Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Barracuda, Cabot, Calpine, Delta, FedEx, NVIDIA, US Steel and Many More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: February 6, 2017 9:15 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 3:08 pm

Stocks were up and down last week with a dovish Federal Reserve meeting and a strong payrolls gain. The Dow was indicated down about 40 points and the S&P 500 was indicated down almost five points. Many investors and workers are out on a day off (with approval or not) after the Big Game. Despite this bull market being eight years old, investors keep finding new reasons to buy every sell-off. Those same investors are also looking for new and overlooked opportunities.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each day of the week. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other reports cover stocks to sell or to avoid. Most of the following featured analyst calls include some color, and Thomson Reuters was used for consensus analyst price target data.

The Dow has hit 20,000 and there is a path for DJIA 21,422 later in 2017 or in early 2018.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Monday, February 6, 2017:

Barracuda Networks Inc. (NYSE: CUDA) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $28 price target (versus a $23.86 close) at Needham. Barracuda Networks has a consensus analyst target price of $29.29, and it has a 52-week range of $9.94 to $26.69.

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (NYSE: COG) was indicated up 7% at $23.00 on Monday morning. Susquehanna Financial raised its rating to Positive from Neutral and JPMorgan raised its rating to Overweight from Neutral with a $27 price target. Cabot Oil & Gas has a 52-week range of $18.48 to $26.74 and a consensus price target of $27.78.

Calpine Corp. (NYSE: CPN) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $13 price target (versus an $11.65 close) at Morgan Stanley. Calpine has a 52-week range of $10.39 to $16.07 and a consensus target price of $15.63.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein. Delta closed up 0.9% at $47.81 on Friday and was indicated up 1.2% at $48.40 on Monday. Delta’s 52-week range is $32.60 to $52.76.

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $210 price target at Raymond James. FedEx closed at $188.21, in a 52-week range of $122.78 to $201.57. It has a consensus analyst price target of $210.10.

NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Roth Capital. NVIDIA closed down 0.9% at $114.38 on Friday and was indicated down another 0.6% at $113.65 on Monday. NVIDIA’s 52-week range is $24.75 to $119.93, and it has a $100.54 consensus target price.

United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $39 price target Argus. U.S. Steel closed down 3% at $33.78 on Friday and was indicated up 1.1% at $34.15 on Monday. U.S. steel has a consensus target price of $33.73 and a 52-week range of $6.67 to $39.14.

Follow @Jonogg on Twitter to get analyst calls and research summaries posted directly to your feed.

Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:

Aerohive Networks Inc. (NYSE: HIVE) was downgraded to Market Perform from Market Outperform at JMP Securities. It closed down 1.7% at $5.24 on Friday and was indicated down almost 5% at $4.99 on Monday.

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Bernstein.

Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE: APO) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo. Merrill Lynch raised its rating to Buy from Neutral.

International Paper Co. (NYSE: IP) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight with a $45 price target (versus a $53.01 close) at Barclays.

NxStage Medical Inc. (NASDAQ: NXTM) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $38 from $28 (versus a $27.01 close) at Jefferies.

PAREXEL International Corp. (NASDAQ: PRXL) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, based upon limited near term visibility.

Platform Specialty Products Corp. (NYSE: PAH) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $15 price target (versus a $12.40 close) at Goldman Sachs.

PRA Health Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: PRAH) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse, based on its 2017 momentum.

Terex Corp. (NYSE: TEX) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $36 price target (versus a $32.65 close) at Citigroup.

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $74 price target (versus an $80.47 close) at Mizuho.

WisdomTree Investments Inc. (NASDAQ: WETF) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup. WisdomTree closed down 12.3% at $8.95 on Friday but was not giving any price change indication on Monday.