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A box from Amazon.com is pictured on the porch of a house in Golden, Colo., July 23, 2008.Rick Wilking/Reuters

Inside the Market's roundup of some of today's key analyst actions. This file will be updated often during the trading day so check back for new details.

Major Drilling Group International Inc. may be the "best investment option in the drilling space," but the New Brunswick-based driller is still facing a downgrade. An earnings miss and the company's decision to cut its semi-annual dividend to 2 cents per share from 10 cents per share led CIBC World Markets analyst Kevin Chiew to lower his expectations for the company.

Major Drilling reported a third-quarter net loss of 24 cents per share, which fell short of analyst consensus loss expectations of 12 cents per share. Though the season often makes the third-quarter the driller's weakest, results were even more lacklustre than expected.

As a result, Mr. Chiew downgraded the stock to "sector performer" from "sector outperformer" and cut his target price to $6 from $7, saying that while Major Drilling is in a good position if drilling recovers, "a clear path to recovery has yet to be established." The consensus is $6.75, according to Bloomberg data.

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Vermilion Energy Inc.  posted solid year-end earnings that beat Desjardins Capital Markets estimates. As a result of the strength, analyst Kristopher Zack continues to view the stock as a "core holding."

Vermilion previously cut its 2015 capital budget by 21 per cent to reflect the price of oil, putting off planned offshore drilling in Australia and significantly reducing activities in Canada. But the analyst pointed to the company's Brent-based exposure as a strong asset that provides a defensive position for investors.

Mr. Zack kept his "hold" rating on the stock but is bumping up his Vermilion target to $56 from $52 on the strength of the company's year-end results and due to its "disciplined approach to operations and the global diversification of its asset base."

Meanwhile, Peters & Co. cut its rating on Vermilion to "sector perform" from "sector outperform."

The consensus is $60.94, according to Bloomberg data.

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Raymond James analyst Phil Russo is expecting "aggressive growth" from Goldcorp Inc., continuing to rate it a "strong buy."

The analyst's assessment of the Cerro Negro mine is the main factor in his valuation. The Argentinian mine, one of the largest in the world, reached its commercial production milestone at the beginning of 2015, is one of Goldcorp's new generation growth projects. While Mr. Russo feels the mine "remains largely on course" to meet expectations, it is still "very much in transition from development to sustainable steady-state production."

While foreseeing strong long-term growth, Mr. Russo but dropped his price target slightly, to $29.50 (U.S.) from $30.50. The consensus price target is $26.50, according to Bloomberg.

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"There are many reasons to be positive" about Quebecor Inc.,  says Canaccord Genuity analyst Dvai Ghose.

With post-LTE and iPhone launches, the analyst expects strong growth in subscribers and average revenue per user for 2015. Though Mr. Ghose is optimistic about Quebecor, he thinks the market may be underestimating one of its subsidiary's loss of market share to Bell Canada. As a result, the analyst is maintaining his "hold" rating.

Mr. Ghose has bumped up his price target to $33 from $28, however. The analyst's target now sits slightly below the consensus price target of $34.54.

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Palo Alto Networks Inc. earnings of 19 cents (U.S.) per share and revenue of $217.7-million topped consensus estimates of 17 cents earnings per share and $204-million in revenue. On the strong results, Credit Suisse analyst Phillip Winslow is maintaining his "outperform" rating for the network security company.

The analyst thinks Palo Alto is "positioned to continue to gain market share given the many unique advantages of its next-generation firewall platform."

With nothing negative to note about Palo Alto this quarter, Mr. Winslow bumped up his price target to $165 from $135. Analyst consensus sees the company at $141.44.

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Over the past 12 months, Google Inc. has dropped 8 per cent while the S&P 500 has climbed 13 per cent. Underperforming the wider market is not something Google is accustomed to, and UBS Securities analyst Eric Sheridan doesn't expect the tech giant's sputtering performance to continue.

