Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Aetna, Baker Hughes, Chesapeake Energy, Cognizant, Cummins, Eli Lilly, GE, Qualcomm, Weatherford and More

Investing

Published: October 31, 2018 9:05 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 3:36 pm

Stocks were indicated to open much higher on Wednesday after Tuesday’s bounce, and earnings may be saving the day, on top of a strong ADP payrolls report. Some investors have remained bullish during this most recent market panic, but many key stocks are in their own bear market with drops of 20% to 40%. Investors also have seen lower upside after buying immediately after the big market pullbacks than in prior years.

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 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, October 31, 2018.

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and the target price was lowered to $206 from $212 at Piper Jaffray. Aetna shares closed up 1.3% at $197.65 ahead of this call, and the stock had a consensus target price of $206.00.

AGCO Corp. (NYSE: AGCO) was raised to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.

Baker Hughes, a GE Company (NYSE: BHGE) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $37 price target at Guggenheim, and Jefferies downgraded it to Hold from Buy with a $36 price target. Baker Hughes closed up 2.5% at $27.26 on Tuesday, and it was indicated up almost 1% at $27.50 on Wednesday. The consensus target price was $37.60.

CF Industries Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CF) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) was raised to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna.

Clovis Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ: CLVS) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ: CTSH) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $74 target price (versus a $66.52 prior close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Container Store Group Inc. (NYSE: TCS) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral with a $6 target price (versus a $10.05 close) at JPMorgan. This stock was indicated down 19.9% at $8.05 after earnings disappointed.

Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Robert W. Baird, and JPMorgan raised it to Neutral from Underweight. The stock closed up 2.3% at $134.40 ahead of these calls, and it had a consensus target price of $158.14.

Eagle Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: EGRX) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and the target price was slashed to $54 from $82 at Piper Jaffray. The shares closed down 16.5% at $47.50 ahead of this call, after releasing study results on fulvestrant that failed to meet primary bioequivalence endpoints.

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Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and its price target was raised to $157 from $147 at JPMorgan.

Electro Scientific Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: ESIO) was downgraded to Neutral at D.A. Davidson on news that MKS Instruments is acquiring the company. Its shares were up 91% at $28.53 afterward.

Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse. The shares were indicated up 2% at $110.59 on Wednesday morning. That compares with a consensus target price of $112.06.

Gardner Denver Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GDI) was already rated as Buy but it was added to the prized Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs, along with a $34 price target. The stock closed up almost 4% at $26.59 ahead of this call, and it previously had a $33.35 consensus target price.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) was down 8.8% at $10.18 on Tuesday after slashing its dividend to a penny. Now, UBS raised GE shares to Buy from Neutral with a $13 price target.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $70 price objective (versus a $63.18 close) at Merrill Lynch. Qualcomm shares had a consensus analyst target of $72.62 ahead of the call.

SkyWest Inc. (NASDAQ: SKYW) was raised to Outperform from In-Line at Evercore ISI. Its shares closed up 1.2% on Tuesday, but they were indicated up more than 6% at $54.50 after earnings.

Veracyte Inc. (NASDAQ: VCYT) was raised to Buy with a $17 price target (versus an $11.56 close) at Janney, with the firm noting that revenue acceleration is taking place, along with lower cash burn and a developing margin leverage.

Weatherford International PLC (NYSE: WFT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was slashed to $1.50 from $5.00 at UBS. Weatherford closed down 18% at $1.26 on Tuesday, and it previously had a consensus target price of $3.63 before this or other target price cuts from analysts.

Yum China Holdings Inc. (NYSE: YUMC) was raised to Neutral from Underperform with a $35 price objective at Merrill Lynch. The stock closed up 1.5% at $31.69 ahead of this call but was indicated up almost 7% at $33.90 after beating earnings expectations with a slight miss on revenue.

Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Akamai Technologies, JetBlue Airways, Nordstrom, Nvidia, On Semiconductor, Southwest Airlines, Ventas and many more companies.