Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Broadcom, Canadian Solar, Goldman Sachs, TripAdvisor, Wal-Mart and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: February 22, 2017 9:10 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 2:37 pm

Stocks were indicated lower on Wednesday after hitting higher highs. Maybe eight days of rallying is too much at one time and the Dow is now close enough to 21,000 that investors have been unable to ignore how much interest there has been in stocks. Even the notion that the bull market is almost eight years old has not deterred investors from wanting to buy every sell-off. Investors are also continuing to look for new and overlooked opportunities.

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 analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other reports cover stocks to sell or to avoid. Many of the following analyst calls have been given some added color, and the consensus analyst price targets are from Thomson Reuters.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Wednesday, February 22, 2017:

Broadcom Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $240 price target (versus a $212.75 prior close) at MKM Partners. Broadcom has a 52-week trading range of $125.41 to $213.62 and a consensus analyst price target of $216.40.

Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $16 price target at JPMorgan. Shares closed up 8.8% at $15.36 on Tuesday but were indicated down 2.5% at $14.98 on Wednesday. Canadian Solar also has a 52-week range of $10.25 to $23.56 and a consensus target price of $15.21.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $250 price target (versus a $251.76 close) at Compass Point. Goldman Sachs has a 52-week range of 138.20 to $252.65 and a consensus analyst target price of $247.80.

TripAdvisor Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform and the price target was cut to $35 from $45 (versus a $46.84 close) at Cowen.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price objective was raised to $88 from $76 at Merrill Lynch. Its shares closed up 3% at $71.45 after earnings on Tuesday and were indicated up another 0.5% at $71.85 on Wednesday. The 52-week range is $62.72 to $75.19, and the consensus analyst target is $74.25.

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Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $189 from $175 (versus a $173.14 close) at Oppenheimer.

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup.

Aramark Corp. (NYSE: ARMK) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $42 price target (versus a $35.97 close) at Deutsche Bank.

CoreCivic Inc. (NYSE: CXW) was started as Buy with a $38 price target (versus a $34.06 close) at Deutsche Bank.

DCP Midstream L.P. (NYSE: DPM) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $45 from $37 (versus a $37.60 close) at UBS.

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Longbow Research.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (NYSE: IHG) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays.

Juno Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: JUNO) was started with an Outperform rating at Wells Fargo.

Kite Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: KITE) was started with an Outperform rating at Wells Fargo.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $46 price target (versus a $46.56 close) at Compass Point.

Parker-Hannifin Corp. (NYSE: PH) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at Atlantic Equities.

REV Group Inc. (NYSE: REVG) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a large upside target of $35 at Jefferies. Shares closed down 3.4% at $26.65 on Tuesday after the quiet period expiration brought mixed analyst calls, but Goldman Sachs being cautious may have done the most harm.

Sierra Oncology Inc. (SRRA) was assumed in new analyst coverage as Outperform with a $4 price target, up exponentially from the prior $1.41 closing price, at Wedbush Securities. The firm sees Sierra Oncology as having promising new assets targeting cancer.

STMicroelectronics N.V. (NYSE: STM) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

Texas Roadhouse Inc. (NASDAQ: TXRH) was reiterated as Underperform at Jefferies, but the price target was raised to $38 from $37 (versus a $47.79 close).

United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $114 price objective (versus a $107.73 close) at Merrill Lynch.

VF Corp. (NYSE: VFC) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight and the price target was raised to $50 from $48 at Morgan Stanley.