While Fools should generally take the opinion of Wall Street with a grain of salt, it's not a bad idea to take a closer look at particularly stock-shaking upgrades and downgrades -- just in case their reasoning behind the call makes sense.
What: Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (MSI -0.31%) gained 1% this morning after Nomura upgraded the communication equipment company from neutral to buy.
So what: Along with the upgrade, analyst Stuart Jeffrey boosted his price target on the stock to $72 (from $65), representing about 12% worth of upside to Wednesday's close. While momentum traders might be turned off by the stock's outlook-related 4% plunge yesterday, Jeffrey believes that it offers patient investors with a solid opportunity given Motorola Solutions' long-term growth prospects.
Now what: According to Nomura, the stock's risk/reward trade-off is particularly attractive at this point. "For 4Q, MSI beat expectations for revenue, net income and EPS in Q4 despite setting targets that appeared challenging," noted Jeffrey. "However, Q1 targets disappoint. Smaller pension liability boosts scope for further cash returns. We view MSI as an attractive investment for value and return driven investors in particular." With Motorola Solutions sporting a forward P/E of 14 and a near-2% dividend yield, Nomura's call is certainly worth looking into.
