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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Amazon, Baker Hughes, Berkshire Hathaway, Beyond Meat, PG&E, Ping, Slack, 3D Systems, Uber, Wells Fargo and More
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Stocks saw continued selling pressure in Monday’s post-coronavirus spreading trading, and some of this selling has coincided with very overbought conditions ahead of the rapid spreading of the number of reported viral cases in China and elsewhere. Stocks were at all-time highs just a few days ago. Many investors still have not made portfolio changes since the very strong market in 2019. This is also an election year in which much is at stake, and strategists overall are calling for single-digit percentage gains in 2020.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding 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 analyst calls in a quick-hit summary for easy reading, and additional comments and trading data have been added on many 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 seen on Tuesday, January 28, 2020.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was reiterated as Outperform with a $2,000 target price (versus a $1,828.34 prior close) at Wedbush Securities ahead of this week’s earnings report. Amazon is seen as having solid earnings from strong holiday trends but also having a cautious profit outlook.
Baker Hughes Co. (NYSE: BKR) was maintained with a Buy rating but its target was lowered to $31 from $32 at Deutsche Bank. Shares closed down 3.5% at $22.05 on Monday, and the consensus target price is still $29.09.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) very rarely receives analyst calls, and its shares closed down almost 2% at $222.45 on Monday with the market sell-off. UBS reiterated its Buy rating while raising its target price to $257 from $242 in the call with a view that insurance operations will improve in profitability in 2020 with a strong pricing environment. The Berkshire Hathaway A-shares saw their target price raised to $385,000 from $362,000.
Beyond Meat Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND) closed up over 4% at $124.75 on Monday after news that Denny’s will be carrying its products. JPMorgan downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight and has a $134 target price. This is a valuation call, as many positives are already baked into the stock after such a large rally.
Dow Inc. (NYSE: DOW) was maintained with an Outperform rating but its target was lowered to $51 from $54 (versus a $47.18 close) at Credit Suisse. Its consensus target price was $56.29.
E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) was reiterated as Overweight and the target price was raised to $53 from $52 (versus a $44.34 close) at Morgan Stanley.
Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) was raised to Neutral from Underperform with a $100 target price (versus a $98.43 close) at Credit Suisse.
IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IAC) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $290 from $245 (versus a $259.38 close) at Barclays.
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) was started as Equal Weight with a $300 target price (versus a $283.76 close) at Wells Fargo.
Masco Corp. (NYSE: MAS) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised to $54 from $48 (versus a $47.96 close) at Argus.
PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG) was maintained as Equal Weight at Barclays, but the firm raised its target price to $16 from $10 in the call. Mizuho raised it to Buy from Neutral with a $22 target price. Shares closed down 1.6% at $14.04 on Monday and were indicated to open marginally higher on Tuesday.
Ping Identity Holding Corp. (NYSE: PING) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised to $32 from $26 (versus a $24.29 close) at Citigroup.
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $165 target price (versus a $135.39 close) at Argus. It has a 52-week range of $114.79 to $178.22, and its consensus target price is $182.39.
Raymond James Financial Inc. (NYSE: RJF) was reiterated with a Buy rating and a $96 target price for the focus list at Argus. The stock closed at $89.55 ahead of the call, and its consensus target price is $104.67.
RingCentral Inc. (NYSE: RNG) was started with an Overweight rating and a $240 target price (versus a $195.15 close) at Wells Fargo. The consensus target price is $200.24.
Slack Technologies Inc. (NYSE: WORK) was started as Overweight with a $30 target price (versus a $20.06 close) at Wells Fargo.
SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ: SIVB) was reiterated as Overweight and the target price was raised to $300 from $295 (versus a $243.38 close) at Morgan Stanley.
3D Systems Corp. (NYSE: DDD) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $12 target price (versus an $11.08 close) at Piper Sandler. It was indicated down almost 5% at $10.55, in a 52-week range of $6.47 to $14.50. The consensus target price was $9.58.
Travelers Companies Inc. (NYSE: TRV) was reiterated as Buy with a $145 target price at Argus. Travelers closed at $133.73, in a 52-week range of $124.08 to $155.09 and with a consensus target price of $137.82.
Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO) was started as Overweight and with a $155 target price (versus a $120.55 close) at Wells Fargo.
Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) closed down over 1.3% at $36.30 on Monday, with a consensus target price of $44.51. UBS started Uber with a Buy rating and a $56 target price.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) was reiterated as Outperform and the target price was raised to $220 from $205 at Raymond James.
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was raised to Neutral from Underperform with a $50 target price (versus a $47.10 close) at Robert W. Baird.
Zions Bancorp. (NASDAQ: ZION) was raised to Neutral from Underperform with a $48 target price (versus a $46.46 close) at Robert W. Baird.
If you are worried about investing during China’s coronavirus expansion, there are stocks that have zero exposure to China. We have tracked the billions of dollars worth of equity damage in the companies with direct exposure to China and coronavirus trends, but the stocks are surging for any company that can claim to be working on a treatment.
A handful of utilities are still expected to outperform in 2020.
Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Alphabet, Amazon.com, Apple, Biogen, Chewy, Comcast, Deere, Facebook, Intel, SolarEdge Technologies, Wynn Resorts and many more.
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