Volatility ruled the roost in the stock market this past week. Investors were finally shown that the market can pull back by more than 10%, and they were reminded that stocks can tank rapidly again — and that they can scream back higher.
24/7 Wall St. reviews many analyst upgrades and downgrades each morning to find new ideas for our readers. Investors and traders alike want to hear about value or upside that they might have not seen.
While the markets recovered most of the losses, many stocks saw very mixed market reactions. We wanted to focus on well-known companies that saw multiple formal ratings actions from analysts.
Amazon
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James last week, but the price target was simply maintained at $640.00. This is one of those upgrades that is already on top of a positive rating, so it is effectively a “pounding the table” call.
The real upgrade came on Tuesday, after the monumental market drop on Monday, when Evercore ISI raised its rating to Buy from Hold with a price target of $585.00. A third research note from Oppenheimer named Amazon as one of the seven bull market leaders to buy in the correction.
Amazon shares were trading around $518.01 on Friday’s close. The seller of everything online has a consensus analyst price target of $648.24, and its 52-week range is $284.00 to $580.57.
ALSO READ: Deutsche Bank Says Stick With Top Stocks Growing Dividends
Bank of America
Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) may have found its love during the panic, but multiple firms raised their ratings. The least impressive was when Macquarie upgraded the stock to Neutral from Underperform. It may be unimpressive, but that is one less “Sell” rating.
Robert W. Baird raised its rating to Outperform from Neutral with an $18.00 price target. Sanford Bernstein raised its rating to Outperform from Market Perform with a $19.00 price target. Keefe Bruyette & Woods, which specializes in financial stocks, raised its rating to Outperform from Market Perform and gave a $20.00 price target.
Bank of America shares closed trading at $16.36 on Friday. Its consensus analyst price target is $19.29 and it has a 52-week trading range of $14.60 to $18.48.
Regions Financial
Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was raised to Buy from Neutral with an $11.00 price target at Guggenheim. Keefe Bruyette & Woods raised it to Market Perform from Underperform with a $10.50 close. On Monday, Raymond James raised its rating to Strong Buy from Outperform with an $11.50 price target.
Regions shares ended Friday’s trading at $9.62. The consensus price target is $11.31 and the 52-week range is $8.59 to $10.87.
ALSO READ: 10 Stocks That Have Ignored the Recent Massive Sell-Off
SolarCity
SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) may be way off its highs, but two analysts made positive calls this past week. The solar roofing provider was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $93.00 price target by Morgan Stanley on Friday. Cowen started SolarCity with a mere Market Perform rating on Tuesday, but the $50.00 price target was still north of the $43.87 prior close.
SolarCity shares were up 3.8% at $48.00 as Friday’s trading came to an end. The consensus target price is $78.29, and it has a 52-week range of $34.65 to $75.90.
Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) was raised to Sector Perform from Underperform with a $20.00 price target at RBC Capital Markets. That may seem unimpressive on the surface, but it gets rid of another “Sell” rating. A more impressive call was on Thursday when Abercrombie was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $24.00 price target at Stifel Nicolaus.
Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch ended the week at $19.18. Its consensus analyst price target is $20.52. The 52-week range is $15.42 to $42.97.
If you would like to see at least one strategist comment from the week’s volatility, here is what the Wells Fargo Advisors strategist had to say: “It may be difficult for investors to step in and buy equities when there appears to be so much uncertainty; but the current pullback represents a buying opportunity in our opinion.”
Below is a montage with two-month charts on each company from StockCharts.com.
ALSO READ: 5 Stocks Warren Buffett Likely Bought More of During the Sell-Off
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