The S&P 500 is once again trading at record highs and it’s clear what’s behind it: Earnings season.
About 80% of the companies in the S&P 500 reporting their latest quarterly results, and this earnings season has so far been the best in nearly three years. Monday’s big earnings winners include GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) and Caesars Entertainment (CZR), which are both B-rated buys in Portfolio Grader.
Of course, not all companies performed well —there were also a string of disappointing earnings reports. Notable names include Dillard’s (DDS), MagnaChip Semiconductor (MX) and Armstrong World Industries (AWI). Then again, perhaps this shouldn’t come as a huge surprise—even before these earnings announcements each of these stocks was D-rated in Portfolio Grader.
Today is just further proof of the importance of constantly checking your portfolio for weak areas and profit opportunities. To get a pulse on the latest buying opportunities (and the stocks you should now avoid), let’s look at these stocks which have been upgraded and downgraded this weekend.
Over the weekend I noticed 55 big-name stocks were on the move and have revised their ratings to reflect the latest data. Let’s take a look:
55 Recommendations Straight Out of Portfolio Grader
Upgrades
Last Week’s Holds, Now Buys
| Symbol | Company Name | Quantitative Grade | Fundamental Grade |
| AKAM | Akamai Technologies | B | B |
| BAC | Bank of America | B | B |
| GPS | Gap | B | B |
| HP | Helmerich & Payne | B | B |
| INTU | Intuit | B | C |
| LBTYK | Liberty Global Plc Class C | B | C |
| MDT | Medtronic | B | B |
| PCYC | Pharmacyclics | B | C |
| STX | Seagate Technology PLC | B | C |
Last Week’s Sells, Now Holds
MON
| Symbol | Company Name | Quantitative Grade | Fundamental Grade |
| CF | CF Industries Holdings | C | C |
| CMI | Cummins | D | C |
| CPB | Campbell Soup | D | C |
| CX | Cemex SAB de CV Sponsored ADR | C | D |
| CXO | Concho Resources | C | C |
| EMN | Eastman Chemical | D | B |
| GM | General Motors | C | D |
| KRFT | Kraft Foods Group | D | B |
| LLY | Eli Lilly | D | C |
| LMCA | Liberty Media Corp. Class A | C | C |
| MJN | Mead Johnson Nutrition | D | C |
| Monsanto | D | C | |
| TXT | Textron | D | C |
Downgrades
Last Week’s Buys, Now Holds
BBTMMMNSC
| Symbol | Company Name | Quantitative Grade | Fundamental Grade |
| AFL | Aflac | C | C |
| ATVI | Activision Blizzard | C | C |
| BB&T Corporation | C | C | |
| CMCSA | Comcast Corporation Class A | C | B |
| ICE | IntercontinentalExchange Group | B | D |
| KEY | KeyCorp | C | C |
| MMC | Marsh & McLennan | C | C |
| 3M | C | B | |
| MWE | MarkWest Energy Partners | B | D |
| Norfolk Southern | C | B | |
| OMC | Omnicom Group | C | C |
| PBA | Pembina Pipeline | C | C |
| PCP | Precision Castparts | C | B |
| RF | Regions Financial | C | C |
| SIAL | Sigma-Aldrich | C | C |
| XRX | Xerox | C | C |
Last Week’s Holds, Now Sells
| Symbol | Company Name | Quantitative Grade | Fundamental Grade |
| AMZN | Amazon.com | D | C |
| CCI | Crown Castle International | D | B |
| CL | Colgate-Palmolive | D | C |
| CLX | Clorox | D | C |
| DTE | DTE Energy | D | C |
| ETR | Entergy | D | C |
| GIS | General Mills | D | C |
| IP | International Paper | D | C |
| JPM | JPMorgan Chase | D | C |
| PAA | Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. | D | C |
| PEP | PepsiCo, | D | C |
| PSA | Public Storage | D | B |
| ROP | Roper Industries | D | B |
| RY | Royal Bank of Canada | D | C |
| SWK | Stanley Black & Decker | D | C |
| TS | Tenaris S.A. Sponsored ADR | F | D |
| WM | Waste Management | D | D |
