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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades After Election: Ciena, CME Group, Energy Transfer, NVIDIA, US Steel and Many More
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Now that the 2016 election is behind us, the market rallied sharply from the lows last week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting an all-time high. Bond yields are rising and valuations remain high, but what is obvious is that investors are still willing to buy the dips and sell-offs.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst research reports cover stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.
Stocks were looking for direction on Monday after having been positive and negative. These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Monday morning:
Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $27 price target (versus a $21.74 prior close) at Deutsche Bank. It has a 52-week trading range of $15.62 to $25.46 and a consensus analyst price target of $26.44.
CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $116 price target (versus a $114.38 close) at JPMorgan. The 52-week range is $81.87 to $117.80, and the consensus price target is $109.57.
Energy Transfer Partners L.P. (NYSE: ETP) was already rated as Outperform at Credit Suisse, but the firm added it to its MLP Top Pick List. Its 11% yield is called an attractive entry point for long-term investors. Shares closed up 1.3% at $38.13 on Friday and were indicated up 0.5% at $38.33 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $18.62 to $43.50. The consensus price target is $46.20.
NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $100 price target (versus an $87.97 close) at Needham. The stock was up 29% at $87.97 on Friday.
United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $46 price target (versus a $25.71 close) at Morgan Stanley. It has a 52-week range of $6.15 to $27.64, with a consensus price target of close to $21.
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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen in the following:
Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
CoreLogic Inc. (NYSE: CLGX) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and the price target was cut to $40 from $49 (versus a $38.05 close) at Piper Jaffray.
Colfax Corp. (NYSE: CFX) was raised to Buy from Hold with $44 price target at Argus.
Credit Suisse Group A.G. (NYSE: CS) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $16 price target (versus a $14.22 close) at Merrill Lynch.
DTE Energy Co. (NYSE: DTE) was started with a Buy rating and given a $102 price target (versus a $90.96 close) at Jefferies.
GrubHub Inc. (NYSE: GRUB) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $46 price target (versus a $35.31 close) at Stifel.
NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $12 price target (versus an $11.07 close) at UBS.
Quest Diagnostics Inc. (NYSE: DGX) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $90 price target (versus an $81.46 close) at UBS.
Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $290 from $260 (versus $259.17 close) at Stifel.
Nelnet Inc. (NYSE: NNI) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, with the firm saying that Nelnet is fairly priced following strong price appreciation after the election.
ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) was started as Underperform with a $1 price target (versus a $0.81 close) at Credit Suisse.
PTC Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: PTCT) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $25 from $15 (versus an $11.30 close) at Credit Suisse. Shares were up 88% on Friday and up 8.4% at $12.25 early Monday.
SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: SEAS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.
Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a fair value range of $32 to $34 (versus a $26.98 close) at Wells Fargo.
XOMA Ltd. (NASDAQ: XOMA) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $14 price target, down from $17 prior target, at Wedbush.
Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Archer Daniels Midland, Genworth Financial, NVIDIA, Walt Disney, SunPower, LifePoint, Perrigo, TASER and more.
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