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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, Best Buy, Cinemark, Co-Diagnostics, DraftKings, Energizer, Novavax, Nvidia, Palo Alto, Petrobras and More

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Stocks were surging on Monday on positive coronavirus vaccine news, with the Dow Jones industrials and S&P 500 both up close to 3% in early trading indications. Analyst ratings changes are still being seen with normal upgrades and downgrades now that the market has stabilized so much since just over six weeks ago.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week in an effort to find new trading ideas for investors and traders. Some of the daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while some cover stocks to sell or avoid. As noted above, ratings and or price targets are rapidly chasing down the earnings and revenue estimates.

As a reminder, no single analyst call should be used as a basis to buy or sell a stock. These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from Monday, May 18, 2020.

Analog Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI) was maintained as Equal Weight and its price target was cut to $95 from $97 (versus a $101.80 prior close, after a 3.5% drop) at Morgan Stanley.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was maintained as Outperform with a $350 target price (versus a $307.71 close) at Wedbush Securities. Apple was noted as being caught between U.S. and China tensions after Friday’s major shot across the bow to China, as the U.S. Commerce Department blocked and banned shipments of semiconductors to Huawei and China now is ready to put U.S. companies such as Apple, Qualcomm and Cisco on an “unreliable entity list” as part of the country’s countermeasures.


Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA) was started with a Buy rating and a $62 price target (versus a $47.26 close) at Jefferies.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Telsey Advisory Group. Shares closed up almost 2% at $78.61, with an $80.22 prior consensus target price.

Caladrius Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: CLBS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Dawson James. The firm noted that the company lacks funds to develop its product for NORDA, and the Japan-CLI program is a reach at best, and its COVID plan makes no sense.

Capri Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: CPRI) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Sandler.

Chegg Inc. (NYSE: CHGG) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that shares have run up beyond their intrinsic value and it may be time to pull profits. Shares last closed at $971.75, with a consensus price target of $867.64.

Choice Hotels International Inc. (NASDAQ: CHH) was raised to Buy from Neutral with an $85 price target at Longbow Research.

Cinemark Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CNK) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley FBR.

Co-Diagnostics Inc. (NASDAQ: CODX) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $35 from $20 (versus a $17.07 close, after a 22.9% drop) at H.C. Wainwright.

Deckers Outdoor Corp. (NYSE: DECK) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $155 from $145 (versus a $140.83 close) at Wedbush.


DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $25 from $23 at Morgan Stanley. It closed up 15.5% at $29.23 on Friday, and shares were indicated up another 6% on Monday.

Energizer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ENR) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight and the price target was raised to $49 from $41 Morgan Stanley. Energizer closed up 4% at $41.34 ahead of the call, and its consensus price target was $46.42.

Eventbrite Inc. (NYSE: EB) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $12 price target (versus a $6.43 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. The firm noted that the massive upside seen here is due to its risk/reward turning more positive with a 40% drop in its stock after earnings.

Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) was reiterated as Neutral and its price target was lowered to $9 from $10 (versus an $8.01 close) at MKM Partners.

Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $53 from $42 at B. Riley FBR. Shares closed up almost 14% at $43.63 on Friday ahead of this call.

Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the price target was raised to $426 from $285 at BMO Capital Markets, which called it uniquely positioned to benefit from the change in the computing landscape. Shares closed up 5.7% at $339.63 on Friday ahead of this call, and the consensus price target is $300.40.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $250 from $220 (versus a $222.83 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. It had a $212.77 prior consensus target price.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (NYSE: PBR), or Petrobras, was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.

Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE: SF) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo. Shares closed up 1.3% at $42.04 on Friday ahead of this call, with a $50.20 consensus price target.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (NYSE: TSM) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that this firm is at the forefront of the 5G revolution and the next wave of data center hyperscaling. Shares most recently closed at $49.80, with a consensus price target of $53.03.

Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with an $80 price target (versus a $66.52 close) at Wedbush.

Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Applied Materials, Bank of America, BP, Goldman Sachs, Northrop Grumman, PayPal, PG&E, Sallie Mae, Yum Brands and more.

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