Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alcoa, Apple, Autodesk, BB&T, Bed Bath & Beyond, Camping World, Nvidia, Vertex, Voya and More

Investing

Published: March 26, 2019 8:45 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 10:52 pm

Stocks were indicated to open higher on Tuesday as bond yields appear to be stabilizing after the yield curve inverted late last week. Investors need to consider 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 Tuesday, March 26, 2019.

Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA) was maintained as Overweight and the price target was lowered to $35 from $47 (versus a $28.02 prior close) at Morgan Stanley.

Allegiant Travel Co. (NASDAQ: ALGT) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $149 price target (versus a $121.97 close) at Macquarie.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $220 from $197 at Morgan Stanley. Piper Jaffray reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $201 from $187. Still, Goldman Sachs maintained its Neutral rating and Oppenheimer maintained its Perform rating. Merrill Lynch kept its Buy rating but questioned why Apple released all this March when most of it will not be ready to roll out until the fall. Citi maintained its Buy rating and $220 target but warned that the event on Monday does not look like a new catalyst just on the merits of the new services.

Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $188 from $175 (versus a $154.69 close) at Credit Suisse. The firm feels Autodesk is able to achieve and likely exceed its long-term targets.

BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) was under fire by activists to replace its entire board of directors, sending shares up 23% to $17.05 in early trading. Raymond James raised the shares to Strong Buy from Market Perform with a $20 price target.

Camping World Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CWH) was started with a Neutral rating at Merrill Lynch.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Inc. (NYSE: ELS) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $112 price target (versus a $114.32 close) at Wells Fargo.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: INO) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $12 price target (versus a $3.62 prior close) at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Liquidia Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: LQDA) was reiterated as Outperform with a $49 price target (versus a $10.84 closing price) at Wedbush Securities, with the firm noting an extended cash runway after a capital raise and multiple potential catalysts in 2019 and 2020.

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Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was started as Overweight and assigned a $200 target price (versus a $173.78 close) at Piper Jaffray. The consensus target price is $186.38, and the 52-week range is $124.46 to $292.76.

Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

Sun Communities Inc. (NYSE: SUI) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $118 price target (versus a $117.90 close) at Wells Fargo.

Thor Industries Inc. (NYSE: THO) was started with an Underperform rating at Merrill Lynch.

United Therapeutics Corp. (NASDAQ: UTHR) was reiterated as Underperform and the target price was lowered to $98 from $105 (versus a $120.29 close) at Credit Suisse. The consensus target price is $126.00, and the 52-week trading range is $100.06 to $130.00.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair.

Voya Financial Inc. (NYSE: VOYA) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $66 from $59 (versus $48.07 close) at Credit Suisse.

Credit Suisse has addressed macro-views. On the inverted yield curve happening for the first time since August 2006, it has noted that the yield curve should steepen from current levels. Also, the firm expects that Chinese economic momentum should stabilize as opposed to accelerating, but that will still be a much better backdrop than in 2018.

Monday’s top analyst calls were in shares of Akamai Technologies, Analog Devices, Enphase Energy, LivePerson, NCR, Nu Skin, Tiffany, Valero Energy and many more.

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