Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alphabet, Amazon, Bank of America, Citigroup, Comcast, Intel, Nokia, Starbucks and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: July 26, 2019 9:10 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 6:03 pm

Stocks were indicated to open higher on Friday, with mixed earnings creating some very big wins or bad misses on share prices. With the major equity indexes at all-time highs, this is a time when investors have many reasons to remain cautious but also have to be considering how they want their assets positioned for the rest 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 investors and traders alike. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Additional commentary has been added on most of the daily analyst reports, along with trading history. The consensus analyst price targets and other valuation metrics are from the Refinitiv (Thomson Reuters) sell-side research service.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday, July 26, 2019.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was down 0.3% ahead of earnings but was last seen up 8% at $1,230 on Friday. Canaccord Genuity reiterated a Buy rating with a target hike to $1,350 from $1,250. Morgan Stanley reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $1,450 from $1,400. Citigroup reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $1,450 from $1,325, and Nomura/Instinet reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target from $1,300 to $1,400. Also, Alphabet was reiterated as Overweight and the target was raised to $1,500 from $1,430 at KeyBanc, and Mizuho reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $1,400 from $1,350.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was reiterated as Overweight at Barclays and the price target was raised to $2,175 from $2,050 at Barclays. Mizuho also reiterated it as Buy, with the target raised to $2,200 from $2,080. Wedbush Securities reiterated Amazon as Outperform with a $2,350 target. Shares were down 1.3% ahead of earnings and were indicated down 1.5% at $1,945.00 on Friday after earnings.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Camping World Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CWH) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the target price was raised to $86 from $74 at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) was reiterated as Overweight and the target price was raised to $51 from $48 at Morgan Stanley.

DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird. The stock closed down 1% at $58.93 on Thursday and was indicated down 1.2% at $58.20 on Friday.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods, and the firm raised its target to $260 from $225.

Hasbro Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) was raised to Buy from Hold at Argus. After closing up 0.3% at $122.19, it was indicated up 1.3% at $123.78.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was reiterated as Buy at Mizuho, which raised the price target to $58 from $52. Morgan Stanley reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $64 from $61. Intel was last seen up 3.8% at $54.10 after earnings were better than expected.

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Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) was raised to Buy from Market Perform at Charter Equity.

SLM Corp. (NASDAQ: SLM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Compass Point. The stock closed down nearly 10% at $9.16 on Thursday.

Spirit Airlines Inc. (NYSE: SAVE) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was cut to $51 from $68 at Credit Suisse.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) was maintained as Equal Weight but the target price was raised to $88 from $81 at Morgan Stanley. Stephens also maintained as Equal Weight, with a target hike to $90 from $72. KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated its Overweight rating on Starbucks and raised its price target to $105 from $84.

World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: WWE) was raised to Buy from Hold at Benchmark.

Thursday’s top analyst calls were in shares of AT&T, Caterpillar, Dollar General, Electronic Arts, Etsy, Facebook, Spirit Airlines, Tesla, Xilinx and many more. Wednesday’s top analyst calls were in shares of Akamai, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Hasbro, Kimberly-Clark, Rio Tinto, Sherwin-Williams, Snap, Texas Instruments, United Continental, United Technologies, Visa and many more.