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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades: Capital One, Celgene, Conagra, Honeywell, 3M, Nike, Sempra Energy, SunPower and More
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Stocks hit all-time highs this week, and Wall Street is looking for direction for the last day of trading ahead of the Christmas holiday break. After this day, there are only four trading days until 2018. The bull market is now nearing nine years old, and the trend that continues to prevail is for investors to buy all the big market sell-offs. Investors are also looking 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. Our goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for investors and traders alike. Some daily analyst reports and research reports cover stocks to buy. Other research reports cover stocks to sell or stocks to avoid.
The consensus analyst price targets mentioned and other 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 Friday, December 22, 2017.
Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $122 target price (versus a $99.52 prior close) at Compass Point. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $76.05 to $99.95. The consensus analyst target price is $100.95.
CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) shares closed down 3.6% at $66.00 on Thursday, and the stock was reiterated as Buy with an $81 price target on Friday at Wedbush Securities. CarMax has a 52-week trading range of $54.29 to $77.64.
Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. (NASDAQ: CRZO) closed up 3.5% at $21.53 on Thursday and was indicated up another 1% at $21.75 on Friday. It was started as Neutral and assigned a price target of $26 at Citigroup.
Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ: CELG) shares were last seen down 5.5% at $102.00 after its follicular lymphoma regimen failed to meet objectives in a clinical trial. Credit Suisse maintained the stock as Outperform but the price target was cut to $123 from $128, and the firm removed Relevance’s impact of about $5 per share from its cash flow model. Stifel maintained its Buy rating but cut its target price all the way down to $130 from $149. The 52-week trading range is $94.55 to $147.17, and the consensus target ahead of the news was $124.59.
Conagra Brands Inc. (NYSE: CAG) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $42 from $38 at Stifel, while Credit Suisse maintained its Neutral rating but raised its price target to $40 from $37.
CRISPR Therapeutics A.G. (NASDAQ: CRSP) was up 3% at $19.58 on Thursday and was indicated up another 2% at $20.00 on Friday. Piper Jaffray started it with an Overweight rating and assigned a $30 price target.
Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DNKN) was raised to Hold from Underperform with a $56 price target (versus a $65.01 close) at Jefferies.
Digital Realty Trust (NYSE: DLR) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $120 price target (versus a $109.31 close) at Wells Fargo. The stock was down 1% on Thursday, and it has a 52-week range of $95.50 to $127.23 and a consensus analyst target of $125.81.
Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $170 at Argus. Honeywell was given positive marks after a dividend hike and its expanded multiple is based on outperforming and an ability to reach double-digit earnings growth for the next five years.
3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) was reiterated as Buy with a $260 price target at Argus. After closing down almost 1% at $234.78 on Thursday, it has a 52-week range of $173.55 to $244.23.
Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) shares were up 1.8% at $64.77 ahead of earnings, but the stock was down 3% at $62.90 after earnings as the North American athletic apparel market remains competitive. It was maintained as Neutral with a $47 price target at Wedbush Securities. The 52-week range is $50.35 to $65.19, and the consensus price target was $62.47 going into earnings.
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. (NASDAQ: RRGB) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $63 price target (versus a $53.10 close) at Jefferies.
Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) was down 4.5% at $106.91 on Thursday, and its shares were downgraded on Friday to Neutral from Buy with a $112 price objective at Merrill Lynch. Sempra has a 52-week range of $99.71 to $122.98 and a consensus analyst target price of $124.33.
SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) was started as Neutral and assigned a $10 price objective (versus a $9.07 close, after a 1.9% gain) at Merrill Lynch. SunPower has a 52-week range of $5.84 to $11.70 and a consensus target price of $9.23.
Texas Roadhouse Inc. (NASDAQ: TXRH) was raised to Hold from Underperform with a $50 price target (versus a $55.14 close) at Jefferies. It has a 52-week range of $40.28 to $55.44 and a consensus target price of $53.47.
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Thursday’s top analyst calls included Bed Bath & Beyond, BlackBerry, ConocoPhillips, JPMorgan, Micron Technology, PG&E, Wells Fargo and many more.
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