Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Ford, Intel, NVIDIA, Starbucks, Teva, Twitter, Wal-Mart and Many More

Investing

Published: February 10, 2017 9:10 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 2:58 pm

Stocks were indicated marginally higher on Friday morning on what seems to be a very light news day. The Dow is still above 20,000 and the S&P 500 has gone above the 2,300 level. Even though the bull market in nearly eight years old, investors have managed to find new reasons to buy every sell-off. Those same investors are also looking for new and overlooked opportunities. And there is still a path for DJIA 21,422 later in 2017 or in early 2018.

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 avoid. Most of the analyst calls with expanded coverage include some color on prices and the consensus analyst price targets are from Thomson Reuters.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday, February 10, 2017:

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) was raised to Hold from Sell and the price target was raised to $12 from $10 (versus a $12.38 prior close) at Jefferies. The firm believes the bad news in Ford has been more than dissected in the past six months and is now sufficiently priced into the shares. Ford has a 52-week trading range of $11.07 to $14.22 and a consensus analyst price target of $13.19.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $38 from $43 at Canaccord Genuity. Intel closed down 2.5% at $35.46 on Thursday and was indicated down 0.3% at $35.35 on Friday. Intel’s 52-week range is $28.14 to $38.45, and it has a consensus price target of $41.15.

NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was down 1.9% at $116.38 ahead of earnings and was last seen indicated up almost 3% at $119.70 after the earnings reaction. The 52-week range is $24.75 to $120.92. Jefferies reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target price to $140 from $125.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus. While most downgrades seen have been on valuation, the Starbucks call from Argus was based on a weaker sales outlook. Shares closed up 1% at $55.81 on Thursday and were indicated down 0.5% at $55.50 on Friday. Starbucks has a 52-week range of $50.84 to $61.64 and a consensus price target of $64.56.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral and the price target was slashed to $27 from $40 (versus a $32.25 close) at Mizuho. Teva has a 52-week range of $31.90 to $59.35, and the consensus target price was $42.70.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) closed down 12.3% at $16.41 on more than 100 million shares after earnings showed that the user metric growth just is not coming. Twitter was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank. It was cut to Underweight from Neutral at Atlantic Equities and to Sell from Neutral at UBS. And it was cut to Sell from Hold at Loop Capital and to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup. Twitter has a 52-week range of $13.73 to $25.25.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was started as Positive with an $80 price target at Susquehanna. Wal-Mart has a 52-week range of $62.35 to $75.19 and a consensus price target of $74.04.

Dividend investors note that four high-dividend and distribution payers rated as Buy at Merrill Lynch have yields of 8% and higher.

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Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:

Alamos Gold Inc. (NYSE: AGI) was downgraded to Sector Perform but the price target was raised to $9 from $8.50 (versus an $8.60 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NYSE: BBBY) was maintained as Buy at Argus, but the firm lowered its price target to $50 from $55 (versus a $40.33 closing price).

Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) was started as Neutral with a $55 price target at Susquehanna.

CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) was raised to Outperform at Avondale.

Dillard’s Inc. (NYSE: DDS) was started as Positive and was given a $60 price target (versus a $57.29 close) at Susquehanna.

Fossil Group Inc. (NASDAQ: FOSL) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral and the price target was cut to $19 from $25 (versus a $23.31 close) at Mizuho.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) was started as Positive with an $8.50 price target at Susquehanna. Its shares closed up 1.3% at $7.07 on Thursday and were indicated up another 1.5% at $71.7 on Friday, versus a 52-week range of $6.35 to $11.99.

Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) was started as Neutral with a $41 price target (versus a $42.10 close) at Susquehanna.

Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) was started as Neutral with a $31 price target (versus a $32.37 close) at Susquehanna.

Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) was started as Neutral with a $47 price target (versus a $45.55 close) at Susquehanna.

Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) was started as Negative with a $4 price target at Susquehanna. After earnings, Sears shares were indicated up over 40% at $7.95 (versus a $5.54 close), based more on a restructuring and cost/debt cut rather than based on actual earnings excitement.

Ubiquiti Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: UBNT) was last seen down more than 8% at $58.50, versus a $64.13 close after its earnings report missed expectations. Ubiquiti was downgraded to Underperform and the price target was cut to $44 from $47 at Credit Suisse, with the note that the bearish case is building. Its 52-week range is $30.82 to $64.62.

Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE: WPZ) was started as Buy with a $47 price target (versus a $40.84 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) was started with a Hold rating and given a $32 price target (versus a $28.67 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Thursday’s top analyst calls included Baker Hughes, Cree, Freeport-McMoRan, GrubHub, Silver Wheaton, Dynegy, Panera Bread, Ulta Beauty and over a dozen more.

This week, Merrill Lynch pointed out that the S&P 500 recently reached 17 times forward earnings. This is a level that was reached in 2015, but prior to that a high valuation like this had not been seen since 2004. The firm also said that financial stocks and energy stocks saw multiples contract in January as earnings estimates rose faster than prices.

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