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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AMAG, Foot Locker, Groupon, H&R Block, McDonald's, Teradata, Under Armour, Valeant and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: March 5, 2018 9:05 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 2:46 am

Stocks were indicated marginally lower on Monday morning, with more worries of trade wars after steel and aluminum tariffs. The Dow Jones industrial average was indicated to open under 24,500 and the S&P 500 was indicated to open under 2,685. The bull market is turning nine years old this week, and the one trend that has prevailed has been for investors to buy the pullbacks. Investors have to decide how they want to be positioned for the rest of 2018 and beyond.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some analyst reports and research reports cover stocks to buy. Others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Additional color and commentary has been added on most of the daily analyst reports. The consensus analyst price targets and other valuation metrics are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Monday, March 5, 2018.

AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $20 target price (versus a $21.00 prior close) at Jefferies. The stock was up 2.4% on Friday but was indicated down 2.9% at $20.40 on Monday. The shares have traded between $11.93 and $25.20 in the past 52 weeks.

AmerisourceBergen Corp. (NYSE: ABC) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $115 (versus a $93.96 close) at Argus.

Bluebird Bio Inc. (NASDAQ: BLUE) was started with an Outperform rating at William Blair. Shares closed at $206.10 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $74.45 to $222.03.

Cactus Inc. (NYSE: WHD) has an Overweight rating and a $31 price target (versus a $24.66 close) at Barclays. It was started as Overweight with a $32 target price at JPMorgan, and Credit Suisse started it as Outperform with a $31 price target.

Evolus Inc. (NASDAQ: EOLS) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $24 price target (versus an $11.44 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Mizuho started it with a Buy rating and assigned a $21 price target, while JMP Securities started it as Market Perform with a $20 price target.

Foot Locker Inc. (NYSE: FL) closed down over 12% at $40.04 on Friday after disappointing earnings. Pivotal Research maintained the stock as Buy, but its price target was cut to $57 from $65. Telsey Advisory maintained its Outperform rating on Foot Locker, and its target price was cut to $49 from $56. Wedbush Securities maintained its Outperform rating with a $59 price target.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight with a $4.40 price target (versus a $4.27 close) at Morgan Stanley.

H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Northcoast Capital. The stock closed down 1.75% at $24.69 on Friday and was indicated up 1.3% at $25.02 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $20.50 to $31.80.

Intrepid Potash Inc. (NYSE: IPI) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform with a $3.75 target price (versus a $3.56 close) at Cowen.

Lifepoint Health Inc. (NASDAQ: LPNT) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $52 price target (versus a $46.30 close) at Leerink.

MacroGenics Inc. (NASDAQ: MGNX) was started with a Buy rating and a $38 price target (versus a $28.94 close) at H.C. Wainwright.

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McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) was reiterated as Outperform with a $191 price target (versus a $148.27 close), after a 4.8% drop) at Credit Suisse. The firm noted that the sell-off from the $178.70 high has been overdone.

Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $32 target price (versus a $26.75 close) at Cowen.

PagSeguro Digital Ltd. (NYSE: PAGS) was started as Neutral with a $34 price target at Credit Suisse. Shares closed up 3.8% at $33.34 on Friday, in a post-IPO range of $26.78 to $33.56.

Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE: PK) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $22 price objective (versus a $24.42 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Revance Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: RVNC) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $60 target (versus a $31.30 close) at Goldman Sachs.

RSP Permian Inc. (NYSE: RSPP) was added to the Credit Suisse SMID Cap Top Picks list based on its valuation.

Teradata Corp. (NYSE: TDC) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform with a $39 price target (versus a $39.18 close, after a 2.75% gain) at Bernstein.

Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UAA) was reiterated as Hold at Argus, with the independent research firm calling it out as fully valued.

USA Compression Partners L.P. (NYSE: USAC) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $21 fair value estimate (versus a $17.69 close) at Janney.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NYSE: VRX) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $20 price target (versus a $14.88 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Victory Capital Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: VCTR) was started as Outperform with a $16 target price at RBC Capital Markets. Barclays started it with an Overweight rating and a $16 price target, and Keefe Bruyette & Woods started it as Market Perform. Morgan Stanley started Victory Capital with an Overweight rating and assigned a $19 price target. The stock closed at $13.30 per share on Friday, in a post-IPO range of $11.03 to $13.50.

Merrill Lynch sees big upside in five oil and gas majors after the energy sell-off.

Analysts just cannot get enough of Salesforce.com after strong earnings.

Friday’s top analyst calls included BioMarin, CSX, Kinder Morgan, Microsemi, Splunk, U.S. Steel, Walmart and many more.