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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, Lumber Liquidators, Take-Two, Urban Outfitters, Apigee, Akamai, Intuit and More
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Stocks were indicated higher yet again on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 hitting new highs. Tuesday’s news may be driven by overseas action rather than earnings, after a 3% gain in Shanghai. The one trend that keeps getting proven is that investors line up in droves to buy stocks on weakness. This trend is now nearing four years old. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each day of the week to find new trading and investment ideas. Some analyst calls cover stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or avoid.
These are Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Buy with a $142.00 price target at Bernstein. Here was the Carl Icahn take on how to get Apple to $240, an even more ambitious view than his prior call (but, of course, he is also just talking up his book).
Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy by Cantor Fitzgerald. What is interesting here is that the firm only recently started its positive coverage, but now after earnings it notes that there are just too many regulatory and legal risks to justify its Buy rating, and the negative PR continues to gain momentum while the near-term picture looks cloudier.
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $32 price target at Sterne Agee CRT after earnings. Credit Suisse maintained its Neutral rating and cut the price target to $28 from $32. Take-Two shares were up over 7% at $26.00 or so in early-bird trading indications.
Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan after poor earnings and guidance. It was maintained as Buy at Mizuho, but the target was cut to $36 from $43. Janney Capital Markets maintained its Buy rating but cut its fair value estimate to $45 from $48 in the call. Piper Jaffray downgraded it to Neutral from Overweight and slashed its price target to $36 from $53. Shares were down almost 15% around $34.80 in early Tuesday trading indications.
Apigee Corp. (NASDAQ: APIC) saw its quiet period end. It was started as Outperform with a $21 price target (versus a $14.42 close) at Credit Suisse. The firm said that its platform, leadership and domain expertise could drive strong, sustainable new customer and usage growth. JMP Securities started it as Outperform with a $19 price target. Nomura started it as Buy with an $18 price target. JPMorgan started it as Neutral and just with a $15 price target. Morgan Stanley started it as Overweight with a $19 price target.
ALSO READ: 4 Stocks That Should Thrive Under Higher Interest Rates
Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades for Tuesday were as follows:
Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Carlisle Companies Inc. (NYSE: CSL) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) was raised to Strong Buy from Buy and it was given a $20 price target (versus a $10.71 close) at Needham.
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) was raised to Outperform from Perform with a $25 price target (versus a $20.52 close) at Oppenheimer.
Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ: GLUU) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $9.00 from $7.00 at Stifel.
Healthways Inc. (NASDAQ: HWAY) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel.
International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE: IFF) was started as Outperform with a $150 price target (versus a $115.28 close) at BNP Paribas.
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $120 from $105 at RBC Capital Markets.
ALSO READ: 5 Analyst Stocks Under $10 With Massive Upside
MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) was raised to Overweight with a $110 price target (versus a $93.08 close) at Pacific Crest.
NetEase Inc. (NASDAQ: NTES) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.
Numerex Corp. (NASDAQ: NMRX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.
Sysco Corp. (NYSE: SYY) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $43 from $38 at Credit Suisse.
Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight with a $60 price target (versus a $46.61 close) at Pacific Crest.
In case you missed Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of BP, Chevron, Chesapeake Energy, GoPro, Yelp and about a dozen more stocks.
We also had more detailed coverage on five standout stocks with Buy ratings and big upside to analyst price targets: Netflix, PDC Energy, Penn Gaming, Schnitzer Steel and WhiteWave Foods.
ALSO READ: Major Portfolio Changes for Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway
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