Stocks were indicated higher on Tuesday morning ahead of the start of the September Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. Even after recent selling, it remains obvious that investors have found varying reasons to buy stocks after any real weakness. Those same investors also want to find new ideas to generate income or gains ahead.

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. Some analyst research reports cover stocks to buy, and some feature stocks to sell or avoid.

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

American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $67 from $77 (versus a $65.42 prior close) at Jefferies. This was a valuation downgrade. AEP has a 52-week trading range of $53.30 to $71.32 and a consensus analyst price target of $71.91.

Broadcom Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO) was started as Positive with a $200 price target (versus a $170.73 close) at Susquehanna. Broadcom is now of course the combined Broadcom-Avago. It has a 52-week range of $111.53 to $179.42 and a consensus price target of $201.60.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) was started as Buy and assigned a price target of $14 (versus a $12.11 close) at Nomura. It was also downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Buckingham Research. The 52-week range is $11.02 to $15.84, and the consensus price target is $13.41.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) was started as Neutral and given a $33 price target (versus a $31.72 close) at Nomura. Keep in mind that it was just on Monday that Morgan Stanley raised GM’s rating to Overweight with almost 25% upside. It has a 52-week range of $26.69 to $36.88 and a consensus price target of $36.94.

JD.Com Inc. (NASDAQ: JD) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $27 price target (versus a $26.05 close) at MKM Partners. The 52-week range is $19.51 to $33.48, and the consensus price target is $29.91.

Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT) was up 73% at $48.94 on Monday and was indicated up 6.5% at $52.15 on Tuesday. Jefferies raised its Underperform rating and $7 target to Hold and $50 after the firm was not expecting FDA approval.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (NYSE: VRX) was started as Hold and assigned a $30 price target (versus a $27.10 close) at Deutsche Bank. It has a consensus target price of $44.39 and a 52-week range of $18.55 to $225.54.

You can follow @Jonogg on Twitter if you want the daily analyst calls and research updates directly on your Twitter feed.

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades from this Tuesday were seen as follows:

Arris International PLC (NASDAQ: ARRS) was started as Overweight with a $34 price target (versus a $28.24 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Arrow Electronics Inc. (NYSE: ARW) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $63 price target (versus a $63.97 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Avnet Inc. (NYSE: AVT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $44 price target (versus a $41.89 close) at Stifel.

CNX Coal Resources L.P. (NYSE: CNXC) was maintained as Hold but the price target was raised to $15 from $13 at Jefferies.

Columbia Sportswear Co. (NASDAQ: COLM) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $72 price target (versus a $54.74 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $16 price target (versus a $13.07 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Golub Capital BDC Inc. (NASDAQ: GBDC) was started as Neutral with an $18 fair value estimate (versus an $18.60 close) at Janney.

HD Supply Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: HDS) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform with a $35 price target (versus a $31.51 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

HSN Inc. (NASDAQ: HSNI) was started as Underperform with a $33 price objective (versus a $40.50 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $21 price target (versus a $23.14 close) at Goldman Sachs.

ON Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: ON) was started as Buy with a $15 price target (versus an $11.52 close) at Deutsche Bank.

PNM Resources Inc. (NYSE: PNM) was raised to buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $37.50 from $35.00 (versus a $33.01 close) at Jefferies.

QVC Group (NASDAQ: QVCA) was started as Neutral with a $20 price objective (versus an $18.70 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ: VOD) was started as Hold at Argus.

Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included AMD, Campbell Soup, Lockheed Martin, PNC Financial, Wells Fargo, Cerner and about 10 more companies.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.