Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: FedEx, Frontier, IBM, LendingClub, Micron, Nike, Sirius XM, Urban Outfitters and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: March 22, 2017 9:10 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 1:44 pm

Stocks showed that they can finally stage a sell-off on Tuesday, and futures indicated a marginally weaker open on Wednesday. As stocks remain rather close to their all-time highs, the bull market is now more than eight years old. So far, the 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 Wednesday, March 22, 2017:

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) was down 0.2% at $191.84 before earnings, but the stock’s initial post-earnings drop had turned into a gain of 2.5% at $196.75 on Wednesday morning. Credit Suisse reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $229 from $219, noting that the market should shrug off an initial earnings miss as the stage is set for significant growth at FedEx Express. Merrill Lynch reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price objective to $230 from $220. FedEx’s 52-week trading range is $145.00 to $201.57.

Frontier Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: FTR) was downgraded to Sell from an already cautious Neutral rating at Goldman Sachs, and the firm cut the target to $1.50 from $3.00 (versus a $2.36 prior close). Shares were indicated down 7% at $2.19 on Wednesday, which is under its 52-week range of $2.31 to $5.75.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) used its annual investor day to talk up the progress on its strategic initiatives (cloud, Watson, analytics and cognitive computing), but its shares closed down 1% at $173.88 on Tuesday due to a broad market sell-off. Argus reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $192 from $185. Argus noted that IBM has two ways to grow its cloud space because it is a cloud equipment infrastructure provider and a cloud host.

LendingClub Corp. (NYSE: LC) was raised to Neutral from Underperform and the price target was raised to $5.00 from $4.50 (versus a $5.22 close) at Wedbush Securities. It has a 52-week range of $3.44 to $8.48.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $35 from $30 (versus a $25.52 close) at Credit Suisse. The firm sees a sustained memory market momentum helping to boost Micron. Its 52-week range is $9.35 to $26.61. The consensus analyst target price was shown to be $32.79.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) was last seen trading lower on earnings, as futures orders disappoint and headwinds persist. Wedbush maintained its Neutral rating and $52 target. Jefferies maintained its Buy rating and $74 target, calling the gains by Adidas at a peak, and the firm is positive on Nike’s current product cycle. Merrill Lynch maintained its Underperform rating on Nike, noting that Vapormax could miss high expectations and with revenues expected to remain pressured.

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays. It closed down 2.2% at $5.19 on Tuesday and was indicated down 0.6% more at $5.16 on Wednesday. Sirius XM has a 52-week range of $3.74 to $5.53 and a consensus analyst price target of $5.25.

Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

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Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (NYSE: BBVA) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was maintained as Underperform at Merrill Lynch, but the firm raised its price objective to $150 from $135 as it factors in higher share repurchases and a tailwind from decreasing pension expense. Still, Merrill lynch believes that we may be in the early stages of a commercial aero downcycle.

BorgWarner Inc. (NYSE: BWA) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Colony Starwood Homes (NYSE: SFR) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $38 price objective (versus a $33.52 close) at Merrill Lynch, noting that this is an early cycle play with structural tailwinds.

Computer Sciences Corp. (NYSE: CSC) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $81 from $74 (versus a $65.03 close) at Jefferies.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX) was raised to Hold from Sell and the price target was raised to $12 at Berenberg.

Gulfport Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: GPOR) was assumed with a Buy rating, but the old target of $35 was slashed to $22 (versus a $16.43 close), at Jefferies.

Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: IDRA) was started as Outperform with an $8 price target (versus a $2.09 close) at JMP Securities. Shares were indicated up about 20% at $2.50 on Wednesday morning, in a 52-week range of $1.19 to $3.33.

Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR) was reiterated as Buy and the price objective was raised to $100 (versus an $89.10 close) at Merrill Lynch. The firm noted that Marriott’s analyst day highlighted strength of Starwood, rooms and returns.

SunRun Inc. (NASDAQ: RUN) was raised to Buy From Neutral with a $6.50 price target (versus a $4.80 close) at UBS.

Jefferies gave a quick view of the oil market, as follows: OPEC’s market intervention has not yet resulted in significant visible inventory draw-down, and the financial markets have lost patience. However, it thinks the market is currently undersupplied and that the draws in inventory are coming. If OPEC agrees to extend its cuts into the second half, it believes inventories will move into their historic range — and support a price recovery above $60 per barrel by the fourth quarter.

Tuesday’s top analyst calls included Carnival, Facebook, Freeport-McMoRan, Motorola Solutions, Procter & Gamble and many more companies.