Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Bed Bath & Beyond, Boeing, Constellation, Dell, Dollar General, Lockheed Martin, NOV, Snap, Twitter, Yelp and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: January 10, 2019 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 31, 2020 2:17 am

Stocks were taking a needed breather on Thursday. While the market had recovered, the Dow Jones industrial average had seen a bounce of 1,250 points from the lows of January 3, 2019. Investors have become used to the notion that buying the sell-offs has come with less reward, or even more losses, than in prior years. It has made it more difficult to position assets for the long haul when there has been so much volatility.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day to find new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while 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 Thursday, January 10, 2019.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) was maintained at Neutral and the price target was lowered to $14 from $15 at Wedbush Securities. The firm called it a weak quarter with a low-quality beating of earnings estimates. After closing up 4% at $12.26 on Wednesday, this stock was indicated up 15% at $14.10 on Thursday.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was started as Positive and assigned a $388 target price (versus a $343.83 prior close) at Susquehanna. Boeing’s 52-week range is $292.47 to $394.28, and its consensus target price is $417.60.

Builders FirstSource Inc. (NASDAQ: BLDR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the target price was lowered to $14 from $20 (versus a $12.93 close) at D.A. Davidson.

Connecticut Water Services Inc. (NASDAQ: CTWS) was started with a Market Perform rating at Wells Fargo. The most recent close of $66.43 compares with a consensus target price of $66.50.

Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) was down 12.4% at $150.94 on Wednesday after earnings and guidance disappointed, but its shares were indicated up almost 3% on Thursday. Goldman Sachs raised it to Buy from Neutral and Guggenheim raised it to Neutral from Sell. The 52-week range is $150.37 to $236.62.

Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) was started as Market Perform with a $48 price target (versus a $46.94 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a target price of $126 (versus $115.50 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) was started with a Market Perform rating and assigned a target price of $98 (versus a $97.17 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the target price was raised to $45 from $41 at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Envestnet Inc. (NYSE: ENV) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $63 price target (versus a $51.39 close) at Buckingham Research.

Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the target price was lowered to $135 from $165 (versus a $127.83 close) at Wells Fargo.

General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) was started as Neutral at Susquehanna.

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) was maintained as Neutral but the price target was lowered to $22 from $23 (versus a $21.98 close) at Wedbush. The firm cited softer demand than had been expected and worries that a downward shift in price mix will lead to lower revenues.

Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) was started with a Positive rating and assigned a $321 target price (versus a $270.54 close) at Susquehanna.

Meritage Homes Corp. (NYSE: MTH) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Wedbush, with the valuation downgrade coming as the stock had achieved its $41 price target.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) was started as Overweight and assigned a $35 target price at Stephens. The consensus target price is $36.62, and the 52-week trading range is $24.27 to $49.08.

PebbleBrook Hotel Trust (NYSE: PEB) was started with a Sell rating and assigned a $26 price target (versus a $29.99 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Ship Finance International Ltd. (NYSE: SFL) was started with a Neutral rating at B. Riley.

Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform with a $6 price target (versus a $6.28 close) at Cowen. Merrill Lynch maintained its Neutral rating, noting that Snapchat data continues to suggest few signs of a turnaround and also a loss of market share to Instagram. Snap’s 52-week range is $4.82 to $21.22, and the consensus target price was $8.15.

Trimble Inc. (NASDAQ: TRMB) was raised to Overweight from Neutral but the target price was lowered to $40 from $41 at JPMorgan. The prior consensus target price was $44.11.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was raised to Buy from Underperform with a $39 price objective at Merrill Lynch. The firm noted that Twitter continues to have modest improvement in reported usage ratios (while churn remains elevated) with growing penetration metrics and usage intentions giving more potential upside to estimates versus peers.

United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $95 target price (versus an $83.76 close) at JPMorgan.

Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNT) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $53 price target (versus a $43.98 close) at Jefferies.

WABCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE: WBC) was downgraded to Underweight from an already cautious Neutral rating at JPMorgan.

Weatherford International PLC (NYSE: WFT) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the price target was slashed to $1.00 from $2.50 at BMO Capital Markets. The prior close was $0.55, and the 52-week trading range is $0.22 to $4.41.

Wix.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: WIX) was reiterated as Outperform with a $130 target price (versus a $98.02 close) and was added to the Best Ideas List at Wedbush. The firm sees multiple catalysts leading it to be the top pick from the coverage universe in 2019 combined with what it viewed as a well-placed strategic long-term positioning.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight and the target price was lowered to $29 from $31 (versus $35.70 close) at Morgan Stanley. The consensus target price was $37.55.

Wednesday’s top analyst calls included Adobe, Autodesk, Bank of America, Cleveland-Cliffs, Deere, Facebook, Freeport-McMoRan, Nike, Tilray and many more.