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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Adobe, Apple, Bloom Energy, CommScope, Dell, HP, Oracle, Shopify, Tesla and More
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Stocks were indicated to open stronger on Thursday with a move of more than 200 points on the Dow and 25 points on the S&P 500 after Jerome Powell and the FOMC did not cut rates but suggested that they would cut rates ahead. The written statement was less dovish than the market was calling for, but it still included accommodation ahead. Investors need to be considering how they want their portfolios and assets positioned for the second half of 2019 and beyond.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new ideas for traders and long-term investors alike. Some of the daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other analyst calls cover stocks to sell or stocks to avoid.
We have provided these calls in a quick-hit summary for easy reading and additional comments and trading data have been added on some of the calls. The consensus analyst price targets mentioned and other valuation metrics are from the Refinitiv (Thomson Reuters) sell-side research service.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from Thursday, June 20, 2019.
Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $211 from $194 (versus $183.95 close) at Citigroup.
Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and the target price was raised to $327 from $288 (versus $291.21 close, after a 5.2% post-earnings pop) at Stephens. Many other firms raised their targets the prior day as earnings exceeded expectations.
AES Corporation (NYSE: AES) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at BofA Merrill Lynch.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was started as Hold and was assigned a $205 target price (versus $197.87 close) at Deutsche Bank. Apple had a consensus analyst target price of $210.89 and was indicated up 1.5% at $200.81 ahead of the opening bell.
Bloom Energy Corporation (NYSE: BE) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at BofA Merrill Lynch.
CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: COMM) was raised to Buy from Neutral but the price target was lowered to $19 from $20 (cversus $15.61 close) at Goldman Sachs. CommScope was indicated up 4% at $16.30 after the call.
Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) was started as Buy and was assigned a $62 price target (versus $53.42 close, after a 3.7% gain) at Deutsche Bank. The firm noted that Dell’s risks of a slowdown in IT-infrastructure growth appears to already be priced into the shares after a recent 25% pullback.
Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRPT) was started as Buy and was assigned a $60 target price (versus $49.35 close) at D.A. Davidson.
Genomic Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: GHDX) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $72 target price at Piper Jaffray.
The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray, but the firm raised its price target to $125 from $122 (versus a prior $137.90 close). The firm believes that the chocolate and candy giant has stable growth but is valued at a high premium to its peers.
HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) was started as Hold with a $20 price target (versus $20.63 close) at Deutsche Bank.
The Joint Corporation (NASDAQ: JYNT) was started as Buy and was given a $23 target price (versus $16.91 close) at B. Riley.
Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) was last seen up 6% at $55.92 and challenging all-time highs after beating earnings expectations and guiding for double-digit earnings growth based on its on-premise IT offerings, cloud and license support services all contributing to revenue growth. Wedbush Securities maintained its Neutral rating and $55 target price as the firm said it remains on the sidelines as it doesn’t see an inflection point in its infrastructure or cloud positions.
Progressive Corporation (NYSE: PGR) was resumed with a Neutral rating at Janney. The firm said that Progressive is a best-in-class insurer but the risk/reward appears to be in balance over a 6 to 12 month outlook and that the competitive personal auto marketplace and long-term strategy present growth and combined ratio challenges and also that the shares could be challenged if the combined ratio rises and growth decelerates.
Shopify, Inc. (NYSE: SHOP) surged on its new product offerings and fulfillment centers to help its growing base of merchants. CIBC downgraded Shopify to Neutral from Outperform based on valuations, but it did raise its target up to $350 from $260.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was reiterated as Sell at Goldman Sachs, and the firm lowered its price target to $158 from $200. The firm sees a lower probability that upside volume scenarios will be achieved.
Wells Fargo sees mixed results on the cap-ex side of semiconductors. KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) and Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX) were started with Market Perform ratings at Wells Fargo. ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ: ASML) was started with an Outperform rating Wells Fargo
Wednesday’s top analyst calls were in shares of Adobe, Energizer, Marvell, MongoDB, Royal Gold, Six Flags, State Street, SunPower, TripAdvisor and many more.
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