Stocks were looking for a marginally higher open on Friday, along with a better-than-expected payrolls report from the U.S. Department of Labor. With U.S.-China trade talks reportedly entering their late stages, the major market indexes are still up double-digits year to date, and the S&P 500 is within striking distance of all-time highs again. Investors have to be considering how they want their portfolios 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 of the daily analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while some 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, April 5, 2019.
Amicus Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: FOLD) was started as Buy with a $20 price target (versus a $13.91 prior close) at Janney. The firm noted that the company is building a comprehensive portfolio of novel therapies for rare diseases, with a focus on lysosomal storage disorder, and that in addition to Galafold for Fabry disease it has a Phase 3 clinical development for Pompe disease. The firm also sees limited downside risk with significant upside potential from the gene therapy pipeline.
[nativounit]
Avrobio Inc. (NASDAQ: AVRO) was started as Buy with a $34 target price (versus a $24.42 close) at Janney. The firm noted that the company has built a strong lentiviral gene therapy platform for lysosomal storage disorders in which enzyme replacement therapy has been the standard of care but significant unmet medical needs remain.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley. The firm has a $20 target price (versus a $17.59 close), and the report pointed to the activist intervention and pressure for a new entire board has brought a risk to the underlying negative thesis.
Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM | SAM Price Prediction) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, with the firm pointing out the continued decelerating sales growth at the brewer of Sam Adams beer.
Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ: CELG) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Cantor Fitzgerald.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was reiterated as Hold at Stifel, but the firm vaulted its price target to $700 from $500, noting that its turnaround and rekindled growth momentum has continued to gather steam. The stock closed at $703.38, and it had a consensus target price of $571.78.
Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank, after a 6.5% gain the prior day to $191.45 a share. The firm sees the risk/reward profile as now balanced with the current share price, representing the base case fundamentals.
Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CRBP) was started with a Buy rating and assigned an $18 price target (versus a $7.08 close) at Jefferies. The shares were indicated up over 6% at $7.55 after the call, in a 52-week range of $4.50 to $9.11. The market cap was $455 million ahead of the call.
[recirclink id=539166]
CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS, just two days after being downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna. It closed down 0.5% at $74.80 on Thursday and had a prior consensus target price of $76.00.
Dow Inc. (NYSE: DOW) was started as Underweight and given a $49 price target at JPMorgan. Shares closed up almost 5% at $59.71 on Thursday ahead of the call.
Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), or Fannie Mae, was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $2.50 price target at B. Riley FBR. Shares closed at $2.90 and have a 52-week range of $0.98 to $3.18.
Gulfport Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: GPOR) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo, but the firm did raise its target price to $60 from $55 in the call. The firm pointed out lower demand in 2019 and also more competition from the likes of AMD. Intel shares closed up 0.8% at $55.92 ahead of the call, with a consensus target price of $53.50.
International Paper Co. (NYSE: IP) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.
Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) was already rated as Overweight at JPMorgan, but the firm added the stock to its Focus List as the firm sees earnings upside potential coming from multiple fronts.
Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. (NYSE: MMC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo, just a day after Credit Suisse screened it as an example of the type of company with the type of valuation that Warren Buffett would buy.
Merus N.V. (NASDAQ: MRUS) was maintained as Outperform but the price target was cut to $25 from $34 (versus a $13.55 close) at Wedbush Securities, with the firm calling the target lower after revising its expectations for its MCLA-128 in metastatic breast cancer.
[recirclink id=539084]
PotlatchDeltic Corp. (NYSE: PCH) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $42 price objective (versus a $38.03 close) at Merrill Lynch.
Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) was maintained as Neutral but the price objective was raised to $12 from $10 at Merrill Lynch. Shares closed up 1% at $11.28 ahead of the call and were indicated up 1.5% at $11.45 on Friday morning. The consensus target price was $8.85 on last look.
UGI Corp. (NYSE: UGI) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $60 from $54 at Jefferies. Shares closed up 0.4% at $52.50 ahead of the call, with a consensus target price of $58.60.
Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets, with the firm noting that Viacom’s recent pact with DirecTV for carriage will pave (or repave) the way for merger talks with CBS.
WEX Inc. (NYSE: WEX) was started with a Neutral rating at Robert W. Baird.
Thursday’s top analyst calls included Carbon Black, Etsy, Facebook, KeyCorp, Micron Technology, Nio, Roku, Smart Sheet, Vail Resorts, Waste Management and many more.
[wallst_email_signup]
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks