Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alphabet, Amazon, Intel, Snap, Nabors, US Steel, Western Digital, Gigamon and Many More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: April 28, 2017 9:10 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 12:32 pm

Stocks were indicated marginally higher on Friday despite a weak growth reading on gross domestic product, but this is on the heels of a very strong week for the last trading day of April. This bull market has now raged on more than eight years and investors have found myriad reasons to buy every single market sell-off for more than five years now. 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 others cover stocks to sell or to avoid. Some color has been added on many of the following calls, and references to consensus analyst price targets are from Thomson Reuters.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls on Friday, April 28, 2017.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was last seen trading up over 4% at $929.00 at new highs after beating earnings. Jefferies reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $1,200 from $1,000. Wedbush maintained an Underperform rating but raised its street-low price target to $725 from $700. Oppenheimer has an Outperform rating and raised its target to $1,050 from $1,000.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was last seen trading up 3% at $946.00 at a new high after earnings. Wedbush maintained its Outperform rating and $1,250 price target. Pacific Crest lowered its rating to Sector Weight from Overweight. Oppenheimer reiterated its Outperform rating but said its numbers and estimates are under review.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was last seen trading down 3.1% at $36.25 after earnings, in a 52-week range of $29.50 to $38.45. Jefferies maintained its Hold rating after a recent downgrade but raised its price target to $38 from $36.

Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) was started with a Hold rating and assigned a $22 price target (versus a $22.01 prior closing price) at Canaccord Genuity. Snap has a post-IPO range of $18.90 to $29.44.

Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE: NBR) was down 10.2% at $10.55 on Thursday on more than four times normal trading volume after reporting a loss. Nabors was maintained as Buy at Goldman Sachs with a $17.50 price target, but the firm removed it from the prized Conviction Buy list.

United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) was slammed this week and already saw multiple analyst downgrades. On Friday morning, Macquarie joined the downgrade brigade and cut U.S. Steel’s rating to Underperform from Neutral. Shares were indicated down 0.9% at $23.03 on Friday morning, after bouncing 2% on Thursday.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) was last seen trading up over 8% at $92.32 after earnings, missing the Seagate reaction. Western Digital was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo, but it was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch. It was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $120 price target at Morgan Stanley. Cowen has an Outperform rating and raised its target to $115 from $90.

As this the last trading day of April, 24/7 Wall St. has come up with eight defensive stocks for investors to hide out in if they are fearful of a coming market correction. After all, there is always the “sell in May and go away” mantra, and then there is the worry that the summer doldrums will come into play.

Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:

Align Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $155 from $105 at Robert W. Baird. Its shares closed up 0.3% at $120.09 on Thursday, but were indicated up 15.9% at $139.19 Friday morning as a reaction to earnings and its strong outlook.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) was reiterated as Hold but the price target was raised to $85 from $75 (versus an $80.33 close) at Jefferies.

Boston Beer Co. (NYSE: SAM) was raised to Positive from Neutral with a $179 price target (versus a $140.80 close) at Susquehanna.

Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel.

Gigamon Inc. (NASDAQ: GIMO) was down 1.6% at $36.00 on Thursday, and shares were down 16% at $30.25 on Friday morning after earnings. Gigamon was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair. Credit Suisse cut its rating to Neutral from Outperform with a $29 target price.

Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus.

Martin Midstream Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: MMLP) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel.

Pier 1 Imports Inc. (NYSE: PIR) was down 3.1% at $6.89 on Thursday, and Citigroup started coverage on Friday with a Neutral rating and a $7 price target.

RH (NYSE: RH), the parent of Restoration Hardware, was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $56 price target at Citigroup.

Synchronoss Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SNCR) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Terex Corp. (NYSE: TEX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch.

United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZBH) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Thursday’s top analyst calls include of American Express, Cisco, Eli Lilly, First Solar, McDonald’s, Microsoft, U.S. Steel and over a dozen more.