Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AppFolio, Cisco, Duke Energy, Goodyear, HyreCar, Illumina, Kinder Morgan, Micron, Pfizer, Tencent Music and More

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Stocks were indicated to open lower on Tuesday after a mixed performance on Monday. The market is getting ready for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates on Wednesday, and a mixed earnings season is creating some very big wins or bad misses on individual stock prices. With all the trade uncertainty dominating the news, the major stock market indexes remain rather close to all-time highs. 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 Tuesday, July 30, 2019.

AppFolio Inc. (NASDAQ: APPF) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at D.A. Davidson.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was maintained as Neutral at Nomura/Instinet, which raised the price target to $53 from $50. The firm noted that its confidence has risen regarding its refresh story and appreciates its efforts to reboot its webscale switching business, but the firm is concerned that the macro-picture is beyond Cisco’s control and the firm suspects that fiscal 2020 estimates do not allow for slowing spending.

Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $33 target price at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Shares closed at $25.52, in a 52-week range of $20.37 to $45.29. The consensus target price is $35.12.

Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) saw its price target cut to $88 from $91 while its rating was maintained as Neutral at Citigroup. Shares closed up 1% at $87.79, in a 52-week range of $78.00 to $91.67. The consensus target price is $94.67.

Freshpet Inc. (NASDAQ: FRPT) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $45 target price at JPMorgan.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT) saw its price target get cut to $14 from $16 though it was maintained as Neutral at Citigroup. Shares closed down 2.3% at $13.83, in a 52-week range of $12.56 to $25.41. The consensus target price is $17.66.

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT) was reiterated as Outperform and its target price was raised to $9.00 from $6.75 at Raymond James.

HyreCar Inc. (NASDAQ: HYRE) was started as Buy and assigned an $8.25 price target at Ladenburg Thalmann, implying well over 100% upside from the prior $3.07 close for this microcap stock.

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the target price was cut to $300 from $330 at Canaccord Genuity

iPic Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: IPIC) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Telsey Advisory.


Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $22 target price at BMO Capital Markets. Shares closed at $20.89, in a 52-week range of $14.62 to $21.50. The consensus target price is $22.05.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley. Shares closed down 1.4% at $46.82, in a 52-week range of $28.39 to $54.22. The consensus target price is $47.32.

On Deck Capital Inc. (NYSE: ONDK) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $4.25 target price at BTIG Research.

OneMain Holdings (NYSE: OMF) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $45 from $35 at Wedbush Securities.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch downgraded it to Neutral from Buy. Shares closed down 3.8% at $41.45, in a 52-week range of $38.14 to $46.47. The consensus target price is $45.45.

RumbleON Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBL) was started as Market Outperform and assigned a $10 target price at JMP Securities, implying more than 100% upside from the prior $4.20 close for this microcap stock.

SM Energy Co. (NYSE: SM) was started as Hold at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Spirit Airlines Inc. (NYSE: SAVE) was maintained as Outperform but the target price was lowered to $64 from $78 at Imperial Capital.

Spirit of Texas Bancshares Inc.’s (NASDAQ: STXB) price target was cut to $25.50 from $26.00 though the stock maintained as Overweight at Piper Jaffray. So what if no one is ever in their bank branches.

SS&C Technologies Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SSNC) was facing double-digit losses after earnings disappointed. Raymond James maintained it as Strong Buy but cut the target to $60 from $78. D.A. Davidson downgraded it to Neutral from Buy, and Buckingham Research maintained it as Buy but cut the target price to $67 from $72.

Tencent Music Entertainment Group (NYSE: TME) was started as Outperform with an $18 target price at Oppenheimer.

Viper Energy Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: VNOM) was started as Outperform with a $38 target price at Evercore ISI.

Zacks has named Helen of Troy Ltd. (NASDAQ: HELE) as its Bull of the Day, saying that this firm saw another solid beat and raise. The Bear of the Day is J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT). Zacks noted that the trucking business is challenging in 2019.

Monday’s top analyst calls included Aflac, Apple, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Coca-Cola, Dell Technologies, Dish Network, Gilead Sciences, McDonald’s, Starbucks and many more.

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