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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Abbott Labs, Boston Scientific, CME, DaVita, Skyworks, Spirit Air, AMD, Nvidia and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: November 28, 2018 9:10 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 2:24 pm

Stocks were looking to open higher on Wednesday morning after Tuesday’s bounce. While investors have seen numerous waves of selling in 2018, they also have seen lower upside after buying immediately after the big market sell-offs than in prior years. Now investors have to be considering how they want their investments and assets positioned for 2019.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while 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 mentioned 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, November 28, 2018.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) was started with a Buy rating and assigned an $83 price target at UBS in a broader health care initiation. Shares closed up 1.3% at $69.71 on Tuesday, and the consensus target price is $78.94.

Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $45 target price (versus a $35.26 prior close) at UBS. It has a 52-week range of $24.54 to $39.44 and a consensus price target of $42.29.

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS, but the firm did raise its target price up to $204 from $185. Shares closed up 1.3% at $194.15 on Tuesday and were indicated to open flat on Wednesday. CME has a 52-week range of $143.68 to $197.08 and a consensus price target of $195.50.

DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $70 price target (versus a $62.68 close) at Raymond James.

Medtronic PLC (NYSE: MDT) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $112 price target (versus a $93.13 close) at UBS. The consensus target is roughly $104, and the 52-week range is $76.41 to $100.15.

Skyworks Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight and its target price was maintained at $76 (versus a $70.67 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Spirit Airlines Inc. (NYSE: SAVE) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and its target price was raised to $82 from $59 (versus a $58.76 close) at JPMorgan. This was after a 15% gain from a strong revenue outlook. The 52-week range is $34.36 to $62.01.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) both traded up over 2% in early indications on Wednesday. Mizuho’s Vijay Rakesh talked up rebounding GPU prices. AMD was down about 40% from its peak and Nvidia was down about 47% from its peak coming into this call.

Other key analyst calls from this Wednesday were seen as follows:

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL) was maintained as Buy at Argus, but the firm lowered its target price to $106 from $115 following its third-quarter results. The 52-week range is $86.77 to $105.36, and the consensus price target is $107.40.

Aspen Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: AZPN) was raised to Buy from Hold and its price target was maintained at $100 (versus an $80.05 close) at Canaccord Genuity. The 52-week range is $65.03 to $118.86, and the consensus price target is $105.17.
Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) was started with a Buy rating and assigned an $80 price target (versus a $65.96 close) at UBS.

Becton Dickinson and Co. (NYSE: BDX) was started with a Neutral rating at UBS. The 52-week range is $209.91 to $265.87, and the consensus price target is $267.19.

Chesapeake Utilities Corp. (NYSE: CPK) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $100 target price (versus an $81.57 close) at Maxim Group.

DexCom Inc. (NASDAQ: DXCM) was started with a Neutral rating at UBS in a broader health care sector call. The 52-week range is $51.04 to $152.14, and the consensus price target is $151.63.

Eaton Vance Corp. (NYSE: EV) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. The a 52-week range is $40.40 to $60.95, and the consensus price target is $49.31.

Hill-Rom Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HRC) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $115 price target (versus a $93.44 close) at UBS.

Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) was started as Neutral with a $540 price target at UBS in a health care sector call.

On Deck Capital Inc. (NYSE: ONDK) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $11 from $9 (versus a $7.13 close) at UBS.

Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $19 price target at Argus. The 52-week range is $15.42 to $20.21, and the consensus price target is $19.60.

Tandem Diabetes Care Inc. (NASDAQ: TNDM) was started with a Neutral rating at UBS in a broader sector call. The 52-week range is $2.14 to $52.55, and the consensus price target is $52.50.

Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE: WHR) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, but the firm maintained its estimates and $125 target price. The 52-week range is $102.13 to $187.47, and the consensus price target is $138.25.

YY Inc. (NASDAQ: YY) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan. The 52-week range is $56.65 to $142.97, and the consensus price target is $97.02.

24/7 Wall St.
SunTrust Says Worst Case Priced In for Oilfield Services: 3 Bargains to Buy

Credit Suisse made some industry calls that may have a broader spillover if they get noticed. The firm feels that U.S. steel prices have nowhere to go but down, with the capacity overhang having worsened. In semiconductors, Credit Suisse noted some support having been found, but it feels it’s too early to call a hard bottom yet.

Tuesday’s top analyst calls included Athenahealth, Apple, Deere, Hormel, JinkoSolar, Micron Technology, U.S. Bancorp, Walt Disney and many more.