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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alibaba, Alphabet, Apple, Baidu, Box, Kohl's, Lyft, Netflix, Twitter, Uber, US Steel and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: June 4, 2019 9:00 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 8:04 pm

Stocks were indicated to open higher by about 0.7% on the Dow Jones industrial average (+170) and S&P 500 (+19) as some headlines from China’s trade ministry talked about compromise rather than pointed trade war rhetoric. That said, the markets are now reacting daily to the ups and downs of trade war news. Investors still have to be considering how they want their portfolios positioned for the rest of 2019 and beyond.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week in an effort to find new trading and investing ideas for our readers. Some of these daily analyst reports cover stocks to buy, but other reports 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, June 4, 2019.

ADMA Biologics Inc. (NASDAQ: ADMA) was started with a Buy rating and assigned an $8 target price at Jefferies.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $250 price target at Loop Capital. Shares closed up 0.4% at $149.91. It has a 52-week range of $129.77 to $211.70 and a consensus target price of $208.69.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was started with a Hold rating and assigned a $1,250 target price at Loop Capital. Shares closed down 6.1% at $1,038.74. It has a 52-week range of $977.66 to $1,296.97 and a consensus target price of $1,341.82.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was maintained as Buy but the target price was lowered to $202 from $245 at Canaccord Genuity. Shares closed down 1% at $173.30. It has a 52-week range of $142.00 to $233.47 and a consensus target price of $216.17.

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was started with a Hold rating and assigned a $125 price target at Loop Capital. Shares closed down 2% at $107.78. It has a 52-week range of $106.80 to $274.00 and a consensus target price of $209.15.

Box Inc. (NYSE: BOX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the target price was lowered to $16 from $24 at Canaccord Genuity.

Corteva Inc. (NYSE: CTVA) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $29 target price at Citigroup.

Edison International (NYSE: EIX) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the target price was raised to $72 from $67 at UBS.

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) was maintained with a Hold rating at Argus, following a more than disappointing quarter that took a major bite out of its shares.

Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at Atlantic Equities. Shares closed up 2% at $50.28. It has a 52-week range of $48.71 to $83.28 and a consensus target price of $76.13.

Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $70 price target at Citigroup. Loop Capital started Lyft with a Hold rating, and BTIG started it as Buy with a $77 target. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey started it with a Buy rating and assigned a $68 price target, while Barclays started it as Equal Weight, and Goldman Sachs started it with a Neutral rating and a $65 price target. Shares closed up 3.3% at $59.54. It has a post-IPO range of $47.17 to $88.60 and a consensus target price of $73.21.

MercadoLibre Inc. (NASDAQ: MELI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BTIG.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $425 from $395 at Loop Capital. Shares closed down about 2% at $336.63. It has a 52-week range of $231.23 to $423.21 and a consensus analyst price of $387.03.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at BMO Capital Markets. Shares closed down 2% at $105.95. It has a 52-week range of $84.41 to $139.91 and a consensus target price of $120.68.

Tencent Music Entertainment Group (NYSE: TME) was started with a Buy rating at Loop Capital.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was started with a Buy rating at Loop Capital. Shares closed down 5.5% at $34.43. It has a 52-week range of $26.19 to $47.79 and a consensus target price of $39.50.

Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $55 target price at Oppenheimer. William Blair also started Uber as Outperform, and BTIG started it as Buy with a $77 price target. Meanwhile, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey started it with a Buy rating and a $56 price target, Needham started it as Buy with a $52 price target, and Goldman Sachs started Uber as Buy with a $56 price target. Shares closed up 2.1% at $41.25. It has a post-IPO range of $36.08 to $45.00 and a consensus target price of $57.67.

United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) was downgraded to Sell from an already cautious Neutral rating and the target price was slashed to $11 from $17 at Goldman Sachs. Shares closed up about 6% at $12.52. It has a 52-week range of $11.67 to $38.89 and a consensus target price of $19.43.

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $92 from $80 at Stifel.

The sentiment toward value stocks is shifting fast as the selloff picks up more steam, and Jefferies analysts have four great value plays for investors now. Merrill Lynch also has four stocks that have very limited exposure to trade and tariffs.

Credit Suisse’s global equity strategy team has noted that tariffs are now being used by the United States as a political tool rather than an economic one, which greatly increases the risk of escalation and an economic policy mistake, and thus the firm removed its tactical Overweight of equities in general. The firm maintained its Overweight stance on emerging markets and Japan.

There is a new player in crypto/blockchain as 14 major banks sign on to a new effort.

Monday’s top analyst calls included Alcon, Analog Devices, Big Lots, CACI, CenterPoint Energy, Cree, Lyft, Teva Pharmaceutical, WellCare Health Plans and many more.

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