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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: American Water Works, Apple, Arconic, AT&T, Carnival, RingCentral, SmileDirect, Uber and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: October 7, 2019 9:00 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 2:59 pm

Stocks were indicated to open lower on Monday after last week’s recovery on Thursday and Friday after seeing a 1,000-point move lower in three trading sessions. The bull market is now well over 10 years old, and volatility has been elevated despite strong double-digit percentage gains in 2019. This is a time when investors need to be considering what changes to make in their portfolios and assets heading into late 2019 and as 2020 approaches.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new ideas for traders and long-term investors alike. Some of the daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while some calls cover stocks to sell or 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 and other valuation metrics are from the Refinitiv sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations for Monday, October 7, 2019.

American Water Works Co. Inc. (NYSE: AWK) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $153 from $121 at Janney.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was maintained as Neutral at Nomura/Instinet, but the firm did raise its price target to $205 from $185, and it noted that the company is facing solid demand for the iPhone 11 and the investor focus may now also shift to the 2020 iPhone 12 5G refresh cycle. Apple’s consensus target price was $227.47 ahead of this call, and its shares closed up 2.8% at $227.01 on Friday.

Aqua America Inc. (NYSE: WTR) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $70 from $50 at Janney.

Arconic Inc. (NYSE: ARNC) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $30 target price (versus a $24.49 prior close) at JPMorgan.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $40 from $35 at Raymond James.

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the target price was lowered to $43 from $68 (versus a $41.14 close) at HSBC. Carnival has a 52-week range of $40.60 to $62.52.

Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that analysts are increasingly bearish and have driven down estimates. Shares last closed at $35.67, with a consensus price target of $42.06.

Columbia Sportswear Co. (NASDAQ: COLM) was reiterated as Outperform and was added to the Best Ideas List at Wedbush Securities. The firm noted that Columbia Sportswear has exceeded expectations for some time while consistently raising its outlook. The combination of relevant products, strategic marketing, direct-to-consumer initiatives and international growth should sustain upside for the second half and into 2020.

Five9 Inc. (NASDAQ: FIVN) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that it is an exciting enterprise cloud company and analysts are chasing it higher. Shares most recently closed at $55.40, with a consensus price target of $62.06.

JetBlue Inc. (NASDAQ: JBLU) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the target price was raised to $22 from $18 at Buckingham.

Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) was maintained as Overweight and the price target was lowered to $17 from $20 at Barclays. While this is a lower target, it reflects the new share price after the recent spin-off of its automotive-voice platform.

Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) was maintained as Equal Weight but the target was raised to $84 from $80 at Barclays.

RingCentral Inc. (NYSE: RNG) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and the target price was raised to $225 from $143 at JPMorgan. The shares closed up 28% at $163.30 on Friday on the heels of pact with Avaya, and they were indicated up 6% more at $1730.00 on Monday.

SmileDirectClub Inc. (NASDAQ: SDC) closed up 7.4% at $14.72 on Friday, and it is down from a post-IPO high of $21.10. JPMorgan started it as Overweight with a $31 target price. Credit Suisse started it with an Outperform rating and a $21 target price. Citigroup started it as Buy with a $19 target, Stifel started it as Buy with a $19 target and UBS started it as Buy with a $24 target.

10x Genomics Inc. (NASDAQ: TXG) closed up 6.9% at $51.45 on Friday and its post-IPO range is $45.11 to $63.38. Cowen started it as Outperform ($55 target) and JPMorgan started it as Overweight ($55 target).

Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $45 target price at Citigroup. The firm is now optimistic about a positive shift around the sentiment regarding its core ride-sharing business and other factors. The stock closed at $29.67 a share on Friday, in a post-IPO range of $28.31 to $47.08.

Wendy’s Co. (NASDAQ: WEN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen, with the firm noting a concern about it getting into the crowded breakfast offerings in 2020.

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6 Mega-Cap Stocks Analysts Want You to Buy for 2020

Middlesex Water Co. (NYSE: MSEX) and York Water Co. (NASDAQ: YORW) were both reiterated as Buy and their price targets were raised at Janney. Middlesex’s target was raised to $73 from $64, and York’s was raised to $53 from $38. Janney also reiterated SJW Group (NYSE: SJW) as Buy and raised the price target to $89 from $71.

In the wake of cutting commission down to zero last week, UBS has made some calls in the online brokerage sector: E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) was raised to Buy from Neutral, but the target price was lowered to $41 from $45. TD Ameritrade Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: AMTD) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the target price was lowered to $33 from $40.

Over the weekend, we reviewed six mega-cap stocks and also five stocks under $10 that analysts want investors to buy.

Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Ambarella, Apple, Comcast, Costco, CSX, Domino’s, Dish Network, Etsy, HP, 3M, Nike, PepsiCo, Snap and many more.