Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Best Buy, Groupon, Snap, Starbucks, Weatherford, Alphabet, CIT, Match, Wix and Many More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: March 27, 2017 9:10 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 1:35 pm

Stocks were indicated lower on Monday in the wake of Friday’s sell-off after the GOP health care plan failed to materialize. Now many of the pro-growth policies that were used in the campaign may be viewed as at-risk, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average may be down about 700 points from its recent all-time highs. While recent selling has come back, the one trend that has prevailed for more than five years is for investors to buy the pullbacks. The bull market is now more than eight years old, and investors are still looking for new trading and investing ideas.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week in an effort to find new ideas for our readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and some reports cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

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 27, 2017:

Best Buy Co, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and with a $55 price target (versus a $44.85 close) at Piper Jaffray. Best Buy has a 52-week trading range of $28.76 to $49.40 and had a consensus analyst target price of $46.27.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $5 price target (versus a $3.99 close) at Citigroup. Groupon has a 52-week range of $2.92 to $5.94 and a consensus analyst price target of $4.91.

Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) has seen its quiet period come to an end, so analysts from the underwriting syndicate are covering it now. Cowen started Snap as Outperform and assigned a $26 target, while Morgan Stanley started Snap with an Overweight rating and a $28 target. RBC started Snap as Outperform and assigned a $31 target, and Jefferies assigned a Buy rating and $20 target. Goldman Sachs started Snap as Buy with a $27 target. Citigroup started Snap as a Buy.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) was started as Outperform and assigned a $66 price target (versus a $56.81 close) at Telsey Advisory Group. Starbucks has a 52-week range of $50.84 to $61.64 and a consensus price target of $64.31.

Weatherford International PLC (NYSE: WFT) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo. Shares closed at $5.89 but were indicated up almost 8% at $6.36. Weatherford International has a 52-week range of $3.73 to $8.49 and a consensus analyst target of $7.46.

This weekend 24/7 Wall St. featured seven stocks with over 50% to 100% upside from recent analyst calls over the past couple of weeks.

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:

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $151 price target (versus a $127.70 close) at BTIG.

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: MDRX) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was maintained as Buy at Nomura, but the price target was cut to $925 from $950 in that call.

Arista Networks Inc. (NYSE: ANET) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $125 price target (versus a $131.77 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (NYSE: BKD) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $16.50 price target at Jefferies.

CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) was started as Equal Weight and assigned a $45 price target at Morgan Stanley.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) was raised to Outperform from In-Line with a $110 price target (versus a $95.59 close) at Evercore ISI.

Exact Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: EXAS) was started as Outperform and assigned a $30 price target (versus a $21.08 close) at Cowen.

Flowserve Corp. (NYSE: FLS) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $53 price target (versus a $45.65 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

HCA Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HCA) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $98 price target (versus an $86.04 close) at Mizuho.

IAC/InterActiveCorp. (NASDAQ: IACI) was started with a Buy rating and assigned an $89 price target (versus a $72.74 close) at Citigroup.

Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE: ITW) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel.

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at JMP Securities.

Match Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MTCH) was started as Buy and assigned a $22 price target at Citigroup.

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (NYSE: PPC) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

PrivateBancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: PVTB) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $63 price target (versus a $55.51 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Sierra Wireless Inc. (NASDAQ: SWIR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.

Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SPWH) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

TrueCar Inc. (NASDAQ: TRUE) was started as Buy with an $18 price target (versus a $15.24 close) at Citigroup.

Universal Health Services Inc. (NYSE: UHS) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $138 price target (versus a $121.89 close) at Mizuho.

Wix.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: WIX) was started as Neutral with a $68 price target (versus a $66.65 close) at Citigroup.

World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: WWE) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $25 target price (versus a $21.95 close) at Citigroup.