Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, BlackBerry, eBay, Fitbit, Lululemon, Nike and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: September 29, 2016 9:05 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 3:00 am

Stocks were indicated lower on Thursday after trading higher on Wednesday. Regardless of a day’s trading, the reality is that investors keep proving that they will still buy stocks after any real weakness. Those same investors also have continued to demonstrate that they are looking for new ideas to generate income or gains ahead.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some analyst research reports cover stocks to buy, and other reports feature stocks to sell or avoid.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Thursday morning:

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was maintained as Overweight at Barclays, but the firm lowered its price target from $115 to $114. This is after reports of Apple increasing component orders for iPhone parts. The stock closed up 0.76% at $113.95 on Wednesday and was indicated down 0.6% at $113.25 on Thursday. Its consensus analyst price target is $125.64 and it has a 52-week trading range of $89.47 to $123.82.

BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) saw its price target raised to $7.50 from $7.00 at RBC Capital Markets after the company announced that it will outsource manufacturing of phones. Macquarie raised BlackBerry’s rating to Neutral from Underperform and raised its price target to $8.50 from $7.00. Shares closed up 5.7% at $8.33 on Wednesday and were indicated down three cents at $8.30 early on Thursday.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $40 price target at Deutsche Bank. The stock closed down 0.3% at $31.85 on Wednesday and was indicated up 3% at $32.95 on Thursday. Its consensus target price is $31.67, and its 52-week range is $21.52 to $32.81.

Fitbit Inc. (NYSE: FIT) was downgraded to Underweight from Sector Weight at Pacific Crest. This was over sales growth and churn concerns. Shares closed up 1% at $16.70 on Wednesday but were indicated down almost 5% at $15.88 on Thursday. The consensus target price is $21.38. The 52-week range is $11.65 to $41.97.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was reiterated as Sell at Goldman Sachs, and the firm lowered its price target to $46 from $48. The stock was down 1.57% at $63.51 on Wednesday and was indicated only marginally lower on Thursday. The 52-week range is $43.14 to $81.81, and the consensus price target is $72.14.

You can follow @Jonogg on Twitter if you want the daily analyst calls and research updates directly on your Twitter feed.

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen as follows:

Acceleron Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: XLRN) was started as Buy at FBR Capital, and it was started as Neutral at Citigroup.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) was started as Neutral at Janney, and the firm’s $74 price target compares with a $76.67 prior closing price.

Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY) was raised to Neutral from Sell at B. Riley.

Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Barrington Research.

D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI) was started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Intellia Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: NTLA) was started as Buy with a $29 price target at Janney. The previous close was $17.02, and shares were indicated up 5% at $17.88 on Thursday.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: IONS) was started as Buy with a $47 price target (versus a $36.20 prior close) at Janney. The firm sees recent concerns being overdone, and the 52-week range is $19.59 to $62.68.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) was reiterated as Buy with a $65 price target at Jefferies, a day after shares fell 3.8% to $53.25 after weak future orders.

Nimble Storage Inc. (NYSE: NMBL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $10 price target (versus an $8.11 close) at Wells Fargo.

Owens Corning Inc. (NYSE: OC) was started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) was started as Hold with an $81 price target at Deutsche Bank.

Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SC) was reiterated as Buy with a $15 price target (versus a $12.14 close) at Jefferies. The firm noted potentially positive credit developments.

Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades were in Abercrombie  & Fitch, Alphabet, Baidu, Dillard’s, Nike, Workday and a many more.