[cnxvideo id=”655379″ placement=”ros”]Stocks were indicated lower on Monday, ahead of three Federal Reserve speeches and ahead of Monday night’s first presidential debate between Trump and Clinton. Investors have continued to demonstrate time after time that they will still buy stocks after any real weakness. Investors also have continued to demonstrate that they are looking for new ideas to generate income or gains ahead.
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. Some analyst research reports cover stocks to buy, and some others feature stocks to sell or avoid.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Monday morning:
AmSurg Corp. (NASDAQ: AMSG) was started with a Buy rating at Citigroup. Shares closed down 1.1% at $64.78 on Friday, and the stock has a 52-week trading range of $58.37 to $87.29. The consensus analyst price target is $94.50.
Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ) was reiterated as Buy at Merrill Lynch and the firm raised its price objective to $37. The firm sees sustainable growth at an attractive price. Share closed down 1.8% at $30.54 on Friday, versus a consensus analyst price target of $33.83 and in a 52-week range of $23.02 to $35.00.
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Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Bernstein. The 52-week range is $82.81 to $114.26, and the consensus price target is $116.63.
NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank, and shares were indicated down 2.4% at $34.81 on Monday, after closing down 0.8% at $35.66 on Friday. The 52-week range is $20.66 to $36.10, and the consensus price target is $30.41.
Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform with a $17 price target at Oppenheimer on the heels of would-be buyout interest. Twitter received an unluckily-timed downgrade from Morgan Stanley just hours before the buyout rumors broke on Friday. The stock rose 21% to $22.62 on Friday and shares were indicated down 2% at $22.14 on Monday. The consensus price target is $16.34, and the 52-week range is $13.73 to $31.87.
Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades from this Monday were seen as follows:
Applied Genetic Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: AGTC) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Janney, with shares having limited downside at an under-cash price.
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE: BIP) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James.
ClubCorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE: MYCC) was started as Neutral with a $16 price target at Goldman Sachs.
Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Extended Stay America Inc. (NYSE: STAY) was started as Neutral with a $14 price target at Goldman Sachs.
FelCor Lodging Trust Inc. (NYSE: FCH) was started as Buy with a fair value estimate of $7.50 (versus a $6.64 close) at Janney.
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (NYSE: IHG) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
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Pentair PLC (NYSE: PNR) was started as Neutral with a $66 price target (versus a $61.26 close) at Credit Suisse.
RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE: RLJ) was started as Buy with a fair value estimate of $24 (versus a $21.90 close) at Janney.
West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. (NYSE: WST) was reiterated as Buy at Janney after recent weakness, and the firm maintained its fair value estimate at $90 (versus a $72.55 close).
Wyndham Worldwide Corp. (NYSE: WYN) was started as Neutral with a $72 price target at Goldman Sachs.
Other key research notes seen were as follows:
- Jefferies made a key change to its Top Franchise Picks List.
- Six biotechs that could rise 50% to 150%.
- Are Wal-Mart analyst upgrades late to the party?
- Analysts chasing AMD targets higher and higher.
- Oil and gas stocks analysts say to buy now.
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