Investing

8 Stocks Analysts Want You To Buy After Earnings for Big Upside in 2020

Jon C. Ogg

Published: November 29, 2019 8:01 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 12:42 pm

The week of Thanksgiving is frequently a positive week for the stock market, and on last look the Dow was up just over 20% and the S&P 500 was up just over 25% on a total return basis so far in 2019. Earnings season has by and large ended and the reports were not as slow as many analysts and investors had feared. The economy, in wide economic readings and in corporate earnings and guidance, was also not as bad as the doomsday recession predictions had sounded ahead of earnings season.

In the last couple of weeks, there has been a slew of companies that did so much better on earnings that Wall Street was pounding the table with formal analyst upgrades and price target hikes after their reports. While investors should never use any analyst report as a sole basis for any investment decision, the post-earnings moves and the group of calls for more good things to come should at least offer a little support for investors who want to make sure they are not buying the garbage stocks when the market wants to reward winners and punish losers.

24/7 Wall St. has included several of the more recent winners here for investors to look at now that they have reported earnings and now that the waves of analyst reports have been seen. Some color has been offered in some of the calls and any consensus analyst information is from Refinitiv.

Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI) was up 1.7% at $114.89 ahead of earnings and was indicated up almost 1% more at $115.75 after earnings. The surge was less than the analyst calls might have indicated, but perhaps the 35% year-to-date gain made it more factored in.

Raymond James reiterated its Outperform rating on Analog Devices and raised its target to $130 from $120. BMO Capital Markets reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $135 from $122; and Nomura/Instinet maintained its Neutral rating but still raised its target up to $100 from $90 in that call. Credit Suisse reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $130 from $120.

Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) was reiterated as Neutral with a $171 price target at Wedbush Securities. Morgan Stanley reiterated its Equal Weight rating and raised its target to $164 from $150 in that call. RBC Capital Markets reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $189 from $175. Canaccord Genuity reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target price to $195 from $160. Oppenheimer reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target price to $200 from $175, and Credit Suisse reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $185 from $175.

The post-earnings reaction for Autodesk was up 4% at $177.50 on Wednesday morning in the after-earnings reaction. Its prior 52-week range was $117.72 to $178.95 and the consensus analyst target price had been $175.78.

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) saw just under a 10% gain to $81.57 after a stronger earnings report on Tuesday and there was only mild profit taking on Wednesday. Its 52-week high is now $83.63, and the consensus analyst target was previously $83.28.

Morgan Stanley reiterated its Equal Weight rating but raised its target price up to $77 from $70 in its Best Buy call. Barclays reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $90 from $75, and Piper Jaffray reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $97 from $86. Guggenheim reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $90 from $80 in that call. RBC Capital Markets maintained its Sector Perform rating but raised its target to $86 from $74.

DICK’s Sporting Goods, Inc. (NYSE: DKS) was up 18.6% at $46.77 after earnings and guidance pleased investors on Tuesday and it had seen only mild profit taking on Wednesday. RBC Capital Markets maintained its Sector Perform rating but raised its target price up to $47 from $40. Barclay’s raised its rating to Overweight from Equal Weight and raised its target to $56 from $45, and Evercore ISI raised its rating to Outperform from In-Line and vaulted its target price up to $60 from $35 after the report. Morgan Stanley maintained its Equal Weight rating but raised its target to $46 from $36 after the reaction.

Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) managed to finally close some of the underperformance gap against rival Home Depot, and its shares rose after earnings while Home Depot’s shares fell. It was up almost 4% at $117.83 after beating earnings, but the shares were closer to $119 ahead of the Thanksgiving break.

All of these calls were in the prior week, but Lowe’s was reiterated as Outperform with a $135 target price at Wedbush Securities. Goldman Sachs reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $135 from $123. Robert W. Baird reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $145 from $135 in that call. Telsey Advisory Group also reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $133 from $120 in its call.

Nutanix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTNX) rallied about 16.5% to $33.47 on Tuesday despite some mixed comments from the enterprise cloud platform operator after earnings. Its shares were up about 4% at $34.80 ahead of the Thanksgiving break.

BofA Merrill Lynch jumped on Nutanix by reiterating its Buy rating and raising its price objective to $40 from $35. Morgan Stanley maintained an Equal Weight rating but raised its target to $33 from $29, and Stifel maintained its Hold rating and raised its target to $34 from $22. A big jump was seen when KeyBanc reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target up to $42 from $40, and RBC reiterated its Outperform rating raised its target to $38 from $32.

Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) had been indicated up 7.2% at $136.00 in its post-earnings reaction last Friday morning, but it closed up even higher at $140.50 on that day. Its shares were even up above $148 right before the Thanksgiving pause.

Multiple analysts chimed in. Splunk was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $150 from $142 at Barclays. Splunk was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $175 from $165 at Wells Fargo, and it was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $175 from $160 at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Wedbush Securities reiterated its Outperform rating and $162 target. BofA Merrill Lynch reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $170 from $167 in that call.

Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) was a star of the retail earnings season, defying the omnichannel fears and thriving with it. Target shares initially rose 14% to $126.43 on last week’s post-earnings-beat reaction. It was trading at about $127 ahead of the Thanksgiving break.

Analysts came out in force a week earlier after the earnings supported its valuations handily. BofA Merrill Lynch reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price objective to $150 from $125 in that call. KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $140 from $130, while Robert W. Baird reiterated its Outperform and raised its target to $140 from $115. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $137 from $120.