Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Best Buy, Biogen, Booking, China Mobile, Chipotle, CNOOC, Kinder Morgan, Lumentum, MongoDB, Nike and More

Investing

Published: March 22, 2019 8:45 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 11:02 pm

Stocks were indicated to open lower on Friday, giving back most of the prior day’s FOMC-delayed reaction rally. Now that the stock market has recovered so much in 2019, investors need to be considering how they want their investments and assets positioned for the rest of the year and beyond.

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

Additional commentary and trading data have been added on some of the daily analyst reports. The consensus analyst price targets and other valuation metrics are from the Refinitiv (Thomson Reuters) sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday, March 22, 2019.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) was raised to Outperform from Perform with an $86 price target at Oppenheimer. Shares closed up 2.1% at $70.56 on Thursday and were indicated up another 1.5% at $71.60 early on Friday. Its consensus target price is $76.64, and its 52-week trading range is $47.72 to $84.37.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) was downgraded by several firms on Thursday after dropping more than 29% to $226.88 because the company bombed out on its Alzheimer’s late-stage studies. Canaccord Genuity downgraded it to Hold from Buy and cut the price target to $275 from $396. Citigroup and UBS also downgraded Biogen, to Neutral from Buy, after the big drop, and Morgan Stanley lowered its rating to Underweight from Overweight.

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $1,850 price target (versus a $1,774.36 prior close) at Wedbush Securities.

China Mobile Ltd. (NYSE: CHL) was downgraded to Outperform from Buy at CLSA. This is on the heels of a 5% drop to $52.90, and the stock has a 52-week trading range of $43.25 to $55.84.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was raised to Neutral from Underperform and the price target was raised to $640 from $500 (versus a $670.45 close) at Wedbush, with the sub-consensus view noting that there are now a lack of negative catalysts. The shares were last seen up more than 50% year to date alone, as well as up over 100% from its 52-week low.

CNOOC Ltd. (NYSE: CEO) was downgraded to Buy from Outperform at CSLA.

Commercial Metals Co. (NYSE: CMC) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie. Its shares closed up 8% at $17.37 on Thursday, in a 52-week range of $15.23 to $24.95 and with a consensus target price of $20.20.

Conagra Brands Inc. (NYSE: CAG) was maintained as Neutral but the price target as raised to $27 from $24 at Credit Suisse. The firm noted that its profit growth and Pinnacle will allay fears while the sales slippage continues to raise questions.

Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (NYSE: FIS) was rated as Outperform but was added to the Best Ideas List at Wedbush, and the prior $110 price target was raised to $140 (versus a $110.16 close). The firm noted the WorldPay acquisition will keep it competing strongly against the Fiserve and First Data combination.