Stocks closed mixed on Thursday after having been up as much as about 2% along with higher energy prices. The futures indexes traded up about 0.6% shortly before the opening bell on Friday, but crude oil was up about the same percentage. With the former raging bull market turning into a major bear market and then recovering handily yet again, many investors have been caught off guard. This also has left many investors less confident in the market but looking for new ideas and trying to figure out how to be 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 some of those new ideas for long-term investors and short-term traders alike. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or avoid. Consensus analyst target prices are from Refinitiv.
Many upgrades, downgrades, reiterations and initiations are still being seen ahead of and after key earnings reports. A dominant trend after the market drop and in the recovery is that analysts have been lowering their target prices in most stocks, even if they are maintaining their prior official ratings. Still, there remain many traditional upgrades and reiterations 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 from Friday, April 24, 2020.
American Water Works Co. Inc. (NYSE: AWK) was started as Outperform with a $141 price target at RBC Capital Markets.
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Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ARCH) was maintained with a Buy rating at B. Riley FBR, a day after it fell 12% to $25.98.
Arrow Electronics Inc. (NYSE: ARW) was started with a Buy rating and an $80 price target (versus a $53.65 prior close) at Loop Capital. It had a $65.63 prior consensus price target.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) was downgraded to Sell from Hold with a $26 price target at DZ Bank.
Cloudflare Inc. (NYSE: NET) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Delphi Technologies PLC (NYSE: DLPH) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird.
Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) was down 3.7% at $369.64 on Thursday and it was indicated down about 1.1% at $366.00 on Friday. Stephens reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its price target to $410 from $350. Wedbush Securities reiterated it as Outperform and raised its price target to $425 from $410.
Dunkin Brands Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DNKN) was maintained as Neutral but its price target was lowered to $60 from $88 (versus a $58.47 close) at Wedbush.
Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE: WTRG) was started as Outperform and a $49 price target (versus a $42.62 close) at RBC Capital Markets.
Expedia Group Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $92 price target (versus a $63.37 close) at JMP Securities.
Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Sandler.
Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.
IMAX Corp. (NASDAQ: IMAX) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was slashed to $12 from $25 (versus an $11.01 close) at Wedbush.
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Insulet Corp. (NASDAQ: PODD) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at SVB Leerink.
Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and its price target was cut to $8.50 from $10.25 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.
Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) was maintained as Buy but the price target was lowered to $18 from $20 (versus a $14.21 close, after a 3.1% drop) at CFRA.
Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and its price target was slashed to $26 from $74 (versus a $25.94 close, after a 5% gain) at Citigroup.
New York Mortgage Trust Inc. (NASDAQ: NYMT) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $29 from $20 (versus a $20.38, after a 4.6% drop) at B. Riley FBR.
Oceaneering International Inc. (NYSE: OII) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $7 from $4 (versus a $4.20 close) at Citigroup. Shares were up 15.7% on Thursday, and the consensus price target was $5.23.
Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. (NYSE: OHI) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA Securities.
SJW Group (NYSE: SJW) was started with an Outperform rating and a $68 price target (versus a $57.81 close) at RBC Capital Markets.
SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE: SLG) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Sandler.
Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen.
Travelers Companies Inc. (NYSE: TRV) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.
Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein.
Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP) was maintained as Hold but its price target was lowered to $172 from $190 at CFRA.
Workday Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen.
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Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Apple, AT&T, Avis Budget, Baidu, Baker Hughes, Biogen, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Kinder Morgan, Netflix, Shopify, Ulta Beauty and more.
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