Notable Upgrades: Apple Inc. (AAPL), Zions Bancorporation (ZION), Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), Big Lots Inc. (BIG)

Apple Inc. (AAPL) was reiterated a ‘Buy’ with $170 from $160 price target increase by Brean Capital’s Ananda Baruah on Tuesday. The analyst believes that Street numbers are materially low through fiscal 2017.

“Fundamentally speaking, we believe AAPL stands to deliver material EPS upside from 1) iPhone ships through ’17, 2) favorable GM from both iPhones and iPhone mix (more 6 Plus’ than realized), and 3) materially more Opex $ leverage through at least ’16 as AAPL realizes the benefits from the recent iPhone 6 and iWatch investment cycles,” Baruah explained.

On trading measures, Apple Inc. is printing a lower than average trading volume with the issue trading 20.88M shares, compared to the average volume of 48.67M. The stock began trading this morning at $130.00 to currently trade 7c lower from the prior days close of $130.54. On an intraday basis it has gotten as low as $129.33 and as high as $130.51.

AAPL shares are currently priced at 16.21x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them inexpensive compared to the industry’s 26.10x earnings multiple. The company’s current year and next year EPS growth estimates stand at 39.70% and 7.50%, respectively. AAPL has a t-12 price/sales ratio of 3.54. EPS for the same period registers at $8.05.

Apple shares have advanced 4.74% in the last 4 weeks and 1.55% in the past three months. Over the past 5 trading sessions the stock has lost 1.51%. Shares of the $751.58 billion market cap company are up 19.23% this year.

Analysts at Credit Agricole are out with a report this morning upgrading shares of Zions Bancorporation (ZION) with a ‘Buy‘ from ‘Underperform‘ rating.

Zions Bancorp shares are currently priced at 18.62x this year’s forecasted earnings, compared to the industry’s 20.21x earnings multiple. Ticker has a forward P/E of 15.59 and t-12 price-to-sales ratio of 2.56. EPS for the same period is $1.64.

In the past 52 weeks, shares of Salt Lake, City Utah-based financial holding company have traded between a low of $23.72 and a high of $30.89 and are now at $30.50. Shares are up  less than one percent year-to-date.

Analysts at Susquehanna upgraded their rating on the shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (BUD). In a research note published on Tuesday, the firm lifted the name with a ‘Positive‘ from ‘Neutral‘ rating.

On valuation measures, Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V. ADS shares are currently priced at 19.29x this year’s forecasted earnings compared to the industry’s 24.59x earnings multiple. Ticker has a PEG and forward P/E ratio of 3.31 and 21.40, respectively. Price/Sales for the same period is 4.09 while EPS is $6.32. Currently there are 12 analysts that rate BUD a ‘Buy‘, 19 rate it a ‘Hold‘. 2 analysts rate it a ‘Sell‘. BUD has a median Wall Street price target of $128.27 with a high target of $148.74.

Big Lots Inc. (BIG) was raised to ‘Overweight‘ from ‘Equal Weight‘ and it was given a $53 price target at Barclays on Tuesday.

BIG is up $1.61 at $46.50 on heavy volume. Midway through trading Tuesday, 978K shares of Big Lots Inc. have exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 1.04 million shares. The stock has ranged intraday in a price between $45.73-$46.64 after having opened the day at $45.77 as compared to the previous trading day’s close of $44.89.

In the past 52 weeks, shares of Columbus, Ohio-based company have traded between a low of $38.15 and a high of $51.75. Shares are up 7.42% year-over-year and 12.60% year-to-date.

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