Bullish Calls for Southwest, Applied Materials & Starbucks

Southwest (LUV) and Applied Materials (AMAT) are upgraded and Starbucks' (SBUX) price target is increased on Monday's Analysts' Actions. Southwest is now rated a BUY from NEUTRAL at Goldman Sachs. The price target was also bumped up to $55 from $44. Goldman says Southwest 'will continue to outperform our coverage universe.' Applied Materials was raised to BUY from HOLD at Deutsche Bank with a price target increase to $30 from $20. The firm says Applied Materials 'is an under-appreciated technology leader' and will 'benefit from multiple technology inflections in the next two to three years.' Starbucks got its price target raised at Jefferies to $97 from $88. The firm already has a BUY rating and says the coffee chain 'benefits from more flexible store formats, world class operations and multiple SSS layers.'