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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Boston Scientific, Chipotle, Coca-Cola, Darden, Home Depot, Netflix, Snap, Tesla, Transocean, Zynga and More
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Stocks were down on Tuesday along with oil and energy, but the markets were recapturing a portion of their losses with the Dow Jones industrials and S&P 500 futures trading up over 1% on Wednesday morning. 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 Wednesday, April 22, 2020.
Atreca Inc. (NASDAQ: BCEL) was started as Outperform with a $27 price target (versus a $14.08 prior close, after a 6.1% drop) at Wedbush Securities, with the firm noting that Atreca is using a discovery platform called Immune Repertoire Capture that is designed to interrogate active immune responses to develop immunomedicines for the treatment of cancer.
Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at SVB Leerink.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was down 2.7% at $786.69 ahead of earnings but was trading up over 7% at $837.00 afterward. Wedbush reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $870 from $860, and KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its price target to $955 from $790.
Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) slid after earnings and has questions about just how defensive it really is. RBC Capital Markets maintained its Outperform rating but cut its price target to $55 from $57.
Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $85 from $70 (versus a $63.32 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Dominion Energy Inc. (NYSE: D) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that this stock offers a double-edged sword for nervous investors with its dividend yield and capital growth potential. Shares most recently closed at $76.61, with a consensus price target of $87.14.
Dynatrace Inc. (NYSE: DT) was started with a Buy rating and its price objective was set at $34 (versus a $25.56 close, after a 3.7% drop) at BofA Securities.
Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE: FRT) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.
Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) was downgraded to Hold from Accumulate at Gordon Haskett.
IGM Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: IGMS) was started with an Outperform rating and a $73 price target (versus a $59.00 close) at Wedbush, which noted that the company is developing a number of wholly-owned and unique antibody therapeutics using its proprietary IgM platform.
Michaels Companies Inc. (NASDAQ: MIK) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that the retail apocalypse is hitting the fan amid this global pandemic. Shares last closed at $2.00 and have a consensus price target of $4.61.
Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) closed down 0.8% at $433.83 ahead of earnings, with a $402.21 consensus price target, and its shares were indicated marginally lower on Wednesday morning. RBC Capital Markets reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $500 from $420. Raymond James downgraded it to Outperform from Strong Buy but raised its price target to $480 from $415, while Benchmark maintained its Overweight rating and raised its price target to $340 from $325. Stifel downgraded Netflix to Hold from Buy.
Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) was down 3.7% at $12.44 ahead of earnings but was trading up over 15% at $14.00 afterward. Credit Suisse maintained it as Outperform but cut its price target to $18 from $20. RBC Capital Markets reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $21 from $18. Oppenheimer raised it to Outperform from Perform and raised the price target to $18, and Barclays reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its price target to $20 from $19.
Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $25 from $23 (versus a $22.22 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral and its price objective was cut to $485 from $500 at BofA Securities. Tesla stock closed down almost 8% at $686.72 on Tuesday, and its consensus price target was $466.05 ahead of the call.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) closed down 4.2% at $106.84 ahead of earnings, but the after-hours reaction had it back up over 2% at $109.25, with a $121.50 consensus price target. RBC Capital Markets maintained its Sector Perform rating but cut its price target to $125 from $135.
Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) was downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform and its price target was lowered to $1.50 from $2.50 (versus a $1.10 close) at RBC Capital Markets.
Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral but its price objective was raised to $7.50 from $6.75 at BofA Securities.
There are seven oil stocks that have hedged oil production at much higher prices.
The team at BofA Securities has increased its 18-month price target on gold to the $3,000 per ounce level. That would be a massive 75% move from current levels, and five top gold picks are expected to score handily on the move.
Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included American Airlines, Chewy, Chipotle Mexican Grill, CommScope, Eli Lilly, IBM, Lyft, Oneok, Stitch Fix, Valero Energy, Williams Companies and more.
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