Investing

Key Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades for Tuesday: Alcoa, Arch Coal, Baidu, Ciena, JD.com, Vale and Many More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: December 20, 2016 10:05 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 4:35 pm

Stocks were indicated higher on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average still 50 points shy of DJIA 20,000 right after the opening bell. Stocks are challenging last week’s all-time highs, and the post-election trend has been one in which investors want to buy any pullbacks and they want to look for value and opportunity.

Investors should of course keep in mind that this bull market is almost eight years old and that the post-election rally has yet to take any real breather. Still, investors have started moving away from bonds, and they are looking for new ideas for gains or income.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each day of the week to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst research reports cover stocks to buy, and other calls cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

The top five analyst upgrades and downgrades in more detail for Tuesday were in Amgen, American Express, American Water Works, Celgene and Square. Here are more than a dozen other companies receiving analyst upgrades, downgrades, initiations or other key notes on Tuesday morning:

Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $39 price target (versus a $29.29 prior close) at Macquarie.

Amplify Snack Brands Inc. (NYSE: BETR) was started as Neutral and assigned a $9 price target (versus a $9.40 close) at Wedbush Securities. The firm worries about margin pressures ahead in Amplify’s numbers.

Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ARCH) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $103 price target (versus a $79.83 close) at MKM Partners.

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was started as Hold with a $200 price target at Evercore ISI.

Boot Barn Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BOOT) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $18 from $15 (versus a $13.30 close) at Jefferies.

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $30 price target (versus a $24.05 close) at Piper Jaffray. Its consensus analyst price target is $28.26, and it has a 52-week trading range of $15.62 to $25.18. Shares were indicated up 2% at $24.50 right at the opening bell on Tuesday.

Clovis Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ: CLVS) was up 8.8% at $40.48 on Monday after an expedited FDA approval on its ovarian cancer treatment. The stock was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $36 price target at a firm called Chardan Capital. Credit Suisse reiterated its Outperform rating and increased its target price to $53 from $50.

Dynegy Inc. (NYSE: DYN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank. The stock closed down 1.26% at $8.60 on Monday, and it has a 52-week range of $7.01 to $22.01.

Finisar Corp. (NASDAQ: FNSR) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $40 price target (versus a $31.17 close) at Northland Securities.

JD.com Inc. (NASDAQ: JD) was started as Buy with a $32 price target (versus a $25.38 close) at Evercore ISI.

Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ: LANC) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $160 price target (versus a $137.04 close) at Wedbush.

Landec Corp. (NASDAQ: LNDC) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $13 price target (versus a $13.25 close) at Wedbush. The firm noted that the margin outlook is improving, but the upside may be limited.

MDU Resources Group Inc. (NYSE: MDU) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised to $36 from $29 (versus a $29.38 close) at Argus.

PPL Corp. (NYSE: PPL) was reiterated as Buy at Argus, but the firm lowered its target price by $2 to $39 (versus a $34.58 close).

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $485 from $481 (versus a $371.75 close) at Credit Suisse. Shares were indicated up 1.7% at $378.00 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $325.35 to $553.75. The consensus target price is $453.09.

Versartis Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAR) was raised to Outperform from Underperform with a $20 price target (versus a $14.90 close) at Credit Suisse.

Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) recently announced the sale of fertilizer assets to Mosaic, and Credit Suisse sees the divestment of those assets as a positive for the shares, despite just a Neutral rating. Vale also was reiterated as Hold at Jefferies, but the firm raised its target to $9.25 from $9.00. Vale closed at $7.72 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $2.13 to $9.34.

Cypress Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: CELP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Janney, and the fair value estimate was maintained as $11.00 (versus an $11.20 close). This is a thin volume master limited partnership that provides saltwater disposal and other water and environmental services to U.S. onshore oil and natural gas producers/trucking companies, as well as providing independent pipeline inspection and integrity services to producers and pipeline companies. The current yield of 14.6% is based on the recent annualized distribution of $1.63 for 2016.

Follow @Jonogg on Twitter to see daily analyst upgrades and downgrades and other key research items directly on your own feed.

Merrill Lynch has issued its top 11 stock picks for 2017.

Merrill Lynch’s technical view heading into 2017, which is different from the firm’s fundamental strategist view, is that a low and rising interest rates environment will look like a 1950s-style equity secular bull market. The post-Brexit capitulation with interest rates being lower for longer, and a seismic shift to a rising rate environment, could have this current secular bullish trend look like the 1950 to 1966 secular bull market. The technical analysis team also sees upside to a range of 2,330 to 2,425 on the S&P 500 in 2017.