Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Abercrombie, Bank of America, Cisco, Hertz, Home Depot, Wells Fargo and More

Investing

Published: November 15, 2016 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 5:48 pm

If you can believe it, the election is now a week behind us, and the market has continued to rise in aggregate. Stocks were indicated to open marginally higher on Tuesday, but it is important to understand that many stocks and sectors have already priced in massive benefits ahead with gains of 10% to 20% (or more) in the past week.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst research reports cover stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

Despite rising bond yields, high valuations and nothing having actually changed yet, the most obvious trend that remains alive is that investors are still willing to buy the dips and sell-offs. That trend is now over five years strong, and this bull market is closer to eight years old than seven.

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

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform with a $14 price target (versus a $16.69 prior close) at FBR Capital Markets.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Guggenheim. Shares closed up over 5.5% at $20.08, and the stock has a 52-week trading range of $10.99 to $20.20. The consensus analyst price target is $18.53.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was reiterated as Buy with a $35 price target (versus a $31.37 close) at Jefferies. This is a pre-earnings call expecting an in-line report where the firm likes the risk and reward.

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTZ) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $30 price target (versus a $28.00 close) at Morgan Stanley. The stock was trading at $35.74 on November 7 before its earnings report, and its consensus price target is $37.71.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) was maintained as Buy at Merrill Lynch after it posted an impressive 5.5% comparable sales growth and maintaining sales and earnings guidance. Home Depot was down 1.7% at $127.67 on Monday and was indicated up 0.8% at $128.72 ahead of Tuesday’s open.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Guggenheim. Wells Fargo closed up almost 3% at $53.22, in a 52-week range of $43.55 to $56.26. The consensus analyst target is $49.57.

We have just now seen the major changes to Warren Buffett’s top stock holdings, including unbelievable airline purchases. Also here are 15 stocks that have just kept rising since the election on hopes of a Trump boost for their business.

Follow @Jonogg on Twitter to receive the daily analyst calls and research updates directly on your Twitter feed.

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen in the following:

Advanced Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP) was raised to Strong Buy from Market Perform with a $180 price target (versus a $142.90 close) at Raymond James. It was raised to Positive from Neutral with a $190 price target at Susquehanna.

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $19 price target (versus an $18.36 close) at FBR Capital Markets.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE: AJG) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Chubb Corp. (NYSE: CB) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was cut to $133 from $140 (versus a $126.90 close) at Goldman Sachs.

El Paso Electric Co. (NYSE: EE) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $46.50 from $50 (versus a $45.70 close) at Jefferies.

Everest Re Group Ltd. (NYSE: RE) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Halcon Resources Corp. (NYSE: HK) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $12 price target (versus an $8.19 close) at Wunderlich.

Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) was raised to Sector Perform from Underperform and the price target was raised to $57 from $46 (versus a $59.02 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $55 price target (versus a $42.33 close) at Evercore ISI.

Masco Corp. (NYSE: MAS) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $40 price target (versus a $31.65 close) at Evercore ISI.

Mohawk Industries Inc. (NYSE: MHK) was reiterated as Buy at Merrill Lynch, and it was added to the US 1 List.

STAG Industrial Inc. (NYSE: STAG) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $25 price target at Jefferies.

Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Ciena, CME Group, Energy Transfer, NVIDIA, U.S. Steel and many more.

Credit Card Companies Are Doing Something Nuts

Credit card companies are at war. The biggest issuers are handing out free rewards and benefits to win the best customers.

It’s possible to find cards paying unlimited 1.5%, 2%, and even more today. That’s free money for qualified borrowers, and the type of thing that would be crazy to pass up. Those rewards can add up to thousands of dollars every year in free money, and include other benefits as well.

We’ve assembled some of the best credit cards for users today. Don’t miss these offers because they won’t be this good forever.

Flywheel Publishing has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Flywheel Publishing and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.