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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alphabet, Amazon, Beyond Meat, CommScope, Enphase, Nabors, Netflix, Nike, Roku, Tesla, Uber, Williams Companies and More
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Stocks were indicated to open handily lower on Tuesday after President Trump signaled that maybe a trade deal after the 2020 election might be best. Stocks already traded lower on Monday after negative trade-deal news and manufacturing data were digested, but that’s still after all major equity indexes hit all-time highs last week.
Investors are starting to see upside targets being issued for 2020, but many pressing issues and risks remain now that the bull market is over 10 and a half years old. This is a time for investors to consider what changes they should be making to their portfolios and assets as 2019 winds down and 2020 approaches.
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, while some 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 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 Tuesday, December 3, 2019.
Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. (NYSE: WMS) was started with a Buy rating and a $46 price objective (versus a $37.78 prior close) at Merrill Lynch.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was started with an Overweight rating and a $1,500 price target at Piper Jaffray, and Citigroup assumed coverage as Buy with a $1,500 target, up from a prior $1,450.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was assumed with a $2,200 price target and a Buy rating at Citigroup. Amazon closed down 1% at $1,781.60 on Monday, with a $2,167.56 consensus target price.
Ambev S.A. (NYSE: ABEV) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays. It closed up 0.7% at $4.24 on Monday, with a consensus target price of $5.21.
Anaplan Inc. (NYSE: PLAN) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that this mid-cap tech company has been posting double-digit revenue growth. Its shares most recently closed at $51.26 and have a consensus price target of $65.00.
Audentes Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: BOLD) was last seen up just over 100% at $59.00 after it agreed to be acquired by Astellas for $60 per share in cash. Raymond James downgraded it to Market Perform from Outperform. Wedbush Securities downgraded it to Neutral from Outperform and H.C. Wainwright downgraded it to Neutral from Buy. Piper Jaffray and Guggenheim cut their ratings to Neutral, while Robert W. Baird raised the shares to Neutral from Underperform.
Bandwidth Inc. (NASDAQ: BAND) was started with a Buy rating and a $65 target price (versus a $53.44 close, after a 4.4% drop) at Needham.
Beyond Meat Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND) was started with a Perform rating at Oppenheimer. The stock closed at $79.27 and still has a consensus target price of $109.54.
Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its target price was raised to $440 from $415 (versus a $373.12 close, after a 2.9% drop) at UBS.
CommScope Holding Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: COMM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and its target price was lowered to $14.50 from $16.00 (versus a $13.36 close) at Jefferies. The consensus target price is $18.32, and the 52-week trading range is $9.52 to $27.00.
Coupa Software Inc. (NASDAQ: COUP) was down almost 3% at $148.94 on Monday but traded down another 4% to $142.75 after earnings. Morgan Stanley maintained its Equal Weight rating but raised the price target to $151 from $146. Raymond James reiterated it as Outperform and raised its target to $170 from $150.
Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) was started as Buy with a $31 target price (versus a $22.07 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus target price was $30.67, and the 52-week trading range is $4.53 to $35.42.
Fair Isaac Corp. (NYSE: FIC) was started as Hold with a $370 target price (versus a $359.92 close) at Jefferies.
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE: NBR) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and its target was cut to $2.00 from $3.25 (versus a $2.04 close) at Credit Suisse. The 52-week range is $1.50 to $4.08, and the consensus target price was $2.66 ahead of this cut.
Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and its target price was lowered to $325 from $410 (versus a $309.99 close, after a 1.5% drop) at Citigroup. Netflix targets are all over the place, but the consensus target price was last seen at $360.59. The 52-week trading range is $231.23 to $385.99.
Newmont Goldcorp Corp. (NYSE: NEM) was up 0.9% at $38.74 on Monday after announcing a $1 billion buyback and offering operation forecasts. Deutsche Bank reiterated its Buy rating and raised the target price to $46 from $45.
Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $118 from $108 at Morgan Stanley. The $118 price target comes with a base case of $98 and a bullish case of $138. Nike closed up seven cents at $93.56 on Monday, with a consensus target price of $102.40 and a trading range of $66.53 to $96.87 over the past year.
Nine Energy Service Inc. (NYSE: NINE) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the target price was cut to $7 from $12 (versus a $5.50 close) at Credit Suisse.
Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral and the price target was lowered to $6.50 from $11.00 (versus a $9.15 close, after a 2.35% gain) at Credit Suisse.
Ranger Energy Services Inc. (NYSE: RNGR) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with an $8 target price (versus a $7.20 close) at Credit Suisse.
Renewable Energy Group Inc. (NASDAQ: REGI) was started as Buy with a $35 target price (versus a $17.25 close) at H.C. Wainwright. It had a consensus target price of $27.25 ahead of this call, with a 52-week trading range of $9.90 to $29.61 and a $680 million market cap.
Roku Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) was gutted with a 15% drop to $136.07 on Monday after a Morgan Stanley downgrade said all the great growth news is already priced in. Needham took the other side of the coin by reiterating its rating as Buy and raising the Roku target price to $200 from $150.
Ryder System Inc. (NYSE: R) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that the equipment leasing industry is in the bottom 4% of Zacks Industry Rank. Shares last closed at $52.55, with a consensus price target of $55.56.
TELA Bio Inc. (NASDAQ: TELA) was started as Buy with a $19 target price at Canaccord Genuity, and Piper Jaffray started coverage at Overweight with a $17 target price. Shares closed down 10.8% at $12.31 on Monday, and the post-IPO range was $10.78 to $15.05.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was reiterated as Overweight and its target price was raised to $423 from $372 at Piper Jaffray. Shares previously closed up 1.5% at $334.87 on Monday, with a consensus target price of $276.85 and a 52-week trading range of $176.99 to $379.49.
Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) was started as Neutral with a $26 target price (versus a $28.98 close) at Piper Jaffray. Uber has a post-IPO range of $25.58 to $47.08. Its consensus target price was $44.30 ahead of this call.
uniQure N.V. (NASDAQ: QURE) was started with a Buy rating and a $98 target price (versus a $54.78 close, after a 1.6% drop) at Goldman Sachs. It had a prior $82.13 consensus target price, but the shares were indicated up over 17% at $64.25 on Tuesday ahead of its data presentation at the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting.
Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) was maintained with a Buy rating at Citigroup, but the firm cut its target price to $26 from $27. Shares closed down 0.75% at $22.55 on Monday, with a prior consensus target price of $27.91 and a 52-week trading range of $20.36 to $29.55.
Zions Bancorp. (NASDAQ: ZION) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral and the target price was lowered to $46 from $49 (versus a $49.50 close) at Robert W. Baird.
Wall Street strategists are calling for stock market gains to continue in 2020, with some looking for close to double-digit gains again. One old-school technology titan could have outsized gains in 2020 as well.
Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included ADT, Altria, Biogen, Charles Schwab, Chewy, Deere, Dollar Tree, eBay, Intel, Nike, Kroger, Peloton, Roku, Wells Fargo and many more. This one media streaming downgrade from Monday was blamed as the hit on most of the high-flying names at nosebleed valuations.
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