Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AIG, Exact Sciences, MercadoLibre, Pfizer, Whole Foods, Valero Energy, Yum Brands and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: May 16, 2017 9:10 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 11:58 am

Stocks were indicated to open higher yet again on Tuesday, even after the gains seen on Monday. The major market indexes are all at or right within striking distance of all-time highs. Even though the bull market is now more than eight years old, investors have bought 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 of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy and others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Some color has been added on most of the following analyst calls. The consensus sell-side analyst price targets are taken from Thomson Reuters.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Tuesday, May 16, 2017.

American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley. It rose 1.4% to $61.82 on Monday and was indicated up another 1.7% at $62.87 on Tuesday morning. AIG has a 52-week trading range of $48.41 to $67.47 and a consensus analyst target price of $68.43 on last look.

Exact Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: EXAS) was down on Monday after a short seller again slammed the company’s Cologuard effectiveness. Jefferies reiterated its Buy rating and $35 price target after the call, noting that it sees nothing new and would be buyers on weakness. Exact Sciences also defended itself against the short seller on a CNBC interview on Monday.

MercadoLibre Inc. (NASDAQ: MELI) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $300 price target (versus a $296.24 prior closing price) at JPMorgan. It has a 52-week range of $126.10 to $296.33 but a consensus target price of $252.50 that is lower than the current share price.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $31 price target (versus a $33.12 close) at Citigroup. Pfizer was indicated down 1.8% at $32.53 on Tuesday, and its consensus target price was $37.89 ahead of this call.

Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) was started with a Hold rating and assigned a $35 price target (versus a $36.44 close) at Loop Capital. Whole Foods is not being given much of a takeover chance here based on a lower price target, and the consensus analyst target price is $34.05 with a 52-week range of $27.67 to $38.29.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $73 price target (versus a $65.55 close) at Goldman Sachs. Valero was indicated down 0.7% at $65.10 on Tuesday morning, in a 52-week range of $46.88 to $71.40 and with a consensus target price of $73.76.

Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) was raised to Buy from Hold with a price target of $80 at Argus. The firm noted that Yum continues to transform its business through refranchising and that it now plans to raise the percentage of franchised restaurants from a current 93% to 98% by 2018. The stock was indicated up 1% at $69.95 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $56.31 to $69.43 and with a consensus target price of $73.53.

Warren Buffett has released his portfolio changes, and again it was full of many surprises.

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Other key analyst calls this Tuesday were in shares of the following companies:

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $90 from $50 (versus a $66.00 close) at Credit Suisse. The firm said that it has more confidence in FAP success and opportunity and platform de-risking.

Builders FirstSource Inc. (NASDAQ: BLDR) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $20 price target at Wedbush, noting that they would focus on positive long-term demand trends rather than the volatile lumber prices.

Church & Dwight Co. Inc. (NYSE: CHD) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley. Shares were indicated down 0.6% at $49.95 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $42.56 to $53.68.

Crane Co. (NYSE: CR) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $92 price target (versus a $78.55 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

Delek US Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DK) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $30 price target (versus a $24.65 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE: DPS) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) at Argus, noting that the recent weakness offers a buying opportunity. The firm noted that the company recently reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter results and raised guidance but that it has underperformed the broader market.

FirstCash Inc. (NYSE: FCFS) was maintained as Buy with a $55 fair value estimate, noting that the debt deal is likely accretive to earnings, at Janney.

Forterra Inc. (NASDAQ: FRTA) was down 24% at $14.93 on Monday and hit a new 52-week low of $13.81 after earnings. Forterra was downgraded to Hold at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and was downgraded to Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.

Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) was started as Hold at Loop Capital.

MDC Holdings Inc. (NYSE: MDC) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Medtronic PLC (NYSE: MDT) was started as Neutral with an $87 target price (versus an $84.14 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Patheon N.V. (NASDAQ: PTHN) was acquired in a deal by Thermo Fisher. Jefferies downgraded Patheon to Hold based on the high probability of a the deal closing. Jefferies also maintained a Hold rating and $175 target on Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) as well.

Sage Therapeutics Inc.(NASDAQ: SAGE) was started as Buy and assigned an $82 price target at Needham.

Select Energy Services Inc. (NYSE: WTTR) was started as Outperform with a $20 target price at Credit Suisse. The report noted that Select Energy Services is a full-service water company and is in one of the most misunderstood sub-segments in OFS, and that it leads the industry with 7% to 10% market share. Merrill Lynch started it as Buy and gave a $20 price objective too. JPMorgan started it as Neutral with a $16 price target. Select Energy closed at $15.29 on Monday and has a post-IPO trading range of $14.00 to $16.55.

Sysco Corp. (NYSE: SYY) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $61 price target (versus a $54.04 close) at Loop Capital. Sysco has a consensus analyst target price of $55.79.

United Natural Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: UNFI) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $48 price target at Loop Capital.

US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE: USFD) was reinstated with an Outperform rating and the new price target is $35 (up from $32 previously) at Credit Suisse, and the firm added it to the Focus List. Credit Suisse sees it as an investment idea in the consumer spending segment with material upside.

Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZBH) was started with a Sell rating at Goldman Sachs and assigned a $92 price target at Goldman Sachs.

There were two positive views about investor interest in Europe. Merrill Lynch noted that its allocation to European Equities is the highest in two years. Credit Suisse noted that overall client inflows to U.S. equity funds have faded as inflows to Europe have strengthened.

Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Applied Materials, Cerner, Cisco, Johnson & Johnson, Level 3 Communications, CenturyLink, Salesforce.com and over a dozen more.