Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Applied Materials, Barrick Gold, Comcast, GoDaddy, Intel, PG&E, Qualcomm, Sirius XM and More

Investing

Published: August 6, 2018 9:10 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 7:51 pm

Stocks were indicated to open lower by a tiny margin on Monday, after the indications were for a positive open earlier in the morning. Investors have had less success buying the all the stock market dips in 2018 than in prior years. Many investors also are reconsidering how they want their investments positioned ahead of the midterm elections and with international trade concerns.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy and some cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Additional commentary has been added on most of the daily analyst reports, along with trading history. 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, August 6, 2018.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the target price was raised to $62 from $60 at Cowen. The stock was up 1.5% at $48.84 on Friday and was indicated up 1% more at $49.32 on Monday. Its consensus target price was $65.82 ahead of this call.

Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was lowered to $11 from $17 at Jefferies.

Casella Waste Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CWST) was downgraded to Hold from Buy but the price target was raised to 30 from $28 (versus a $28.37 prior close) at Stifel.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at Atlantic Equities. The shares closed up 2.2% at$35.41 on Friday and were indicated up 1% more at $35.75 on Monday. The 52-week range is $30.43 to $44.00, and the consensus target price is $42.70.

CommScope Holding Co. (NASDAQ: COMM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was lowered to $30 from $35 at Jefferies. It closed at $31.64 a share and has a consensus target price of $34.77.

Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $53 price target (versus a $43.05 close) at UBS.

DexCom Inc. (NASDAQ: DXCM) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $140 price target (versus a $123.33 close) at Berenberg.

Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB (NYSE: FMX) was started with an Overweight rating and the American depositary shares were assigned a $118 price target (versus a $97.78 close) at JPMorgan.

GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY) was maintained as Overweight and the target price was raised to $81 from $72 (versus a $75.94 close) at Morgan Stanley.

HMS Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: HMSY) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $35 price target (versus a $28.90 close) at Citigroup.

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Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ: HZNP) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with an $18 price target (versus a $17.97 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight and the target price was cut to $53 from $62 (versus a $49.63 close) at Barclays. Intel shares were indicated down 1.7% at $48.75, in a 52-week range of $34.38 to $57.60 and with a consensus target price of $56.32.

Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $40 price target (versus a $32.90 close) at Mizuho.

PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $60 price target (versus a $42.96 close) at Wells Fargo.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the price target was raised to $80 from $64 (versus a $65.40 close) at Cowen. The shares a 52-week range of $48.56 to $69.28, and the consensus analyst target was $67.29.

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) was maintained as Underweight but the target price was raised to $6.20 from $6.00 (versus a $6.87 close) at Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley also maintained Liberty SiriusXM Group (NASDAQ: LSXMA) as Equal Weight, and the price target was raised to $51 from $50 (versus a $46.80 close), as part of the same call.

Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: PCRX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $46 price objective (versus a $45.21 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Sage Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SAGE) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $206 price target (versus a $145.68 close) at Piper Jaffray.

Tesaro Inc. (NASDAQ: TSRO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $35 price objective at Merrill Lynch.

Vital Therapies Inc. (NASDAQ: VTL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $35 price target at William Blair. This stock was down 1.2% at $8.10 a share on Friday but was indicated up 14% at $9.24 on Monday.

WPX Energy Inc. (NYSE: WPX) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform with a $30 price target (versus an $18.68 close) at Raymond James.

Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL) was started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Friday’s top analyst calls were in Blue Apron, Energy Transfer Partners, Funko, Symantec, Tesla, Teva Pharmaceutical, TripAdvisor and many more.

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