L-3 Technologies Upgraded: What You Need to Know

Every day, Wall Street analysts upgrade some stocks, downgrade others, and "initiate coverage" on a few more. But do these analysts even know what they're talking about? Today, we're taking one high-profile Wall Street pick and putting it under the microscope...

When a stock suddenly cuts its guidance for sales and earnings, raised price targets and analyst upgrades are not the reactions you'd expect to see from Wall Street -- and yet, that kind of seems like what's happening at L-3 Technologies (NYSE: LLL) today.

Yesterday, L-3 held an investor conference in New York City, at which CEO-elect Christopher Kubasik updated investors on his plans for the company over the next few years. Among the key revelations were L-3's plan to earn profits of only $8.60 to $8.85 per share next year -- as much as $0.46 below consensus analyst targets of $9.06 per share -- and to do so on sales of about $9.95 billion, or about $1 billion below Wall Street's goal of $10.9 billion. Now, StreetInsider.com (subscription required) reports Jefferies & Co. has raised its price target to $201 per share, Drexel Hamilton upped its target to $214 per share, and RBC Capital out and out upgraded the stock to outperform and assigned a $239 price target.

Source: Fool.com