. The reality is that investors keep proving 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 Wednesday morning:

Eldorado Gold Corp. (NYSE: EGO) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $5 price target (versus a $4.05 prior close) at Goldman Sachs. Shares closed up 1% at $4.05 and were indicated up 3% at $4.18. Its 52-week trading range is $1.87 to $5.16, and its consensus analyst price target is $5.78.

SLM Corp. (NASDAQ: SLM) already was rated as Buy with a $9 price target at Goldman Sachs, but now the firm is adding it to the prized Conviction Buy list. The stock closed at$7.09, and it has a 52-week range of $5.09 to $9.33 and a consensus price target of $9.56.

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) was down 3.4% to $14.78 ahead of earnings, but the guidance was dismal with layoffs and the shares were indicated down 30% at $10.30 on Wednesday morning. This will mark a 52-week low under the prior $13.29 to $31.10 range of the past year. SunPower was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the fair value estimate was slashed to $13 at Janney. Oppenheimer downgraded it to Perform from Outperform as well. Credit Suisse cut shares to Neutral and slashed the price target to $12 from $32, and Deutsche Bank cut its rating to Hold from Buy and slashed the price target to $11 from $37.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) was up almost 1% at $96.67 ahead of earnings and was down just over 1% at $95.25 after the earnings report. Macquarie raised it to Outperform from Neutral. Merrill Lynch maintained its Buy rating and $125 price objective. Pivotal Research still has a Buy rating but lowered its target price to $118 from $122. Goldman Sachs kept a Neutral rating but lowered the price target to $108 from $109.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) was up 3% at $32.65 ahead of earnings, but the restaurant and retail reviews site saw shares surge 13% to $37.00 on Wednesday morning after earnings beat estimates — above the 52-week high of $32.90. Yelp was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $40 price target at Mizuho. Raymond James raised its rating to Outperform from Market Perform and assigned a $45 target. A firm called Axiom Capital raised its rating to Buy from Hold with a $44 price target. Merrill Lynch raised its rating to Neutral from Underperform.

Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) missed on its earnings expectations and issued guidance that was very disappointing. It closed down 1.8% at $29.46 before the news but was indicated down 27% at $21.50 afterward. Barclays downgraded Myriad to Equal Weight from Overweight, and the price target was cut to $24 from $50. Mizuho maintained a Neutral rating but slashed the target price to $22 from $34.

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Other key analyst upgrades and downgraded were seen as follows:

Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.

Camden Property Trust (NYSE: CPT) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with an $88 target price (versus an $87.44 close) at R.W. Baird.

Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) was raised to Neutral from Underperform and the price objective was raised to $44 from $34 at Merrill Lynch.

Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $75 price target (versus a $65.84 close) at Argus.

Editas Medicine Inc. (NASDAQ: EDIT) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $35 price target (versus a $23.28 close) at Jefferies.

General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $180 price target (versus a $148.57 close) at Bernstein.

Genpact Ltd. (NYSE: G) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight with a $22 price target (versus a $24.01 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $6 price target (versus a $3.37 close) at Drexel Hamilton.

Koninklijke Philips N.V. (NYSE: PHG) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

SM Energy Co. (NYSE: SM) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Smith & Nephew PLC (NYSE: SNN) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays.

U.S. Silica Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SLCA) was started as Overweight with a $50 price target (versus a $38.87 close) at Barclays.

Wayfair Inc. (NYSE: W) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch.

WhiteWave Foods Co. (NYSE: WWAV) was downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at CLSA.

ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ: ZIOP) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Wells Fargo.

Jefferies has several growth stocks for huge upside potential.

Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Ford, General Motors, Hecla Mining, Vale, Waste Management and over a dozen more.