Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alibaba, Apple, Match, McDonald's Netflix, Synacor, IAC, Check Point, Stratasys and More

Investing

Published: April 18, 2017 9:10 am

Last Updated: January 9, 2019 9:22 am

Stocks were indicated lower on Tuesday, but this follows big gains on Monday. With this bull market more than eight years old, investors have shown for more than the past five years that they will buy all market pullbacks. Those same investors are also 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 Tuesday, April 18, 2017:

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $140 price target (versus a $111.76 prior close) at Benchmark. Alibaba was indicated down 0.4% at $111.28 on Tuesday, in a 52-week trading range of $73.30 to $111.88 and with a consensus analyst price target of $128.07.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Outperform at Credit Suisse, but the firm raised its target to $170 from $160 after shares closed up 0.5% to $141.80. Apple has a 52-week range of $89.47 to $145.46 and a consensus target price of $147.61.

Match Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MTCH) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $21 price target at Jefferies, after it closed at $17.35. Match’s Tinder was the asset to watch as it accelerated monetization efforts. Industry tailwinds are also noted as a positive for Match. The 52-week range is $10.72 to $19.74.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein, and the price target was raised to $160 from $129 (versus a $131.35 prior close). Wells Fargo raised its rating to Outperform just a day earlier, but what stands out in the Bernstein call is that its $160 target is $13 higher than the highest analyst target on all of Wall Street. McDonald’s has a 52-week range of $110.33 to $131.96 and a consensus target price of $134.35.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) closed up 3% at $147.25 ahead of earnings and was indicated up 1% at $148.64 afterward. Cantor Fitzgerald maintained an Overweight rating and raised its price target to $165 from $160. Wedbush reiterated its Underperform rating, but it raised its dismal target of $68 up to $73 based on cash burn concerns.

Synacor Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNC) was started as Buy with an $8 price target at Canaccord Genuity. This represents more than 100% in implied upside from a $3.55 close, but Synacor recently raised cash and this firm was a book-runner of the deal. Synacor has a 52-week range of $1.35 to $4.25, and the consensus analyst price is $5.83 from a small group of analysts.

Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:

Aflac Inc. (NYSE: AFL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.

Blue Buffalo Pet Products Inc. (NASDAQ: BUFF) was already rated as Buy but was named to the Top Pick list at Citigroup.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight and the price target was raised to $107 from $87 at Morgan Stanley.

Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and the price target was cut to $144 from $160 (versus a $147.00 close) at Piper Jaffray.

Fastenal Co. (NASDAQ: FAST) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $54 price target (versus a $45.80 close) at Argus.

IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies and the price target was set at $92 (versus a $75.05 close).

OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: OMED) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was cut to $6 from $16 at Cantor Fitzgerald. This is after shares fell 17% to $4.01 on Monday after a lung cancer drug failed its mid-stage study.

PACCAR Inc. (NASDAQ: PCAR) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and the price target was cut to $66 from $72 (versus a $65.34 close) at Piper Jaffray.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at FBN Securities.

Quotient Ltd. (NASDAQ: QTNT) was started as Buy and given a $22 price target (versus a $6.28 close) at BTIG Research. Quotient was indicated up 11% at $6.95 due to the massive upside price target, but it should be noted that BTIG was the lead manager in a recent capital raise from Quotient.

RMR Group (NYSE: RMR) was started with a Perform rating at Oppenheimer.

Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) was started with a Buy rating and given an $80 target price (versus a $60.14 close) at BTIG Research.

Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray, and the price target was raised to $28 from $21 (versus a $21.30 close).

Tableau Software Inc. (NYSE: DATA) was started as Buy at BTIG Research, and it was given a $65 price target (versus a $51.07 close).

Monday’s top analyst calls included Canadian Solar, Constellation Brands, Eli Lilly, Incyte, McDonald’s, Snap and about a dozen more.

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