Actor Patrick Stewart, right, and nine-year-old Vivenne Harr ring the opening bell as the NYSE’s Scott Cutler and Boston police officer Cheryl Fiandaca look on during the Twitter IPO on Nov. 7.Reuters
Inside the Market's roundup of some of today's key analyst actions. This file will be updated during the trading day. For breaking analyst actions prior to market open every day, read our Before the Bell morning report.
Twitter Inc. is seeing a rush of new Street targets and ratings today, as the so-called "quiet period" has come to an end that restricted analyst coverage at banks that underwrote the company's initial public offering.
Not so surprisingly, Goldman Sachs - which led the underwriters - issued a "buy" rating. But its $46 (U.S.) price target may seem somewhat conservative, given Twitter is trading today near $41.
In fact, Deutsche Bank started coverage with a higher target - $50 - while also recommending investors buy shares.
Other big banks weren't as upbeat after the stock's surge following its premier on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this fall at $26 per share.
Merrill Lynch started coverage with an "underperform" rating and $36 target. JPMorgan started coverage with a "neutral" rating and $40 price target. Morgan Stanley gave Twitter an "equal weighting" recommendation, without giving an exact price target.
Here's what Goldman Sachs analyst Heath Terry had to say:
"We believe there is substantial long-term value in Twitter's potential to become the leading platform for real time mass communication," Mr. Terry said, via StreetInsider.com. "As Twitter grows users, engagement, and monetization through product enhancements, geographic expansion, and advertiser adoption, we see opportunity for growth acceleration and positive estimate revisions. While its growth trajectory is unlikely to be linear, we believe these revisions will, over time, justify considerable upside."
The average target among analysts is $39.47, according to Bloomberg data.
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BMO Nesbitt Burns analyst Alexandra Syrnyk downgraded Methanex Corp. to "market perform" from "outperform," believing that pricing sentiment for methanol prices in the first half of 2014 will cool as temporary production disruptions in the industry are resolved.
Methanex shares have surged about 60 per cent over the past seven months, which "has left less of a cushion to absorb risk," the BMO analyst said.
Nevertheless, BMO remains positive on the stock longer term. "We continue to view MEOH's market-leading position, strong internally funded near-term free cash flow growth profile, low leverage and history of returning cash flow to investors as attractive investment features," BMO said.
BMO cut its price target to $67.50 (U.S.) from $70 after taking a fresh look at its supply-demand outlook for methanol, of which Methanex is the largest producer in the world.
The average target on the Street is $65.05, according to Bloomberg.
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Credit Suisse analyst Vinicius Canheu slashed his outlook on Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) after the Brazilian state-run oil company announced a smaller-than-expected hike in fuel prices last week and failed to provide details of a new pricing policy.
Mr. Canheu downgraded the shares, which trade in New York, by two notches to "underperform" from "outperform." He also slashed his price target to $14 (U.S.) from $25.
The company has not provided a clear timeline of when gas prices will rise again and by how much. The timid increase is seen as a win for the Brazilian government, which uses the subsidy as a tool to control inflation.
"2014 now seems an incredibly delicate year for PBR (Petrobras) … It also raises the question of how one can be confident on further price increases in 2014, an election year with increasing concerns about inflation and depreciation of the BRL (Brazilian Real)," said Mr. Canheu.
Petrobras supplies most of the country's fuel by importing it and then selling it at below-market prices. This leads to hefty losses in its refining division.
The average target among analysts is $20.45, according to Thomson Reuters.
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Atrium Innovations Inc. announced last week that it had agreed to be acquired by Permira funds, leading Raymond James analyst Kenric Tyghe to downgrade the natural health foods company to "market perform" from "outperform" while raising his price target to $25.50 (Canadian) from $21.
European private equity firm Permira funds will buy all of the company's stock for $24 per share, except for two minority holdings held by two long-time shareholders. The whole deal is estimated to be worth about $1.1-billion.
"In acquiring Atrium, Permira acquires the Whole Foods relationship (Atrium's Garden of Life brand is No. 1 brand in both Whole Foods and the Health Food Stores channel). In addition, the call option on the Health Care Practitioner (HCP) channel on the offer price is also attractive, in our opinion," he said.
The average analyst target is $24.50, according to Bloomberg.
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A disappointing third quarter and another downward revision of guidance for this year has cast doubt over Manitok Energy Inc., prompting a downgrade of its rating to "underperform" from "market perform" by Raymond James analyst Luc Mageau.
This is the second time that the oil and gas producer has revised its 2013 guidance, despite there only being one month left to the year and "several bullish initial test rate announcements," said Mr. Mageau, who also cut his target to $2.25 (Canadian) from $3.
Third-quarter results showed production was around 6 per cent lower than estimates, while capital spending was around 13 per cent higher.
The company also announced last month that it had signed a three-year lease for additional land in southeast Alberta, which it will pour $106-million into developing.
In order to meet 2014 guidance, "13-14 wells need to be brought on production throughout the year at rates that are at company expectations. That said, recent well results have been considerably lower than expectations…we see risk in the 2014 outlook and as a result we caution that downward revisions to 2014 numbers could be on the way, weighing the stock price down further," he said.
The average target among analysts is $3.86, according to Thomson Reuters.
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In other analyst actions:
Janney Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and $90 (U.S.) price target on Lululemon as it selected the stock as one of its top holiday picks and added it to its best ideas list for 2014.
Industrial Alliance Securities cut its price target on Energold Drilling to $2.25 (Canadian) from $2.75 and maintained a "buy" rating.
Goldman Sachs downgraded Groupon to "neutral" from "buy" and cut its price target to $11 (U.S.) from $12.
Global Equities Research raised its price target on Apple to $800 (U.S.) from $725 and reiterated an "overweight" rating. Deutsche Bank raised its price target to $625 from $575 and reiterated a "buy" rating.
UBS raised its price target on Harley-Davidson to $67 (U.S.) from $59 and maintained a "neutral" rating.
SunTrust Robinson Humphrey upgraded eBay to "buy" from "neutral" with a price target of $61 (U.S.).
Sterne Agee downgraded Urban Outfitters to "neutral" from "buy" and maintained a price target of $42 (U.S.).
Deutsche Bank upgraded Marathon Petroleum to "buy" from "hold" and raised its price target to $108 (U.S.) from $80.
Goldman Sachs upgraded WebMD Health to "neutral" from "sell" and raised its price target to $36 (U.S.) from $28.
Guggenheim upgraded AMC Networks to "buy" from "neutral" but cut its price target to $78 (U.S.) from $81.
Macquarie downgraded Sprint to "neutral" from "outperform" and reiterated a $7.75 (U.S.) price target.
JPMorgan upgraded Monster Beverage to "overweight" from "neutral" and raised its price target to $74 (U.S.) from $70.
Desjardins Securities raised its price target on Algonquin Power & Utilities to $9 (Canadian) from $8.50 and reiterated its "top pick" rating.
Stonecap Securities hiked its price target on Canacol Energy to $8 (Canadian) from $6.20 and reiterated an "outperform" rating.
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For more analyst actions, breaking investing news and analysis, follow Darcy Keith on Twitter at @eyeonequities