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20 Stocks Receiving Multiple Analyst Upgrades the First Week of 2018
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It’s already the end of the first week of 2018, and the stock market has continued its strong bullish trends into the new year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 even closed up each of the first four days of the year. Investors are trying to figure out how to invest their money ahead, and they are also looking for new ideas. 24/7 Wall St. covers dozens of analyst reports on most trading days, and this ends up being hundreds of calls on most weeks.
Many analyst calls are simply maintenance calls that come with a slight tweaks against expectations. Others are more than impacting. But what happens when you get several analysts issuing upgrades in their formal ratings or in their price targets? That’s called an analyst party, and that flurry of activity is usually enough to attract the attention of investors looking for new ideas.
The Dow rose by 25% and the S&P 500 rose over 19% in 2017, continuing at least so far in 2018. These gains were on the heels of tax reform and acceleration in gross domestic product and in earnings. 24/7 Wall St. gave a baseline outlook of 26,400 on the Dow and close to 2,850 on the S&P 500. The Dow already has crossed 25,000 and the S&P 500 is now close to 2,750.
It turns out that numerous companies saw multiple analyst upgrades or price target hikes during the first week of 2018. Many of them were banking stocks, in part because their tax rates were so much higher than most companies and they will easily benefit under tax reform.
Here are 20 stocks that have seen multiple positive analyst calls during the first trading week of 2018.
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) debuted 2018 with two analyst upgrades on the first trading day of the year. JPMorgan raised it to Overweight from Neutral and the price target was raised to $65 from $60 at, with the firm citing solid fundamentals and organic growth and new product launches. Morgan Stanley raised the stock to Overweight from Neutral, with the price target raised to $67 from $60, citing a device pipeline bringing accelerated growth along with deal synergies driving earnings. Abbott Labs closed up 0.3% at $58.99 a share on Friday, for a gain of 3.35% for the first week of 2018.
Alliance Data Systems Corp. (NYSE: ADS) saw its shares rise almost 2% to $260.25 on Wednesday to within about 2% or so of a new high. Barclays raised its rating to Overweight from Equal Weight and its price target to $310 from $265. ADS also saw Deutsche Bank reiterate its Buy rating and boost its price target to $298 from $278. And RBC even reiterated its Buy rating and $293 price target. The shares closed the week at $264.76, up almost 4.5% from the $253.48 close on the last print of 2017.
American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) managed to have a solid 2017, and analysts have continued to shed their negative views. Deutsche Bank started the stock with a Buy rating on Wednesday. Also bumping up price targets were Instinet (to $110 from $95) and Oppenheimer (to $117 from $99). Shares of Amex were up 0.6% at $99.55 late on Wednesday after the calls, but shares went higher to 52-week highs. The stock ended the week at $101.08 a share, up 1.8% from the $99.31 closing price on the last day of 2017.
Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) is a tax reform winner and is expected to do better with higher interest rates and lower regulation ahead. 24/7 Wall St. tracked four different target hikes since the start of 2017: Barclays to $35 from $28, Bernstein to $34 from $32, Instinet to $37 from $30 and Oppenheimer to $34 from $31. Credit Suisse reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $35 from $32 late in the week. Its stock is at a post-recession high. The shares closed the first week of 2018 with gain of almost 0.5% on Friday to $30.33, but that was a total gain of 2.75% from the final $29.52 closing price of 2017.
24/7 Wall St.Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) saw three price targets get hiked on Wednesday: Barclays to $93 from $76, Instinet to $86 from $84 and Oppenheimer to $89 from $83. The shares were trading up 0.35% at $74.62 late on Wednesday when the calls were made. Credit Suisse reiterated Citigroup as Outperform but the price target was raised to $86 from $83 at on Thursday. The 52-week trading range is $55.23 to $77.92, and the shares hit a high of just $74.36 on Wednesday. The stock closed the week at $75.41, up over 1.3% in the first week of 2018.
Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) was given two calls on Thursday. One was that it is on the top 2018 picks list from Credit Suisse. The second was that Wells Fargo reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $52 from $51. The shares closed at $45.44 on Wednesday, in 52-week range of $40.22 to $47.48 and with a prior consensus target of $49.06. Coca-Cola shares closed the week down two cents on Friday to $46.07, but that was still up about 0.4% from the last trading day of 2017.
DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price objective lifted to $85 from $75 at Merrill Lynch on January 4, and Bernstein raised its price target to $84 from $60 on January 5. The shares were indicated up 2% at $74.30 on Thursday. DaVita’s gain was 0.9% on Friday alone, with a closing price of $75.53. That put the shares up over 4.5% for the first trading week of 2018.
Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the target price was raised to $220 from $205 at Credit Suisse on January 4. Oppenheimer also raised its rating to Outperform from Perform with a $220 price target. The prior closing price was $191.66, but the shares closed out the week with a 1.5% gain on Friday at $200.30. That puts the pizza delivery giant up 6% in the first week of 2018 alone.
E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) has risen after expanding bitcoin futures trading, and Morgan Stanley raised its rating to Overweight from Equal Weight and its target price to $63 from $44. Instinet also raised its target to $60 from $51, while JMP Securities raised its price objective to $58 from $47. The shares closed up 0.3% on Friday afternoon at $51.47, and up over 3.8% from the final $49.57 closing price of 2017.
Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) caught multiple price target hikes with positive ratings the first week of 2018. The social media giant saw its stock reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $220 from $200 at Cowen, and Citigroup reiterated its Buy rating and raised its own price target to $215 from $210 on Friday. Facebook had a consensus target of about $209 ahead of the calls, and its shares closed on Friday up 1.4% at $186.85. That is a gain of 5.9% so far in 2018 alone, after major gains in 2017. The 52-week high of $186.90 set on Friday was also an all-time high.
F5 Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) caught two analyst upgrades. On January 4, BMO Capital Markets raised the stock to Outperform from Market Perform, and the price target was raised to $156 from $122 (versus a $134.04 prior close). Then Merrill Lynch raised F5 to Buy from Neutral with a $157 price objective (versus a $137.12 close). Shares closed 0.7% lower at $136.18 on Friday, but the stock still posted a gain of about 3.8% for the week.
24/7 Wall St.JPMorgan Chase & CO. (NYSE: JPM) is also another winner under tax reform. One January 3, Instinet raised its price target to $115 from a $91 price that was under the stock price at the time. Bernstein also raised its target to $118 from $110 on January 3, and on January 4 Credit Suisse raised its target to $120 from $110. JPMorgan shares closed 0.6% lower to $108.34 on Friday, but that is still a gain of 1.3% for the week.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was down on Wednesday, despite Deutsche Bank maintaining a Buy rating and raising its price target to $95 from $89. Telsey Advisory had raised its target on the stock on Tuesday to $92 from $84, but that was on the same day that Citigroup downgraded the yoga and athletic apparel retailer to Neutral from Buy. Barclays raised its Lululemon target price to $95 from $85 on January 5. The shares still managed to have an intraday high of $80.24 on Wednesday, which was a mere three cents short of a 52-week high. Lululemon shares closed down 0.5% at $79.43 on Friday, but that was almost 1.1% higher than the final closing price of $78.59 on the last day of 2017.
Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) may have announced a new David Letterman show this week, but it scored two positive calls on the first trading day of 2018. Loop Capital raised its target price to $241 from $237, but while that’s a small gain it now says that Netflix is the firm’s best idea in the space for 2018. It sees 25% upside. Macquarie also jumped in with an upgrade to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $220 from $200. Netflix managed a gain of 2.1% at $209.99 on Friday, for an increase of almost 9.4% for the first week of 2018 alone.
SunTrust Banks Inc. (NYSE: STI) is another financial tax reform winner. The banking group saw three price target hikes on January 4. One of them was from Goldman Sachs, to $74 from $65, but the stock was removed from the Americas Conviction Buy list. Credit Suisse raised its target to $68 from $60, and Susquehanna raised its target to $68 from $59. After closing up just five cents at $65.91 on Friday, SunTrust closed up the first week by 2%.
Taylor Morrison Home Corp. (NYSE: TMHC) is effectively buying out its sponsors and sold shares to facilitate that purchase. The homebuilder in master planned communities was raised to Positive from Neutral and the price target was raised to $34 from $26 at Susquehanna on January 4. Wells Fargo also raised its rating to Outperform from Market Perform and its target to $32 from $24.50 on January 5. While this other January 5 call from Barclays is less impressive, that firm raised its target price to $27 from $23. Taylor Morrison Home shares closed up 3.5% at $27.36 on Friday, but that’s now up 11.8% from the closing price of $24.47 on the last trading day of 2017.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) saw its target price raised to $269 from $244 at RBC Capital Markets on January 4, and that was just a day after Goldman Sachs issued a new Buy rating with a $269 price target. Wells Fargo also raised its target price to $252 from $245 on January 5. After closing up 1.9% at $228.73 on Friday, UnitedHealth shares closed up 3.75% for the first trading week of 2018.
United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) was a solid performer in 2017, and M&A may pave the way to a solid 2018 and beyond. Robert W. Baird raised it to Outperform from Neutral on January 5, sending shares up 0.86% to $131.57 after hitting another all-time high of $132.36 on theme day. On January 3, RBC Capital Markets raised UTC to Outperform (and downgraded Honeywell) due to a strong install base and high after-market sales and margins. RBC’s target was $160, more than $30 above the consensus. After closing out the first week of 2018 week at $131.57, the shares are now up 3.1% from the $127.57 last closing price of 2017.
Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) may have closed down 0.5% at $111.62 on Friday, but the owner of Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, ESPN and dozens more recognizable franchises closed up 3.8% for the first trading week of 2018. Wells Fargo was positive on the stock on January 4, but other analyst calls were seen this last week as well. Rosenblatt Securities raised its rating to Buy from Neutral and its target to $130 from $115. RBC Capital Markets also raised its target price, to $135 from $125. Macquarie raised its rating to Outperform on the first day of 2018.
CURO Group Holdings Corp. (NYSE: CURO) was listed last here because it is technically a list of initiations after its $14 per share IPO in December. It started as Outperform and assigned a $21 price target at Credit Suisse, calling it a scale business with growth potential and attractive valuation. Jefferies started it as Buy with a $19 target, Stephens started it as Overweight with a $19 target, and William Blair assigned an Outperform rating as well. The shares closed at $14.08 ahead of these calls, and ended the week at $14.49, in a post-IPO range of $13.50 to $14.99. CURO offers consumer finance to “underbanked consumers” in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
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