| Company Name | Exchange | Ticker | Last Price | Total Analyst Coverage |
Upgrade/ Downgrade |
Analyst Name | Rating Company | Target Price |
Upside/ Downside (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alacer Gold Corp | TSX | ASR | 3.50 | 10 | Upgrade to neutral from underperform | Ben Crowley | Macquarie | 2.70 | -22.9% |
| Pure Technologies Ltd | TSX | PUR | 7.10 | 6 | Upgrade to buy from hold | Sara Elford | Canaccord Genuity Corp | 8.00 | 12.7% |
| Largo Resources Ltd | TSXV | LGO | 0.27 | 5 | Initiate with speculative buy | Luisa Moreno | Euro Pacific Canada Inc | 0.50 | 88.7% |
| Canadian Overseas Petroleum Ltd | TSXV | XOP | 0.30 | 3 | Initiate with speculative buy | Garett Ursu | Cormark Securities Inc. | 0.50 | 66.7% |
| QHR Corp | TSXV | QHR | 1.23 | 5 | Initiate with buy | Massimo Voci | Mackie Research Capital Corp. | 1.75 | 42.3% |
Macquarie upgraded Alacer Gold Corp (TSX: ASR), an explorer and producer of gold, to neutral from underperform increasing its price target to C$2.70 from C$2.10, indicating a downside of 22.9% from current levels. For the year ended December 31, 2013, ASR reported that its Copler Gold Mine achieved record annual gold production of 216,850 ounces, up 44% over 2012. Net profit from continuing operations stood at C$68.0 million for 2013.
Pure Technologies Ltd (TSX: PUR), engaged in providing monitoring and surveillance of physical infrastructure utilizing patented technologies, was upgraded to buy from hold at Canaccord Genuity Corp raising its price target to C$8.00 from C$7.25, indicating an upside of 12.7% from current levels. Recently, PUR reported that its full year 2013 revenues were up 5% to $60.9 million from 2012, while net profit stood at $2.1 million.
Euro Pacific Canada Inc initiated coverage on Largo Resources Ltd (TSXV: LGO), engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of Vanadium and Tungsten properties, with a speculative buy rating assigning a 12-month price target of C$0.50, indicating an upside of 88.7% from current levels.
Coverage on Canadian Overseas Petroleum Ltd (TSXV: XOP), an international oil and gas exploration and development company, was initiated with a speculative buy at Cormark Securities Inc. with a price target of C$0.50, indicating an upside of 66.7% from current levels.
Analyst Massimo Voci at Mackie Research Capital Corp. initiated coverage on QHR Corp (TSXV: QHR), a provider of software solutions targeted for the healthcare industry, with a buy rating assigning a 12-month price target of C$1.75, indicating an upside of 42.3% from current levels.
| Company Name | Exchange | Ticker | Last Price |
Total Analyst Coverage |
Upgrade/ Downgrade |
Analyst Name | Rating Company | Target Price |
Upside/ Downside (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dresser-Rand Group Inc | NYSE | DRC | 54.59 | 20 | Upgrade to outperform from market perform | Chase Jacobson | William Blair & Co | 65.00 | 19.1% |
| Alon USA Energy Inc | NYSE | ALJ | 15.79 | 9 | Upgrade to outperform from neutral | Chi Chow | Macquarie | 20.00 | 26.7% |
| Abraxas Petroleum Corp | NASDAQ | AXAS | 3.35 | 10 | Upgrade to accumulate from neutral | Michael Kelly | Global Hunter Securities | 4.50 | 34.3% |
| Violin Memory Inc | NYSE | VMEM | 4.53 | 9 | Initiate with buy | Kaushik Roy | Wunderlich Securities | 6.00 | 32.5% |
| EPL Oil & Gas Inc | NYSE | EPL | 38.00 | 14 | Downgrade to sector perform from sector outperform | David Amoss | Howard Weil Inc | 39.00 | 2.6% |
William Blair & Co upgraded Dresser-Rand Group Inc (NYSE: DRC), a global supplier of custom-engineered rotating equipment solutions, to outperform from market perform increasing its price target to $65.00 from $64.00, indicating an upside potential of 19.1% from current levels. For the fourth quarter of 2013, DRC reported total revenues of $827 million, while net income stood at $32.8 million or 43 cents per diluted share. For the full year 2013, total revenues of the company grew to $3.03 billion from 2.73 billion, while it registered net income of $168.4 million, or $2.19 per diluted share.
Alon USA Energy Inc (NYSE: ALJ), an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products, was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie raising its price target to $20.00 from $16.00, indicating an upside of 26.7% from current levels.
Global Hunter Securities upgraded Abraxas Petroleum Corp (NASDAQ: AXAS), an independent energy company engaged in the acquisition, exploitation, development and production of oil and gas, to accumulate from neutral increasing its price target to $4.50 from $4.00, indicating an upside of 34.3% from current levels. For the fourth quarter 2013, AXAS reported a net profit of $26.99 million or 29 cents per share from net loss of $11.87 million or 13 cents per share reported same quarter last year. Revenues for the 3-month period increased to $22.55 million from $19.07 million a year earlier.
Wunderlich Securities initiated coverage on Violin Memory Inc (NYSE: VMEM), pioneering a new class of flash-based storage systems that are designed to bring storage performance in-line with high-speed applications, servers and networks, with a buy rating assigning a 12-month price target of $6.00, indicating an upside of 32.5% from current levels.
Howard Weil Inc downgraded EPL Oil & Gas Inc (NYSE: EPL), an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company, to sector perform from sector outperform with a price target of $39.00, indicating an upside of 2.6% from current levels.
