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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: American Air, Chewy, Chipotle, CommScope, Eli Lilly, IBM, Lyft, Oneok, Stitch Fix, Valero, Williams and More
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Stocks fell handily on Monday as the crude oil futures market broke and went into deep negative prices. Stock futures had been holding steady for a flat open overnight but additional oil weakness and earnings concerns have S&P 500 futures indicated down about 1.4% and Dow Jones industrials futures down about 1.7% ahead of Tuesday’s open. 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 analyst calls cover stocks to buy while other 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 Tuesday, April 21, 2020.
American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna.
Aprea Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: APRE) was started as Outperform with a $45 price target (versus a $33.24 prior close) at Robert W. Baird.
Chewy Inc. (NYSE: CHWY) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS. It closed up 2.1% at $44.72, with a $40.09 consensus price target.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that the recent bounce is an opportunity to sell before earnings. Shares last closed at $808.73, with a consensus price target of $822.38.
CommScope Holding Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: COMM) was maintained as Neutral but its price target was cut to $9 from $14 (versus a $9.93 close) at Rosenblatt.
Continental Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLR) was maintained as Outperform and the price target was raised to $21 from $10 (versus a $10.72 close) at Imperial Capital.
Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $158 price target at UBS. Shares closed up 0.3% at $157.79 ahead of the call, with a $147.29 consensus price target.
Freshpet Inc. (NASDAQ: FRPT) was started with a Neutral rating and a $75 price objective (versus a $73.08 close) at BofA Securities.
Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $310 price target (versus a $322.88 close) at Robert W. Baird.
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) was indicated down 5% at $114.50 after earnings disappointed. Wedbush Securities maintained its Neutral rating but cut its price target to $140 from $155. Morgan Stanley maintained it as Equal Weight but raised its price target to $111 from $107, while BofA Securities reiterated its Buy rating with a $145 price objective. Also, Credit Suisse reiterated IBM as Outperform with a $150 price target.
JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna.
Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT) was started with a Buy rating and a $39 target price at Argus.
National Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: FIZZ) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that the LaCroix bubble went pop but looks to make a sparkling comeback. Shares most recently closed at $49.57 and have a consensus price target of $38.00.
Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) was maintained as Outperform but its price target was slashed to $10 from $30 (versus a $6.86 close) at Imperial Capital.
Oneok Inc. (NYSE: OKE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs. It closed down almost 4% at $28.21 on Monday, with a $42.57 consensus price target.
Parsley Energy Inc. (NYSE: PE) was maintained as Outperform and the price target was slashed to $10 from $27 (versus a $6.64 close) at Imperial Capital.
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD) was maintained as Outperform and the price target was slashed to $83 from $160 (versus a $71.28 close) at Imperial Capital.
Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE: PEG) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays.
Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (NYSE: RBS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS, but the firm did lower its price target in the overseas call. The American depositary shares closed down 3.3% at $2.65 on Monday, and they were indicated down another 1% at $2.62 on Tuesday.
Qurate Retail Inc. (NASDAQ: QRTEA) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and its price target was lowered to $9 from $10 (versus a $7.61 close) at UBS.
Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) was raised to Positive from Neutral with a $41 price target (versus a $31.06 prior close) at Susquehanna.
State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT) was maintained as Hold and its estimates were lowered at Argus in the current business and interest rate environment.
Stitch Fix Inc. (NASDAQ: SFIX) was maintained as Buy but its price target was cut to $22 from $27 (versus a $15.70 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, with COVID-19 fears hurting the need to order nicer clothes and with so many people now unemployed.
Truist Financial Corp. (NYSE: TFC) was maintained as Buy but its price target was slashed to $45 from $65 (versus a $34.14 close) at Argus, with the independent research firm noting that merger benefits and upside remain in place even if it does have to lower earnings expectations.
U.S. Concrete Inc. (NASDAQ: USCR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at D.A. Davidson.
Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies. The stock closed down 2.8% at $50.31 on Monday, with a $73.65 consensus price target.
Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $23 price target (versus an $18.49 close) at Goldman Sachs.
Zions Bancorp. (NASDAQ: ZION) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $34 from $40 (versus a $29.27 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. B. Riley FBR downgraded it to Neutral from Buy.
Credit Suisse made some changes in refining master limited partnerships after they have sold off:
- Holly Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: HEP) was raised to Neutral from Underperform but its target was cut to $15 from $23
- Delek Logistics Partners L.P. (NYSE: DKL) was raised to Neutral from Underperform while its price target was cut to $12 from $30 (versus a $9.20 close)
- PBF Logistics L.P. (NYSE: PBFX) was maintained as Neutral and its price target was lowered to $11 from $17 (versus a $6.10 close)
Credit Suisse does see lower earnings estimates and higher costs of capital, but it also sees accretive dropdowns and higher throughput potentially helping to cut some of the COVID-19 economic demand destruction.
Semiconductor stocks should now be attractive to income-oriented investors for dividends and future growth alike.
Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included AbbVie, American Electric Power, ANGI Homeservices, DuPont, Gilead Sciences, Microsoft, Peloton Interactive, Shopify, Trivago, Walt Disney and more.
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