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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AMD, Broadcom, DR Horton, Dollar Tree, Jack in the Box, Zebra Technologies and More

Lee Jackson

Published: March 26, 2018 9:00 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 2:05 am

The futures were up big Monday morning as fears of an all-out trade war start to subside. There are reports that the Trump administration has sent a letter to Chinese economic overseer Liu He setting out specific requests to help cut China’s massive trade surplus with the United States. They are asking for a tariff cut on U.S. automobiles, more Chinese purchases of U.S. semiconductors and more access to China’s financial sector by American companies.

With this bull market over nine years old, the one trend that has prevailed for more than five years has been for investors to buy all the big pullbacks. Investors also still 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 morning to find new trading and investing ideas for its readers. Some analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

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

These are this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) was downgraded to Negative from Neutral at Susquehanna. The 52-week trading range for the semiconductor company is $9.70 to $15.65. The Wall Street consensus price target is posted at $14.64. The stock closed Friday at $10.63.

Broadcom Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO) was resumed in coverage at Barclays, which has a $335 target price for the shares. That compares with the consensus target of $321.13. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $208.44 to $285.68. The stock closed Friday at $242.48. The shares were up over 2% in Monday’s premarket trading.

Coca-Cola European Partners PLC (NYSE: CCE) was started with an Overweight rating at Morgan Stanley. The consensus price objective across Wall Street is $44.38. The shares closed Friday at $40.14. The 52-week trading range is $36.17 to $44.75.

Cott Corp. (NYSE: COT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank. The consensus price target is set at $17.85. The stock ended last week at $14.81. The 52-week trading range is $11.94 to $17.77.

D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays. The consensus price target is set at $56.10. The stock closed Friday at $43.30. The 52-week trading range for the home builder is $31.98 to $53.31.

Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray. The consensus price target is posted at $109.64. The shares closed last Friday at $91.95 and were up over 3% in the premarket. The 52-week trading range for the discount retailer is $65.63 to $116.65.

Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley. The consensus price target for the company is $105.57. The shares ended Friday at $83.83. The 52-week trading range is $79.30 to $113.

Sabra Health Care REIT Inc. (NASDAQ: SBRA) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Merrill Lynch. The consensus price target is set at $20.50. The shares ended trading Friday at $16.65, in a 52-week trading range of $15.78 to $29.10.

Zebra Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: ZBRA) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. The consensus price target is set at $148.56. The stock closed trading Friday at $136.35. It has traded in a 52-week range of $84.31 to $147.99.

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Other key analysts upgrades and downgrades were seen in the following.

Ashland Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ASH) was raised to Buy for Neutral at Longbow. The Wall Street consensus price target is posted at $80.75. The stock closed trading last Friday at $67.96. Its 52-week trading range is $58.71 to $77.16.

Belden Inc. (NYSE: BDC) was raised to Buy from Hold at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. The consensus price target is $89.70. The shares closed Friday down almost 8% at $64.55. The company has traded in a 52-week range of $64.51 to $87.15 per share.

Dover Corp. (NYSE: DOV) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan. The consensus price target is set at $110.50. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $76.23 to $109.06 and closed most recently at $98.35.

EPR Properties (NYSE: EPR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Ladenburg Thalmann. The consensus price objective for the stock is $65.25. Shares closed Friday at $54.21. The 52-week trading range is $51.87 to $76.90.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at Baird. The consensus price objective is $73.33, and the stock closed trading on Friday at $55.57. The 52-week trading range is $49.31 to $72.18.  Shares were up smartly in the premarket as some analysts feel the company will beat earnings estimates again.

Nexeo Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: NXEO) is raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies. The consensus price objective is posted at $10.90. The stock closed last Friday at $9.95. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $6.40 to $10.70.

Presidio Inc. (NASDAQ: PSDO) is raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. The consensus price target is $18. The stock closed Friday at $14.83, in a 52-week trading range of $10.62 to $15.48.

Sibanye Gold Inc. (NYSE: SBGL) is raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs. The consensus price target for this smaller gold company is $5.25. The shares closed Friday at $3.91 on Friday but were higher in premarket trading. The 52-week trading range is $3.76 to $10.60.

Versum Materials Inc. (NYSE: VSM) is raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies. The 52-week trading range is $28.70 to $42.74. The consensus price target is $43, which compares to the most recent close of $37.42.

In case you missed it, last Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included AbbVie, American Water, Carnival, Cisco, Darden, Dexcom, Micron Technology, Nike, Occidental Petroleum and more.