Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AMD, FireEye, Netflix, Shake Shack, Snap, Workday and Many More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: March 20, 2017 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 1:48 pm

Stocks were looking for direction on Monday, less than a week after the rate hike formally took place. Stocks remain rather close to their all-time highs, and the bull market is now more than eight years old. One trend that has held up is that investors have managed to buy stocks on every single pullback. Those same investors are also looking for new trading and investing ideas.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research 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 others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Some color has been added on many of the following calls, and the consensus analyst price targets referenced are from Thomson Reuters. These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Monday, March 20, 2017:

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $16 from $13 (versus a $13.49 prior close) at Jefferies. AMD has a consensus target price of $11.92 and a 52-week trading range of $2.60 to $15.55.

FireEye Inc. (NASDAQ: FEYE) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price objective was raised to $18 from $13.50 (versus a $10.73 close) at Merrill Lynch. FireEye has a 52-week range of $10.35 to $19.17 and a consensus target price of $13.77.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was maintained as Hold but the price target was raised to $125 from $110 at Deutsche Bank. Netflix has a consensus analyst target of $151.05 and a 52-week range of $84.50 to $146.50.

Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE: SHAK) was raised to Neutral from Underperform and the price target was raised to $33 from $30 (versus a $32.45 close) at Wedbush Securities. Shake Shack has a 52-week range of $30.36 to $42.94 and a consensus price target of $38.00.

Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) was started as Buy and assigned a $25 price target (versus a $19.54 close) at Monness Crespi & Hardt. Most analysts have so far been cautious on Snap, and its post-IPO range (after pricing at $17) has been $18.90 to $29.44.

Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $96 price target (versus an $84.96 close) at Merrill Lynch. Jefferies was also positive on Workday as a top SaaS beneficiary to enterprise spending. The 52-week range is $65.79 to $93.35 and the consensus target price was $89.27.

Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:

American Railcar Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: ARII) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the price target was raised to $45 from $44 (versus a $39.87 close) at Cowen.

Ingersoll-Rand PLC (NYSE: IR) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Leerink Swann.

Nimble Storage Inc. (NYSE: NMBL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham.

Rockwell Collins Inc. (NYSE: COL) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $120 from $92 (versus a $98.55 close) at Credit Suisse.

Sprague Resources L.P. (NYSE: SRLP) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $31 fair value estimate (versus a $28.05 close) at Janney.

Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE: SF) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was raised to $59 from $58 (versus a $52.90 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was maintained as Hold but the price target was raised to $240 at Deutsche Bank.

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair.

Here is a real-world view of specifically how rising interest rates can have an impact on your mortgage or home affordability. Also, here is how rising rates will affect your savings account.