Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Amgen, Chipotle, Lam Research, Netgear, Teva Pharmaceutical, Western Digital and More

Lee Jackson

Published: October 1, 2018 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 5:05 pm

The futures traded up big Monday morning as we start the final quarter of 2018. With some of the distractions starting to move out of the way, and the Federal Reserve rate increase on the books, Wall Street will be looking forward to the start of the third-quarter earnings reporting season. Add in Canada agreeing to a new trade deal, and stocks look ready to take off.

Many investors have had to deal with seeing lower upside from buying on market pullbacks than in prior years. Now the investing community has to consider how to position their investments for the rest of 2018 and into 2019.

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 some of them 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 Monday, October 1, 2018.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) was started with a Neutral rating at Cantor Fitzgerald, which put a $223 price target on the biotech giant. That compares with a Wall Street consensus price target of $204.05. The shares closed trading on Friday at $207.29.

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Northland Capital. The 52-week trading range for the stock is $19.40 to $32.33. The consensus price target is $34.16, and the stock closed trading on Friday at $31.24.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was downgraded to Underperform from Perform at Oppenheimer. The 52-week trading range is $247.52 to $530.58, and the consensus price target is $471.70. The shares closed Friday at $454.52.

Delphi Technologies PLC (NYSE: DLPH) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Merrill Lynch. The 52-week trading range for the car parts behemoth is an incredible $31.35 to $102.99, and the consensus price objective is $51.62. The shares closed trading on Friday at $31.36.

Lam Research Inc. (NASDAQ: LRCX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Mizuho. The 52-week trading range for the semiconductor capital equipment leader is $147.54 to $234.58, and the consensus price target is $230.68. The stock closed way below that level on Friday at $151.70.

LogMein Inc. (NASDAQ: LOGM) is raised to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer. The 52-week trading range is $77.05 to $134.80, and the consensus price target is $111.33. The stock ended trading on Friday at $89.10.

Netgear Inc. (NASDAQ: NTGR) was started with a Market Perform rating and a $63 price target at Cowen. That compares to a consensus price target of $85.67. The shares closed trading on Friday at $62.85.

Teva Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: TEVA) was added to the Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs The 52-week trading range for generic drug giant is $10.85 to $25.96. The consensus price objective is $21.00, but shares closed above that level Friday at $21.54.

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Veeva Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: VEEV) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity. The 52-week trading range is $52.17 to $109.09, and the stock has a consensus price target of $98.42. With the stock closing above that level Friday at $108.87, this looks like a valuation call.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Mizuho. The 52-week trading range for the hard disk drive giant is $53.61 to $106.96, and the consensus price target is $98.63. The stock ended Friday’s trading at $58.54.

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

Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE: APO) was added to the Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy list. The 52-week trading range is $28 to $37.35, and the consensus price target is $40.18. The stock closed Friday at $34.55.

Autoliv Inc. (NYSE: ALV) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Baird. The 52-week trading range is $83.94 to $115.44. The consensus price objective is posted at $117.48. The shares closed Friday at $86.68.

Avalara Inc. (NYSE: AVLR) is raised to Overweight from Sector Weight at KeyBanc Capital Markets. The 52-week trading range is $32.10 to $59.40. The consensus price objective is $47. The stock closed trading Friday at $34.93 a share.

F5 Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray. The 52-week trading range is $114.63 to $199.71, and the consensus price target is $173.43. This looks like another valuation call.

Frontline Ltd. (NYSE: FRO) was resumed in research coverage at Jefferies with a Hold rating and a $6 price target. That compares with a consensus target of $5.10. The shares closed Friday’s trading at $5.81, but were up over 5% in premarket action.

Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at MKM Partners. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $6.10 to $12.39, and the consensus price target is set at $10.98. The shares ended trading on Friday at $7.30.

Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAV) is raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank. The shares have traded between $8.34 and $11.55 over the past year. The consensus price target is $12.94. The stock closed Friday at $11.34, but shares were up over 4% in premarket trading.

In case you missed it, check out Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, which included Accenture, Blucora, Carnival, Cnooc, Hormel, Lowe’s, Tesla, WPX Energy, Zynga and more.