Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Annaly, Alcoa, Carvana, Crown Castle, Delta, Northrup Grumman, PG&E, Snap, Teradyne, Western Digital, XPO and More

Investing

Published: January 14, 2019 9:00 am

Last Updated: January 31, 2020 2:06 am

Stocks were indicated to open lower again on Monday morning as earnings season kicks off with the major banks set to report. Note that the Dow Jones industrial average had bounced more than 1,300 points from its lows right after the first of the year. Investors have witnessed elevated volatility over the past six weeks, and unfortunately the prior trend of buying all the dips has been followed by less upside or additional losses. This 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 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 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 Monday, January 14, 2019.

Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $38 price target (versus a $28.55 prior close) at Goldman Sachs. It had a consensus analyst target price of $49.94 and a 52-week range of $25.01 to $62.35. Shares were indicated up almost 1% at $28.80 on Monday.

Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the price target was raised to $10.50 from $10.00 (versus a $9.94 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods. It has roughly a 12% dividend yield, and it has a 52-week range of $9.57 to $11.38 and a consensus target price of $10.25.

Arconic Inc. (NYSE: ARNC) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $22 price target (versus a $19.68 close) at JPMorgan. The consensus target price is $23.11.

Carvana Co. (NYSE: CVNA) was started with an Underweight rating and given a $23 price target (versus a $36.80 close, after a 7.7% gain) at Morgan Stanley. It had a consensus target price above $60 and a 52-week trading range of $16.02 to $72.59.

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (NYSE: COG) was started with an Equal Weight rating at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Commercial Metals Co. (NYSE: CMC) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $21 price target (versus a $15.81 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus target price was $21.36, and the 52-week trading range is $15.23 to $26.72.

Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $110 price target (versus $107.38 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus target price is $117.54, and the 52-week trading range is $98.85 to $117.60.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was lowered to $51 from $62 (versus a $48.56 close) at Merrill Lynch. The consensus target price was $66.79. The 52-week trading range is $45.08 to $61.32.

Gladstone Land Corp. (NASDAQ: LAND) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform with a $9.50 target price (versus a $12.60 close) at JMP Securities.

Innovative Industrial Properties Inc. (NYSE: IIPR), the medical-cannabis firm, was initiated with a Buy rating and assigned a $60 price target at BTIG. Its shares previously closed at $51.78, in a 52-week range of $23.63 to $55.63.

Instructure Inc. (NYSE: INST) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James.

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miRagen Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: MGEN) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $22 from $19 at Wedbush Securities with the note that the Cobomarsen update shows its emerging clinical profile could transform the standard-of-care if the inhibitor of miR-155 is approved. There are three potential blockbuster sellers cited for the next decade, and this is only $3.41 stock. The 52-week trading range is $2.20 to $9.01.

Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $302 price target (versus a $256.05 close) at Credit Suisse. It had a consensus target price of $317.11 and a 52-week trading range of $223.63 to $360.88.

PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG) was last seen trading down over 40% and under $11 on new reports that the company likely will seek a bankruptcy filing by the end of January. The stock was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $22 price target (versus a $17.59 close) at JPMorgan. The prior 52-week range was $15.78 to $49.42, and any analyst who tried to defend the viability here after the latest Camp Fire will have to be issuing new “oops” ratings.

PNM Resources Inc. (NYSE: PNM) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $38.50 price target (versus a $41.51 close) at Mizuho. It had a consensus target price of $39.50.

PPL Corp. (NYSE: PPL) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $28 price objective (versus a $29.50 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: SCHN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the target price was lowered to $27 from $33 (versus a $22.96 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Sherwin-Williams Co. (NYSE: SHW) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $475 price target (versus a $395.93 close) at Wells Fargo. It has a 52-week range of $355.28 to $479.64 and a consensus target price of $449.00.

Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup. The stock closed up 1% at $6.28 on Friday and was indicated up 2.2% at $6.42 on Monday. It has a consensus target price of $7.84 and a 52-week trading range of $4.82 to $21.22.

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Taylor Morrison Home Corp. (NYSE: TMHC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Teladoc Health Inc. (NYSE: TDOC) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with an $80 price target (versus a $55.47 close) at Robert W. Baird. The consensus analyst target is $88.00. The 52-week trading range is $30.88 to $89.05.

Teradyne Inc. (NASDAQ: TER) was downgraded to In-Line from Outperform at Evercore ISI.

Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNT) was reiterated as Outperform with a $58 price target (versus a $45.42 close) at Wedbush. The firm talked up its secular cloud growth drivers acting as tailwinds that even have additional new growth ahead.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) was downgraded to Underperform from In-Line with a $30 price target (versus a $40.03 close) at Evercore ISI. The consensus target price was $64.20 ahead of this call. The shares were indicated down almost 5% at $38.05 on Monday morning.

XPO Logistics Inc. (NYSE: XPO) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Friday’s top analyst calls included Chesapeake Energy, CME, Constellation Brands, Dominion Energy, Electronic Arts, Gap, Netflix, Starbucks, Viacom, Yum! Brands, Zynga and many more.

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