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Friday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alibaba, Apple, Arch Coal, BlackRock, Cisco, Conoco, CSX, KeyCorp, Netflix, Qualcomm, Rite Aid, UPS and More

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Stocks surged higher on Friday morning after good news from Boeing and after Gilead’s drug study is proving to be effective against the novel coronavirus. Investors have been caught off guard in many of the moves in recent weeks, and now they are looking for new ideas about how to be best positioned for the rest of 2020.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new ideas for long-term investors and short-term traders alike. Some of analyst calls cover stocks to buy while some of the analyst reports cover stocks to sell or avoid. Consensus analyst target prices are from Refinitiv.

Many upgrades, downgrades, reiterations and initiations are still taking place, but one trend is that analysts have been lowering their target prices in most companies, even if they are maintaining their prior ratings. Still, many traditional upgrades and reiterations happen as if things were still close to normal. Remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision.

These are the top analyst calls tracked for Friday, April 17, 2020.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $102 from $92 (versus a $96.00 per share prior close) at Raymond James. Wells Fargo reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its price target to $107 from $95.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) was maintained as Strong Buy but the price target was cut to $290 from $310 (versus a $212.66 close) at Raymond James.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral and the price target was cut to $233 from $250 (versus a $286.69 close) at Goldman Sachs. The firm noted that far deeper demand will persist through mid-2020 and that will be followed by a more shallow recovery in 2021.

Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ARCH) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $79 a share from $85 (versus a $28.82 close) at B. Riley FBR.

Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: BHVN) was started as Outperform with a $45 price target (versus a $33.64 close) at Cowen.

BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $495 from $490 at Wells Fargo.

Capri Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: CPRI) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that shares have tumbled 70% in 2020 as a result of global luxury fashion falling victim to COVID-19. The shares last closed at $12.24 and have a consensus price target of $26.85.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Cogent Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CCOI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $48 from $45 at Wells Fargo.


CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) was maintained as Outperform but the price target was cut to $71 from $80 at Raymond James.

Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) was raised to Neutral from Sell and its price target was raised to $23 from $21 (versus a $21.94 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) was maintained as Strong Buy but the price target was cut to $170 from $188 at Raymond James.

KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA Securities.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) stock closed up almost 3% at $439.17 a share, after hitting an all-time high again on Thursday. Benchmark started coverage with a Sell rating and a $327 price target.

Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU) was maintained as Neutral but the price target was cut to $5 from $6 (compared with a $3.13 close) at B. Riley FBR.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral and its price target was cut to $61 from $77 (versus a $76.85 close) at Goldman Sachs. The stock had a $90.53 consensus price target.

Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) was raised to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank. The stock closed down 21% at $11.43 on Thursday and has an $8.00 consensus target price.

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) was maintained as Overweight but the price target was lowered to $7 from $9 (versus a $5.30 close) at Wells Fargo.

TCF Financial Corp. (NYSE: TCF) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral and its price target was raised to $31 from $28 (versus a $22.24 close) at Wedbush Securities, which also added the stock to its Best Ideas List.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP) was maintained as Strong Buy but the price target was cut to $185 from $212 at Raymond James.

United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: WWE) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $46 price target (versus a $389.67 close) at Benchmark.

YETI Holdings Inc. (NYSE: YETI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel.

Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that shares have skyrocketed in 2020 amid the coronavirus stay-at-home push. Shares most recently closed at $150.26, with a consensus price target of $123.00.

Four blue-chip leaders are still raising their dividends despite the market turmoil.

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Bed Bath & Beyond, Ciena, DocuSign, eHealth, Facebook, Netflix, PNC Financial Services, Square, Tilray, Twitter, Zoom Video Communications and many more.

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