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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Biogen, Goldcorp, GoPro, Oracle, Sirius XM, Tyson Foods, Ciena and More
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Stocks, bonds, oil and gold all rose on Wednesday after the Federal Reserved delivered on the first of likely three rate hikes in 2017. Now stocks are indicated to open higher again on Thursday, with the Dow close to challenging 21,000 again. Investors know that the unrelenting bull market is eight years old. Despite it sometimes feeling long in the tooth, investors have bought up stocks on every single pullback. Those same investors also are looking for new trading and investing ideas.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.
Some color has been added on many of the following calls, and the consensus analyst price targets referenced are from Thomson Reuters. These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Thursday, March 16, 2017:
Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Leerink. Morgan Stanley downgraded it to Equal Weight from Overweight.
Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) was raised to Sector Perform from Underperform and the target price was raised to $17 from $15 (versus a $15.45 prior close) at RBC Capital Markets. Goldcorp has a 52-week trading range of $11.91 to $20.38 and a consensus analyst target price of $18.01.
GoPro Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRO) gave revenue guidance toward the upper end of its range for the first quarter, but in some ways the period is a throwaway quarter. Still, shares were indicated up 11% at $8.17 on Thursday. Wedbush maintained its Neutral rating and said that the second half of the year will be the true indicator of demand. Citigroup raised its rating to Neutral from Sell.
Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) was reiterated as Neutral but the price target was raised to $43 from $42 at Wedbush. JMP Securities raised Oracle to Market Perform from Underperform. Jefferies reiterated its Buy rating but raised its price target to $52 from $51. JPMorgan raised Oracle to Overweight from Neutral.
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $5.50 price target (versus a $5.30 close) at Wunderlich. The 52-week range is $3.74 to $5.53, and the consensus target price is $5.18.
Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus, with the call based on mounting legal issues from the SEC investigation of Tyson and other poultry producers for alleged manipulation of a chicken pricing index.
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Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:
Alarm.com Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ALRM) was reiterated at Buy and the price objective was raised to $39 from $37 (versus a $30.63 close) at Merrill Lynch. The firm noted that Alarm.com’s fourth-quarter results were solid, as subscription revenues grew 21% and EBITDA margins were up 350 basis points. Credit Suisse reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its 2017 estimates. Alarm.com shares were indicated up more than 9% at $33.60 on Thursday.
Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.
Bioverativ Inc. (NASDAQ: BIVV) was started as Underperform with a $45 target price at Credit Suisse. The call is based on long-term competition concerns limiting its upside.
Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: HAWK) was started as Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $27 price target (versus a $23.74 close) at Goldman Sachs.
Clean Harbors Inc. (NYSE: CLH) was raised to Outperform from Perform with a $65 price target (versus a $55.74 close) at Oppenheimer. Despite major earnings misses in recent years, the firm sees macro tailwinds, growth opportunities and cost reductions generating EBITDA and free cash flow growth.
Entergy Corp. (NYSE: ETR) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Gentherm Inc. (NASDAQ: THRM) was raised to Buy from Hold with target of $46 (versus a $37.45 close) at Argus.
Kite Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: KITE) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $101 from $82 (versus an $83.56 close) at Jefferies. The call is after the NHS study set $649,000 as the upper limit for Axi-Cel pricing.
NCR Corp. (NYSE: NCR) was raised to Outperform from Perform and the price target was set at $51 (versus a $42.86 close) at Oppenheimer. A key driver here is an increased expectation in return of capital to shareholders.
Newmont Mining Co. (NYSE: NEM) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform by RBC Capital Markets.
Rubicon Project Inc. (NYSE: RUBI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was lowered to $7.25 from $9.00 (versus a $6.06 close) at Jefferies.
Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) was reiterated as Outperform with a $102 target at Wedbush. The firm noted that seasonality is increasing, but the market momentum and the competitive position remains favorable.
Texas Capital Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: TCBI) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy and the price target was raised to $98 from $95 at Raymond James.
United Therapeutics Corp. (NASDAQ: UTHR) was started as Underperform with a target price of $120 at Credit Suisse. The firm feels that the shares seem overvalued versus short- and long-term risks.
Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair. Wedbush maintained a Neutral rating and $48 target.
Wednesday’s top analyst calls were in Apple, Finisar, Intel, Netflix, Occidental Petroleum, Snap, Agilent Technologies and over a dozen more.
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