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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Baker Hughes, Ericsson, E*Trade, Halliburton, Nokia, SunPower, Taiwan Semi, Transocean and More
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Stocks were indicated to open lower on Wednesday, but this was after a solid day of gains on Tuesday. U.S. equity indexes remain very close to their all-time highs. Unfortunately, most international markets are no longer anywhere close to their highs. One issue that has to be considered is that investors have seen less upside from buying on market pullbacks than in prior years. Investors also need to consider how they want to have their investments positioned for the rest of 2018.
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 cover stocks to buy, but others 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 are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Wednesday, September 18, 2018.
Aerpio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARPO) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $10 price target (versus a $3.79 prior close, after a 7.6% gain) at Guggenheim.
Baker Hughes, a GE Company (NYSE: BHGE) was started as Overweight and assigned a $40 target price at Morgan Stanley. Baker Hughes closed up 2% at $32.25 the prior day, and it has a 52-week trading range of $25.53 to $38.10 and a consensus target price of $37.38.
BeiGene Ltd. (NASDAQ: BGNE) was started with a Buy rating at CLSA. Shares closed at $160.75 the prior day, in a 52-week range of $77.54 to $220.10. The consensus target price is $208.60.
Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE: BBU) was started with a Sector Perform rating and assigned a $49 price target (versus a $44.39 close) at Scotia.
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO) was started with an Underweight rating and assigned a $15 target price at Morgan Stanley. It closed up 3.1% at $17.85 the prior day, and it has a 52-week range of $13.00 to $21.92 and a consensus target price of $15.95.
Dominion Energy Inc. (NYSE: D) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $79 from $74 (versus a $71.92 close) at Argus. The 52-week range is $61.53 to $85.30, and the consensus target price was $73.21.
Dril-Quip Inc. (NYSE: DRQ) was started with an Underweight rating and assigned a target price of $50 (versus a $49.80 close, after a 1.5% gain at Morgan Stanley.
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC), or just Ericsson, was raised to Neutral from Underperform with an $8.44 price target at Credit Suisse. Ericsson closed up 1.8% at $8.70 the prior day, and it has a 52-week range of $5.52 to $8.79 and a consensus target price of $8.48.
E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $65 price target at Jefferies. The stock closed up about 1% at $53.76 the prior day, in a 52-week range of $41.37 to $66.46. The consensus target price is $68.57.
Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $50 price target at Morgan Stanley. Haliburton closed up 1.2% at $39.16 the prior day, and it has a 52-week range of $35.75 to $57.86 and a consensus target price of $51.97.
Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $34 from $28 at Nomura/Instinet. It closed up 2.1% at $28.59 the prior day, and it has a 52-week range of $23.61 to $29.95 and a consensus target price of $26.79.
KBR Inc. (NYSE: KBR) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $22 price target at Macquarie. Shares closed up nearly 2% at $20.19 the prior day, and the 52-week range is $14.40 to $21.70. The consensus target price is $22.50.
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LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE: LYB) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral and the price target was lowered to $95 from $110 at JPMorgan. The stock closed down 1.3% at $102.10 the prior day, and it has a 52-week range of $95.51 to $121.95 and a consensus target price of $118.63.
Mechel PAO (NYSE: MTL) was raised to Neutral from Sell to Neutral but the price target was cut to $2.70 from $3.25 at Citigroup. Shares closed up 3.5% at $2.63 the prior day. The 52-week range is $2.30 to $5.60, and the consensus analyst target is $3.63.
Mobile Mini Inc. (NASDAQ: MINI) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $53 price target at Berenberg. It closed up 1.1% at $42.50 the prior day and has a 52-week range of $31.85 to $50.40 and a consensus target price of $49.40.
Noble Corp. OLC (NYSE: NE) was started with an Underweight rating and was given a $6 target price (versus a $6.15 close, after a 3% gain) at Morgan Stanley.
Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $6.50 price target at Credit Suisse. Yet, BNP downgraded it to Underperform from Neutral. The stock closed up 2.2% at $5.62 the prior day, and it has a 52-week range of $4.51 to $6.41 and a consensus target price of $6.58.
PetIQ Inc. (NASDAQ: PETQ) was reiterated as Outperform and the target was raised to $45 from $33 at Raymond James. It closed down just less than 1% at $41.77 the prior day. It has a 52-week range of $17.03 to $43.93 and a consensus target price of $40.67.
Select Income REIT (NYSE: SIR) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $24 (versus a $20.51 close) at Morgan Stanley.
SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the target price was raised to $10 from $8 at Credit Suisse. SunPower closed up 14.7% at $7.55 the prior day, and it has a 52-week range of $6.36 to $10.00 and a consensus target price of $8.12.
24/7 Wall St.Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (NYSE: TSM) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley. Its American depositary shares closed down almost 0.5% at $43.56 on Tuesday and were indicated up 0.8% at $43.90 on Wednesday.
Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and assigned a $16 price target at Wells Fargo. Morgan Stanley started it as Overweight with a $15 price target, and that was after an upgrade was seen elsewhere on Tuesday as well. Shares closed up 2.9% at $11.93 on Tuesday. The 52-week range is $8.70 to $14.34, and the consensus price target is $12.61.
Vermilion Energy Inc. (NYSE: VET) was started with an Outperform rating at Raymond James. It closed up 2.3% at $32.09 the prior day, and it has a 52-week range of $30.17 to $40.59 and a consensus target price of $42.50.
Tuesday’s top analyst calls were in AMD, Apache, Gold Fields, Marvell, Micron, Oracle, Starbucks, Transocean, United Rentals, Walmart and many more.
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