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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Carnival, Facebook, Freeport-McMoRan, Motorola Solutions, Procter & Gamble and Many More
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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 other reports 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 Tuesday, March 21, 2017:
Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $175 price target (versus a $139.94 prior close) at BTIG. Facebook has a consensus analyst price target of $159.82 and a 52-week trading range of $106.31 to $140.34.
Freeport-McMoran Inc. (NYSE: FCX) was raised to Hold from Sell and the price target was raised to $14.00 from $12.50 (versus a $12.73 close) at Deutsche Bank.
Motorola Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MSI) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $100 from $75 (versus an $84.30 close) at Jefferies. The firm feels that the LMR risk (LTE) is increasingly looking like a red herring and that Motorola’s consensus earnings expectations are too low.
Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) was started as Neutral with a $98 price target at JPMorgan in a broad-based neutral sector call on consumer products.
Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NKTR) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $25 from $17 (versus a $22.11 close) at Jefferies. The firm feels that the unexpected Phase 3 success for NKTR-181 brings this mu-opioid analgesic back to life and feels that it could become Nektar’s largest and most profitable product as it squarely addresses the opioid epidemic. Janney has a Buy rating and moved its fair value for Nektar to $23.
Credit Suisse’s equity strategy team is signaling that it has become more worried about the potential for a pullback short term, due to peak valuations, escalating uncertainty about the policy path in Washington, and based on concerns about a modest downtick in global IP momentum near term. Still, they remain buyers on dips for now and noted that fund flows and the longer term economic outlook remain constructive.
Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:
Aevi Genomic Medicine Inc. (NASDAQ: GNMX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was slashed to $2.50 from $10.00 (versus a $2.21 close) at Jefferies.
Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) was started as Buy with a $90 price target (versus a $64.86 close) at Drexel Hamilton.
BCE Inc. (NYSE: BCE) was started as Overweight with a $47 price target (versus a $43.11 close) at Barclays.
BWX Technologies Inc. (NYSE: BWXT) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price objective was raised to $55 from $43 at Merrill Lynch.
Columbia Sportswear Co. (NASDAQ: COLM) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $72 from $69 (versus a $57.53 close) at Wedbush. The firm feels the company is taking the right steps and sees estimates driving upside in 2017.
Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) was started as Overweight with a $183 price target (versus a $162.55 close) at JPMorgan.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. (NASDAQ: CBRL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus, based on slowing comparable store sales growth.
Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) was started as Overweight with a $100 price target (versus an $86.51 close) at JPMorgan.
HubSpot Inc. (NYSE: HUBS) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy with a $73 price target (versus a $64.30 close) at Raymond James.
Monster Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: MNST) was started as Overweight and the price target was set at $56 at JPMorgan.
Newell Brands Inc. (NYSE: NWL) was started as Overweight with a $63 price target (versus a $48.57 close) at JPMorgan.
Nord Anglia Education Inc. (NYSE: NORD) was started as Buy with a $29 price target (versus a $24.13 close) at Citigroup.
Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $22 price target (versus a $17.20 close) at RBC Capital Markets.
Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. (NASDAQ: SFM) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $24 price target (versus a $21.83 close) at BMO Capital Markets.
Tesoro Logistics L.P. (NYSE: TLLP) was started as Buy with a $62 price target (versus a $52.50 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Bernstein downgraded certain food companies. While they were not all the calls, Campbell Soup, ConAgra, Kellogg and General Mills were downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform.
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