Reinforcing his "buy" rating Wednesday, the analyst told clients despite concerns about its position in the digital advertising and mobile computing worlds, and the growing strength of Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc.,"Google is much better positioned than many investors expect."

Mr. Sheridan pointed to Google's continued dominance in search, its Android operating system's strong position on mobile platforms and its investment in non-core business as reasons to be "bullish" on Google.

The analyst raised his price target to $670 (U.S.) from $630. Mr. Sheridan's target now sits well above the target consensus of $636, according to Bloomberg.

Other analyst actions:

Amazon.com Inc. was downgraded to "hold" from "buy" at Edward Jones.

Lumber Liquidators was upgraded to "buy" from "neutral" by Janney Montgomery. The 12-month target price is $47 (U.S.) per share.

American Express was lowered to "underperform" from "neutral" at Macquarie. The 12-month target price is $76 (U.S.) per share.

Citigroup Inc. was raised to "overweight" form "neutral" at JPMorgan. The 12-month target price is $58 (U.S.) per share.

Aruba Networks Inc. was downgraded to "neutral" from "overweight" at Piper Jaffray. The 12-month target price is $24.67 (U.S.) per share. The stock was downgraded to "hold" from "buy" at Needham & Co. Aruba was downgraded to "neutral" from "outperform" at Macquarie. The 12-month target price is $24.67 per share.

Sotheby's was downgraded to "hold" from "buy" at Craig-Hallum. The 12-month target price is $46 (U.S.) per share.

Bankers Petroleum Ltd. was downgraded to "buy" from "top pick" at Cormark Securities. The 12-month target price is $4.75 (Canadian) per share.

Cerner Corp. was downgraded to "hold" from "buy" at Topeka Capital. The 12-month target price is $70 (U.S.) per share.

Quest Diagnostics Inc. was raised to "buy" from "hold" at Canaccord Genuity. The 12-month target price is $82 (U.S.) per share.

Syneron Medical Ltd. was rated new "buy" at Brean Capital. The 12-month target price is $18 (U.S.) per share.

Fifth Third Bancorp was downgraded to "market perform" from "outperform" at Keefe Bruyette. The 12- month target price is $20 (U.S.) per share.

Freescale Semiconductor Ltd. was downgraded to "neutral" from "overweight" at Piper Jaffray. The 12-month target price is $37 (U.S.) per share.

Gap Inc. was raised to "outperform" from "market perform" at FBR Capital Markets. The 12-month target price is $48 (U.S.) per share.

Chart Industries Inc. was raised to "overweight" from "neutral" at Piper Jaffray. The 12-month target price is $45 (U.S.) per share.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. was rated new "outperform" at RBC Capital. The 12-month target price is $34 (U.S.) per share.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. was rated new "sector perform" at RBC Capital. The 12-month target price is $84 (U.S.) per share.

KBR Inc. was downgraded to "hold" from "buy" at Jefferies. The 12-month target price is $18 (U.S.) per share.

Monsanto Co. was rated new "equal-weight" at Barclays. The target price is $131 (U.S.) per share.

Yum! Brands Inc. was downgraded to "neutral" from "outperform" at Robert Baird. The 12-month target price is $84 (U.S.) per share.

NXP Semiconductors was raised to "buy" from "sell" at Blaylock Beal Van. The 12-month target price is $95 (U.S.) per share.

Oasis Petroleum Inc. was downgraded to "neutral" from "buy" at Guggenheim Securities.

Oshkosh Corp. was downgraded to "underperform" from "neutral" at Credit Suisse. The target price is $39 (U.S.) per share.

Pure Gold Mining Inc. was rated new "speculative buy" at Salman Partners. The 12-month target price is 45 cents (Canadian) per share.

SandRidge Energy Inc. was downgraded to "sell" from "hold" at KLR Group.

YY Inc. was downgraded to "neutral" from "outperform" at Credit Suisse. The target price is $60 (U.S.) per share.

With files from Bloomberg News

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