Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Abiomed, Allscripts, Apple, Carbonite, Kraft Heinz, L3, Southern Copper, Starbucks, VeriSign, XPO and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: November 2, 2018 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 3:28 pm

Stocks were indicated to open higher on China trade deal hopes and after a stronger nonfarm payrolls report. While the stock market has bounced handily from the lows at the end of October, investors in 2018 have been seeing lower upside after buying immediately after the big market pullbacks versus prior years. The investing community needs to be considering how to position its investments for the rest of the year and as 2019 approaches.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for investors and traders alike. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while some cover stocks to sell or stocks to avoid.

Additional commentary has been added on most of the daily analyst reports, along with trading history. The consensus analyst price targets mentioned, and other valuation metrics, are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Friday, Nov. 2, 2018.

Abiomed, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABMD) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $450 price target (versus $376.94 close) at BTIG Research.

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDRX) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at J.P. Morgan. Allscripts was also downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Cantor Fitzgerald. Allscripts was indicated down almost 15% at $10.30 after earnings, versus a prior 52-week range of $10.78 to $16.13.

American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSS) was raised to Outperform Neutral with a $184 price target (versus $153.14 close) at Wedbush Securities, noting that the pullback has presented an attractive entry point.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was down 5% after earnings as Tim Cook is lowering the amount of device unit sales and deliveries communication to investors. Wedbush Securities maintained its Outperform rating and $310 price target as its bullish thesis is unchanged.

BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. (NASDAQ: BDSI) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $5 from $4 (versus $3.85 close) at Janney, noting that a leading pharmacy benefits provider has added Belbuca to its national formulary list.

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Buckle Inc. (NYSE: BKE) was raised to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank.

Carbonite, Inc. (NASDAQ: CARB) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.

Chesapeake Utilities Corporation (NYSE: CPK) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $86 price target (versus $78.14 close) at Janney, with the company noting that valuation reached an inflection point.

Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE: AG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Societe Generale.

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESS) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

Huntington Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Wedbush Securities.

Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTLA) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Wedbush Securities, with the firm noting that development delays push out initiation of the company’s first clinical trial likely another six months to sometime in 2020.

The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ: KHC) was downgraded to Negative from Neutral at Susquehanna after the shares were indicated down 6% at $52.50 after earnings. This is a throw-in-the-towel call, as Kraft Heinz has a 52-week range of $53.03 to $82.48. It previously had a consensus analyst target price of $66.27.

L3 Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: LLL) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $71 price target (versus $57.38 close) at J.P. Morgan.

Michael Kors Holdings Limited (NYSE: KORS) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

Novocure Limited (NASDAQ: NVCR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Parker-Hannifin Corporation (NYSE: PH) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $193 price target at Wells Fargo.

Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ: PBYI) was last seen down 35% at $25.00 or so after earnings news. Puma Bio was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays, and it was lowered to Underweight from Overweight at J.P. Morgan.

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Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE: SCCO) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS, after shares rose 3.7% to $39.77. Southern Copper has a consensus analyst target price of $45.86 and it has a 52-week range of $35.59 to $58.09.

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) was maintain and Neutral at Wedbush Securities, but the company increased its price target to $64 from $53 based on positive same store sales growth as the beverage contribution accelerated.

VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird, and it was raised to Neutral from Underweight at J.P. Morgan. VeriSign shares were indicated up almost 7% at $150.50 on Friday after earnings, versus a 52-week range of $105.40 to $164.19 and versus a prior consensus analyst target price of $148.00.

Xcel Energy Inc. (NYSE: XEL) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Mizuho.

XPO Logistics, Inc. (NYSE: XPO) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel, after falling 2.6% to $86.99. XPO was indicated up 0.8% at $87.70 on Friday, versus a consensus analyst target price of $123.15.

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Thursday’s top analyst calls were in shares of American Eagle, Facebook, Nutrisystem, Pfizer, Roku, SeaWorld, Valero, Zynga and more than a dozen more companies.