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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Boston Scientific, Cleveland-Cliffs, GE, Hasbro, Illumina, T-Mobile, United Continental, Seagate and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: October 24, 2017 9:05 am

Last Updated: March 20, 2020 11:23 am

Stocks managed to sell off on Monday after a whole week of hitting higher all-time highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was indicated to open over 100 points higher on Tuesday all over again, and the index cut through 23,000 like it wasn’t even there. The trend that has prevailed for more than five years now is that investors keep finding new reasons to buy stocks after every major sell-off. Those same investors also are hunting for new investing and trading ideas to generate gains and income 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 top analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other calls cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

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

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Tuesday, October 24, 2017.

Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $36 price target (versus a $29.61 prior close) at Canaccord Genuity. Boston Scientific has a 52-week trading range of $19.67 to $29.93 and a consensus analyst target price of $31.02.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE: CLF) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan. The stock closed down 2.8% at $6.82 on Monday and was indicated up 1% at $6.90 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $4.91 to $12.37. Its consensus target price is $6.86.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) was downgraded to Underperform from Perform at Oppenheimer, noting that the free cash flow yield visibility is cloudy. Shares dipped big after earnings on Friday but somehow managed to close up that day. Then after some other analyst downgrades, GE shares were down 6.3% at $22.32 on Monday. Its stock was indicated down 0.4% at $22.22 on Tuesday, in a new 52-week low of $22.10.

Hasbro Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $110 price target (versus a $89.75 close) at Barclays, while Stifel maintained its Hold rating but lowered its target price to $100 from $104. Hasbro closed down 8.6% on Monday and was indicated up 1.6% at $91.20 on Tuesday. Its 52-week range is $77.20 to $116.20.

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank, just a day after Janney raised its rating on it to Neutral from Sell. It was up 0.8% to $211.55 on Monday and was indicated up 0.7% at $213.00 on Tuesday. Illumina has a consensus target price of $193.07 and a 52-week range of $119.37 to $214.50.

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) was up 12.6% at $39.35 on Monday after earnings. Seagate was reiterated as Hold at Argus, while RBC Capital Markets has a Sector Perform rating and raised its target to $40 from $35.

T-Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $71 price target (versus a $61.47 close) at Societe Generale. Argus maintained its Buy rating and $78 target on T-Mobile, and it also kept it on the Focus List. The consensus target price is $71.81, and the 52-week range is $48.76 to $68.88.

United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Atlantic Equities. Its shares closed down 1.3% at $59.10 on Monday and were indicated down 0.4% at $58.87 on Tuesday. The 52-week range is $52.21 to $83.04. The consensus target price is $72.13.

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Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:

Achaogen Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAO) was started as Buy with a $17 price target (versus a $13.57 close) at Guggenheim.

Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE: HBI) was downgraded to Perform and the price target was cut to $26 from $32 at Oppenheimer. Deutsche Bank started it as Buy with a $29 price target.

Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE: ITW) was maintained as Neutral and the price target was cut to $140 from $142 at Credit Suisse. RBC Capital Markets maintained its Sector Perform rating and raised its target to $155 from $143. Argus reiterated its Buy rating but raised its target to $180 from $160. Illinois Tool Works was up 0.3%to $155.51 on Monday, and its shares hit a 52-week high of $157.28.

KBR Inc. (NYSE: KBR) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $20 from $18 at Deutsche Bank.

NRG Yield Inc. (NYSE: NYLD) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch. Shares closed down 1.6% at $18.65 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $13.98 to $20.00 and with a consensus target price of $19.38.

Party City Holdco Inc. (NYSE: PRTY) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $16 price target (versus an $11.20 close) at BMO Capital Markets. It has a 52-week range of $10.80 to $17.70 and a consensus target price of $17.60.

PQ Group Holdings Inc. (NYSE: PQG) has seen its quiet period end and its shares closed down 1.2% at $16.67 on Monday, in a post-IPO range of $16.45 to $17.65. The stock was started with a Neutral rating and assigned an $18 price target at Goldman Sachs. KeyBanc Capital Markets started it as Overweight with a $21 target, Jefferies started it as Buy with a $23 target, and Citigroup started it as Buy with a $20 target. PQ Group was also started as Equal Weight with a $19 target at Morgan Stanley, and Instinet started it as Buy with a $20 target.

Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $115 price objective (versus a $122.13 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Thomson Reuters Corp. (NYSE: TRI) was started as Neutral and assigned a $52 price target at Credit Suisse.

TRONOX Ltd. (NYSE: TROX) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $30 price target (versus a $26.58 close) at JPMorgan.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie.

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Its shares were down 4.1% at $20.75 on Monday and were indicated down at $20.55 on Tuesday.

VF Corp. (NYSE: VFC) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $81 from $75 at Pivotal Research.

Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE: WHR) was maintained as Neutral with a $183 price objective (versus a $182.50 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Monday’s top analyst calls included Biogen, Equifax, Foot Locker, General Electric, NVIDIA, Rio Tinto, Roku and many more.

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