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While it pays to carry out your own research while picking stocks for your portfolio, it is also equally important to keep track of recommendations given by expert analysts. So, let’s take a look at which stocks are being upgraded or downgraded by research firms:
Rosetta Resources Inc. (NASDAQ: ROSE): The stock has been upgraded by equity research firm Stifel Nicolaus from ‘Hold’ position to ‘Buy’. The research firm has also given a new price target of $55 for the stock. Rosetta Resources is currently trading at $46.71, up 1.06 percent from its previous close of $46.24 and hence has about 20 percent upside. The company currently commands $2.46 billion in market capitalization. The stock had also recently received an initial assessment of ‘Outperform’ by Imperial Capital. Rosetta Resources is engaged in the business of exploring and developing onshore oil and gas resources and is currently concentrating on developing Eagle Ford Shale. The company has reported satisfactory drilling operations at the site and has acquired further property in the Gates Ranch area. The stock has traded in the range of $30.42 and $54.58 in the past 52 weeks and commands the beta of 2.01.
RPC Inc. (NYSE: RES): The stock is currently trading 1.50 percent up from its previous close of $12.71. Equity research firm FBR Capital has upgraded the stock’s rating from ‘Market Perform’ to ‘Outperform’. The company is engaged in the oil well products segments and sells a wide variety of equipments used by oil companies. RPC Inc. boasts of good operating as well as net margins and the stock is trading at relatively cheaper valuation with Price Earnings ratio of 9.03. The company stock has the qualities of a good buy candidate as it has consistently beaten Wall Street estimates. The stock touched its 52 weeks high at $15.62 and low at $8.75.
Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NASDAQ: COG): Cabot Oil & Gas, an independent company dealing in oil and gas sector, has received a rating upgrade from equity research firm Stifel Nicolaus. The stock, which was earlier rated as ‘Hold’, now has been bestowed with ‘Buy’ rating. The stock is currently trading at $42.83 and has been given a price target of $55. The company has reported positive developments for its NE Marcellus project. Cabot Oil & Gas expects to bring pipes to the wells at faster rate, following the receipt of pipeline permits. The company has healthy market capitalization at about $9 billion and has earnings per share at $0.52. Cabot Oil & Gas is expected to report quarterly positive results as well.
Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S): The stock is trading up in an otherwise directionless market. Sprint Nextel stock has been rated ‘Buy’ by Nomura Securities. It was earlier rated as ‘Neutral’. Nomura has also provided the new price target of $7 for this stock, which is currently at $5.23, up 4.00 percent from its previous close of $5.03. The company is going ahead with its 4G LTE deployment program and is expected to cover 100 new cities in the coming months. Sprint Nextel is expected to cover important cities like Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Charlotte in the coming phase of deployment. Although Sprint Nextel currently has negative Earnings per Share of -$1.28, the situation is likely to improve in the near future. Its stock has beta of 1.15. The company’s current market capitalization stands at $15.66 billion and it has 3 billion shares outstanding in the market.
Sanofi SA (NYSE: SNY): The pharma stock is at $41.97, down 1.01 percent despite getting thumbs up from Bank of America. The stock is also an undisputed favorite of Hedge Funds. Bank of America has upgraded the stock to ‘Buy’ position from ‘Neutral’. The stock has traded in the range of $31 and $42.45 in the past 52 weeks and has beta of 1.04. Sanofi has solid financial position, partially thanks to its robust gross profit margin of about 60 percent. The stock reported relatively lower earnings for the its latest quarter. Its sales also suffered as some of its products such as Plavix and Avapro lost their exclusive status this year. However, the company’s future prospects look brighter as Sanofi has additional advantage of having low debt level. The quarterly results were also better than expected.
