Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Ciena, Comcast, Facebook, Mobileye, Netflix, Nokia and Many More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: January 13, 2017 9:15 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 3:53 pm

Stocks were marginally higher on Friday (a Friday the 13th, that is) on the heels of positive but not hot Producer Price index and retail sales data from December. Bank earnings have also started coming out. Meanwhile, the Dow has still not cracked the elusive 20,000 mark. The two themes that remain intact are the post-election market strength, followed by investors wanting to buy pullbacks despite the bull market being eight years old.

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, while some others cover stocks to sell or avoid. We have covered these calls with color where appropriate, and Thomson Reuters has been sourced for consensus analyst price target data.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday, January 13, 2017:

UBS started Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) with a Buy rating and assigned a price target of $29 (versus a $24.12 prior close). The shares have a 52-week trading range of $15.62 to $25.19, and the consensus price target is $28.36.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $88 from $68 at Deutsche Bank. Its price target was also raised to $81 at Raymond James. Shares closed at $71.42, in a 52-week range of $52.34 to $71.76. The consensus price target is $77.18.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) was raised to Strong Buy from an already positive Outperform rating at Raymond James, and the price target is $160. The stock closed at $126.62, and it has a 52-week range of $89.37 to $133.50, as well as a consensus price target of $153.57.

Jefferies started Mobileye N.V. (NYSE: MBLY) with a Buy rating and assigned a $52 price target (versus a $40.84 close). The firm sees an attractive entry point with a first-to-market advantage, and it expects 44% in annual sales expansion through 2020 due to its favorable market positioning. The 52-week range is $23.57 to $51.15, and the consensus price target is $55.50.

Deutsche Bank raised Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) to Hold from Sell and raised the price target to $110 from $92 (versus a $129.18 close). The firm noted that the growth is effectively two years ahead of where it was expecting it to be, but the non-Buy rating is due to valuations. Netflix has a 52-week range of $79.95 to $133.88 and a consensus price target of $125.30.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $5 price target (versus a $4.70 close) at Canaccord Genuity. The 52-week range is $4.04 to $7.31. The consensus price target is $5.66.

24/7 Wall St. wanted to warn readers that there have been an incredibly few number of analyst calls in alternative energy and clean energy companies of late. They are going to have to start making serious updates very soon, and not just because of a new U.S. energy policy being night and day. Reports were out on Thursday that clean energy investment in 2016 was down so much that it did not just fall from 2015 — it was also lower than in 2014.

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Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations were seen in the following:

Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NASDAQ: ADP) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $118 from $100 (versus a $103.80 close) at Argus.

Anheuser-Busch InBev S.A. N.V. (NYSE: BUD) was started as Overweight at Barclays.

CNH Industrial N.V. (NYSE: CNHI) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Merrill Lynch. The firm sees upside to $9.50 on peer group P/E multiple and has a hypothetical sum of the parts valuation of $12 to $13 under a breakup scenario. Shares closed at $8.89 but were up 2% at $9.07 on Friday in early indications.

Fortive Corp. (NYSE: FTV) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $60 from $54 (versus a $53.67 close) at Credit Suisse. The firm believes that organic recovery and M&A should drive a rerating for Fortive.

Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GNRC) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with what was referred to as a downside to $35 (versus a $40.91 close) at Merrill Lynch. The rating is due to its fresh model review causing the firm to lower 2017 and 2018 EBITDA estimates by 9% to 10%.

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT) was raised to Neutral from Underperform with a $36 price objective (versus a $34.56 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Magnachip Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: MX) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $10 price target (versus a $6.65 close) at Needham.

Nordic American Tankers Ltd. (NYSE: NAT) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $9 price target (versus an $8.66 close) at Credit Suisse. The company does at least have a large dividend yield, but that has been volatile.

Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $125 (versus a $111.01 close) at Argus.

PACCAR Inc. (NASDAQ: PCAR) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $75 price target (versus a $66.33 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Peak Resort Inc. (NASDAQ: SKIS) was reiterated as Buy and the fair value estimate was raised to $7 from $5.50 (versus a $5.55 close) at Janney.

Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GOLD) was raised to Buy from Hold at Berenberg.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc. (NYSE: RBA) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

Roper Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ROP) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

Tesaro Inc. (NASDAQ: TSRO) was started as Overweight and assigned a $172 target (versus a $146.98 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform and the price valuation range was $80 to $82 (versus an $80.55 close) at Wells Fargo.

Tractor Supply Co. (NASDAQ: TSCO) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with an $85 price target (versus a $75.95 close) at Wedbush Securities. The firm sees signs of inflection in key drivers pointing to a better year ahead.

WABCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE: WBC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $115 price target (versus a $106.65 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included AK Steel, Merck, Twitter, U.S. Steel, Walt Disney, Xerox and over a dozen more.