Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Arch Coal, Avis Budget, Capital One, Hain Celestial, Hertz, Macy's and Many More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: February 17, 2017 9:05 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 2:44 pm

Stocks were indicated lower on Friday and the markets are acting like they want to take a breather. Still, the Dow has hit 20,600 and still has a path to 21,422 in late 2017 or early 2018 if things remain positive. Another consideration is that the bull market’s age of eight years old has not deterred investors from wanting to buy the market after every sell-off. Those same investors continue to look for new and overlooked opportunities.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each day of the week 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.

Many of the following analyst calls have been given some added color, and the consensus analyst price targets are from Thomson Reuters. These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday, February 17, 2017:

Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ARCH) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $90 price target (versus a $72.11 prior closing price) at Jefferies. The firm sees Arch Coal having a low-cost portfolio of U.S. coal assets and a clean balance sheet, which helps to position it to generate strong free cash flows even in a flat coal price environment.

Avis Budget Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CAR) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse. Shares closed down 12% at $35.76 on Thursday and were indicated down almost 1% more on Friday.

Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs. Shares closed down 0.5% at $90.51 on Thursday, on a 52-week trading range of $58.03 to $91.64. Capital One has a consensus analyst price target of $98.75.

Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus. The company has taken it on the chin after accounting woes, and the stock closed down 1.4% at $34.46 on Thursday and was indicated down 1.5% at $33.95 on Friday. Hain Celestial has a 52-week range of $32.87 to $56.99 and a consensus target price of $43.62.

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTZ) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse, and the firm lowered its target price from $27 to $15. Hertz closed down 4% at $21.66 on Thursday and was indicated down another 3.7% at $20.86 on Friday.

Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at Atlantic Equities. It closed down 2.8% at $31.82 on Thursday and was indicated down another 0.3% at $31.72 on Friday. Macy’s has a consensus target price of $35.38 and a 52-week range of $28.55 to $45.50.

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:

Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. (NYSE: BBW) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and the price target was lowered to $10.50 from $18 at Piper Jaffray. Build-a-Bear closed down 21% at $9.35 on Thursday and was indicated down another 8.5% on Friday.

Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $87 from $74 (versus a $72.55 close) at Jefferies.

Copa Holdings S.A. (NYSE: CPA) was raised to Hold from Sell and the price target was raised to $100 from $75 at Evercore ISI Group.

Credit Acceptance Corp. (NASDAQ: CACC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Janney, which cited forward growth concerns. The firm sees how an asymmetrical loan pool amortization schedule can lead to a much faster decline in loan balances than many investors think.

Middlesex Water Co. (NASDAQ: MSEX) was started as Neutral with a fair value estimate of $39 (versus a $36.20 close) at Janney.

NextEra Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: NEP) was started with an Outperform rating and a $35 price target at Raymond James.

Superior Energy Services Inc. (NYSE: SPN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was lowered to $19 from a prior $20 price target (versus a $17.11 close) at Jefferies. The firm sees better options for exposure to U.S. completions recovery in other names.

Texas Capital Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: TCBI) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $102 from $87 (versus an $87.50 close) at Jefferies.

Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and the price target was raised to $100 from $78 (versus an $85.50 close) at Piper Jaffray.

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Cisco Systems, Groupon, SunPower, Tesla, Wells Fargo and may more.