Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alibaba, BHP Billiton, Cintas, Monsanto, Schlumberger, Shopify, Hess, Western Digital and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: June 27, 2017 9:05 am

Last Updated: March 20, 2020 11:08 am

Stocks were indicated to open marginally lower on Tuesday, with no real pull from major news one way or the other. The bull market is now well over eight years old, and equity investors keep proving that they will buy into any major pullback or sell-off of any size. Those same investors continue to look for new investing and trading ideas for income and gains ahead.

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

Consensus analyst price target data are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service. Additional color and commentary has also been added on most of the daily analyst calls.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Tuesday, June 27, 2017.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $190 price target at JPMorgan. Alibaba closed down 0.2% at $142.73 on Monday and was indicated to open up 0.5% at $143.50 on Tuesday. It has a 52-week trading range of $75.50 to $148.29 and a consensus analyst price target of $159.59.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) was reiterated as Buy with a $46 price target (versus a $33.98 prior close) at Argus. The firm noted that prices for many commodity products have moved beyond the cycle bottom and it is looking for continued earnings improvement in the near term. BHP closed down 0.5% on Monday, and it has a 52-week range of $26.89 to $41.79 and a consensus target price of $38.03.

Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $130 price target (versus a $129.50 close) at Instinet. The 52-week range is $92.08 to $131.41, and the consensus price target is $131.90.

Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive with a $128 price target at Susquehanna. It closed up 0.67% at $117.80 on Monday, and it has a 52-week range of $97.35 to $118.15 and a consensus price target of $122.66.

Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) faced two downgrades on Tuesday. It was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Atlantic Equities, and it was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Guggenheim. Schlumberger closed down just four cents at $65.89 on Monday, and it was indicated down by the same amount on Tuesday. With shares at $65.85, it has a 52-week range is $65.15 to $87.84, and its consensus target price was $87.92 prior to these two cuts.

Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP) was started with a Hold rating and assigned a $90 price target (versus a $92.04 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Shopify has a 52-week range of $27.24 to $100.80 and a consensus price target of $92.12.

Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $96 from $90 at Credit Suisse, with the firm noting that it is more confident in givosiran post proof of concept data.

AMN Healthcare Services Inc. (NYSE: AMN) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $45 price target (versus a $37.05 close) at Wells Fargo.

Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $23 price target (versus a $15.08 close) at Citigroup.

8point3 Energy Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: CAFD) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $14 price target (versus a $15.01 close) at Barclays.

Cabot Microelectronics Corp. (NASDAQ: CCMP) was raised to Buy from Hold with an $85 target price (versus a $74.59 close) at Needham.

Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $45 price target (versus a $41.59 close) at Atlantic Equities.

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (NYSE: LH) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Impinj Inc. (NASDAQ: PI) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at Pacific Crest.

STMicroelectronics N.V. (NYSE: STM) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel. Shares closed down 2.7% at $14.55 on Monday but were indicated back up almost 2% at $14.84 on Tuesday.

STORE Capital Corp. (NYSE: STOR) popped 11.3% higher to $23.11 on Monday after Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway too nearly a 10% stake. STORE Capital was still downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $24 target price at Mizuho.

Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VNDA) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $23 price target (versus a $15.85 close) at Piper Jaffray.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) was reiterated as Hold with a $90 target at Jefferies. Shares closed at $92.66, and despite a positive pre-announcement, the firm is still concerned that NAND is peaking.

Guggenheim has issued a downgrade on many of the oil services companies to Neutral from Buy. The details were not seen early on, but the companies given this downgrade included Baker Hughes, Schlumberger, Halliburton and Nabors.

Monday’s top analyst calls included Carbonite, Coach, Credit Suisse, DaVita, Intuit, Pandora Media, ONEOK, Regeneron and over a dozen more.

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