Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Encana, Fortinet, Halliburton, Red Hat, Sanmina, Stratasys, Vodafone and Many More

Investing

Published: January 26, 2016 8:50 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 2:36 pm

Stocks were indicated slightly higher on Tuesday, despite a big oil and Soros-influenced drop in China. Investors may have seen every rally in 2016 turn into a new wave of selling, but there was still a trend in place until the end of 2015 for investors to hold their nose and to buy every market dip.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each morning of the week in an effort to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some of the analyst reports are on stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid. These are this Tuesday’s top analyst calls.

Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS. Its price target is now $4.50, versus an $8.34 consensus target and a 52-week trading range of $3.00 to $14.73.

Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $34 from $49 (versus a $27.21 prior close) at Deutsche Bank. Fortinet has a consensus analyst target of $45.00 and a 52-week range of $23.65 to $50.31.

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC. Shares closed down 3% at $29.28 on Monday, and it has a consensus target price of $42.28 and a 52-week range of $27.64 to $50.20.

Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) was downgraded to Neutral and the price objective was cut to $80 from $90 (versus a $71.74 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The consensus target price is $90.50, and the 52-week range is $62.43 to $84.44.

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Sanmina Corp. (NASDAQ: SANM) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup. After closing at $17.38, Sanmina has a 52-week range of $16.31 to $25.64 and a consensus analyst target of $24.00.

Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and the price target was cut to $19 from $24 (versus a $16.81 close) at JPMorgan. The consensus target price is $27.44, and the 52-week range is $16.26 to $82.79.

Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ: VOD) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies. The call was made focusing on Vodafone’s ordinary shares trading in London, but it implied over 14% upside, without considering its large dividend.

Follow @JonOgg on Twitter to receive the daily analyst calls in your Twitter feed each morning.

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades seen on Tuesday were in the following:
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.

Amec Foster Wheeler PLC (NYSE: AMFW) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC.

America Movil SAB de C.V. (NYSE: AMX) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $16 target price (versus a $12.60 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE: CVE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Clean Harbors Inc. (NYSE: CLH) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.

Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE: CLB) was downgraded to Reduce From Hold at HSBC.

CVR Refining L.P. (NYSE: CVRR) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral and the price target was cut to $15 from $22 (versus a $16.75 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc. (NYSE: FBHS) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was cut to $50 from $53 (versus a $47.54 close) at Credit Suisse.

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) was maintained as Neutral with a $140 fair value estimate (versus a $176.71 close) at Janney Capital Markets. The firm remains less bullish than peers on the gene sequencing leader.

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Marketo Inc. (NASDAQ: MKTO) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral and the price objective was cut to $22 from $32 (versus a $21.59 close) at Merrill Lynch.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) was reiterated as Hold at Jefferies, but the firm raised its price target to $115 from $110.

Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage Inc. (NYSE: NGVC) was maintained as Buy at Canaccord Genuity, but the firm lowered its price target to $28 from $32.

NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral and the price objective was cut to $80 from $95 (versus a $67.92 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (NYSE: RBS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SBH) was raised to Outperform from Perform with a $30 price target (versus a $25.72 close) at Oppenheimer.

SBA Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: SBAC) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $112 price target (versus a $93.71 close) at Stifel.

USG Corp. (NYSE: USG) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral and the price target was cut to $17 from $26 (versus a $17.07 close) at Credit Suisse.

If you missed Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included American Express, Caterpillar, Expedia, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Home Depot, PayPal, 3D Systems, Twitter, Whole Foods and over a dozen more.

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