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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alphabet, Amazon, Chipotle, Disney, Ford, Goldman Sachs, Grubhub, New Relic, Pinterest, Snap, Tesla and More
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Stocks surged on Monday and Tuesday, and the gains looked set to continue on Wednesday with the index futures 0.8% to 0.9% higher. Just like that, stocks went from overbought panic selling to within striking distance of all-time highs again.
Many investors have yet to make any major changes to their holdings after the incredible gains in 2019. This is an election year with much at stake. Strategists largely 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 from Wednesday, February 5, 2020.
Albermarle Corp. (NYSE: ALB) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird, but the firm raised its target to $100 from $90 in the call. Shares closed up almost 12% at $90.43 on Tuesday as lithium stocks are garnering interest on Tesla’s coattails. The stock is up from $73.04 at the end of 2019.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $1,620 from $1,450 at Argus.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised to $2,400 from $2,200 at Citigroup. Amazon closed up 2.2% at $2,049.67 on Tuesday, and its consensus target price has risen to $2,384.84 after strong earnings.
Baozun Inc. (NASDAQ: BZUN) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that analyst coverage here is a ghost town and the EPS tumbleweeds are rolling downhill. The shares last closed at $32.67 and have a consensus price target of $40.75.
Callon Petroleum Co. (NYSE: CPE) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays.
Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN) was reiterated as Buy with an $82 target price (versus a $74.22 prior close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) closed up 2% at $884.82 ahead of earnings and shares were indicated up 1.7% at $900.00 in the post-earnings reaction. Wedbush Securities reiterated it as Outperform with a $980 target price. RBC Capital Markets reiterated its Sector Perform rating and raised its target to $920 from $890. Merrill Lynch maintained its Neutral rating but raised its price objective to $900 from $850. And UBS maintained it as Neutral and raised the target price to $925 from $900
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) was up 2.2% at $9.18 on Tuesday ahead of earnings, but the post-earnings reaction had shares down over 8% at $8.41 Wednesday morning. JPMorgan maintained it as Neutral and cut its target to $9 from $10. Merrill Lynch maintained its Buy rating but lowered its price objective to $10 from $12. Ford’s prior consensus target price was $10.09.
Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy and the target price was trimmed to $80 from $81 (versus a $67.40 close) at Raymond James. Merrill Lynch reiterated its Neutral rating but raised its price objective to $72 from $70. The consensus target price is $76.39.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised to $290 from $255 (versus a $241.94 close) at Citigroup. Goldman Sachs had a prior consensus target price of $266.20.
Grubhub Inc. (NYSE: GRUB) was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $63 from $42 at Benchmark. Shares closed up 4% at $55.97 ahead of the call, which was up from a 52-week low of $32.11 and down from a high of $87.98. Its consensus target price was $46.76.
Mueller Water Products Inc. (NYSE: MWA) was reiterated as Buy with a $13 target price (versus a $12.09 close) at Janney.
New Relic Inc. (NYSE: NEWR) was up over 4% at $70.77 ahead of earnings, but the post-earnings reaction had shares down over 14% at $60.75 on Wednesday in early trading. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey reiterated its Buy rating with an $85 target price. Wedbush downgraded New Relic to Neutral from Outperform with a $71 target price, and BMP Capital Markets downgraded it to Market Perform from Outperform with a $72 target price.
Pinterest Inc. (NYSE: PINS) was started with a Buy rating and a $29 target price at Loop Capital. The stock closed up 0.5% at $22.46 on Tuesday, and its consensus target price was $26.24.
Plantronics Inc. (NYSE: PLT) closed down 2.1% at $26.88 on Tuesday ahead of earnings, but the shares were down a sharp 31% at $18.55 on Wednesday morning, and that is under its prior 52-week low of $22.80. Evercore ISI downgraded it to In-Line from Outperform and slashed its target price to $21 from $37.
Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL) was up over 9% at $123.68 on Tuesday. Merrill Lynch raised its rating to Neutral from Underperform, and Citigroup raised its target to $125 from $115 while maintaining its Neutral rating.
RingCentral Inc. (NYSE: RNG) was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $237 from $198 (versus a $209.15 close) at Merrill Lynch.
Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE: RCL) was reiterated as Outperform with a $140 target price at Wedbush. While the coronavirus fallout will continue to influence earnings power and investor sentiment over the near term, the company’s commentary was better than expected.
Sherwin-Williams Co. (NYSE: SHW) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna.
Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) was up 4.1% at $18.98 ahead of earnings but was trading down almost 7% at $17.70 afterward. Wedbush maintained it as Neutral with a $15.25 target price.
Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that investors are finally seeing the gold in this data miner as analysts raise their targets. Shares most recently closed at $167.81, with a consensus price target of $165.72.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity, but that call came after its shares are up over 50% in just the past five trading days. Tesla closed up more than 13% at $887.06 on Tuesday, but the shares hit a high of $968.99 earlier in the day.
Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) was upgraded to Sector Outperform from Sector Perform and its target price was raised to $50 from $39 (versus a $44.52 close) at RBC Capital Markets.
Vivint Smart Home Inc. (NYSE: VVNT) was down almost 10% at $12.85 on Tuesday, but Evercore ISI started it as Outperform with an $18 target price. The shares have a post-debut trading range of $10.20 to $23.86.
Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) was up 2.4% at $144.73 ahead of earnings and shares were still up about 0.5% at $145.45 after earnings. Guggenheim reiterated Disney with a Buy rating and raised its target to $160 from $151.
Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Alphabet, American Water Works, Caterpillar, Cisco Systems, Comcast, Gap, Lululemon Athletica, Nike, Slack, Stitch Fix, Tesla, Under Armour and many more.
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