Stocks surged Monday on news that a second coronavirus vaccine was over 90% effective in preventing COVID-19, but Tuesday looks to be a day of profit-taking. Investors are trying to factor in a post-election and post-coronavirus 2021. After missing out on much of the rally in 2020, now investors are planning how they should be invested for 2021.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid. Remember that no single analyst call should ever be used as a basis to buy or sell a stock. Consensus analyst target data is from Refinitiv.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday, November 17, 2020.
AECOM (NYSE: ACM | ACM Price Prediction) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $60 from $45 (versus a $50.55 prior close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets. The stock had a $53.00 consensus target price.
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Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (NYSE: BBVA) saw its American depositary shares close up 12.5% after it sold its U.S. BBVA operations to PNC on Monday. Credit Suisse raised its Underperform rating to Neutral.
Cerence Inc. (NASDAQ: CRNC) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets. Raymond James reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $56 from $80. The stock closed up 9.9% at $72.53 per share on Monday and has a $66.22 consensus target price.
Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $54 price target at Citigroup. Shares closed up 1.9% at $46.89 ahead of the call and have a $44.25 consensus target price.
Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSEARCA: LNG) was raised to Buy from Neutral at BofA Securities, which also raised its price objective to $61 from $56 based on a rerating driven by lower discount rates with M&A potential in the sector. The stock closed up 1.7% at $52.99 on Monday and has a $68.40 consensus target price.
Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was raised to Sector Perform from Underperform with a $95 price target (versus an $88.96 close, after a 7% gain) at RBC Capital Markets.
Chico’s FAS Inc. (NYSE: CHS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley FBR.
Co-Diagnostics Inc. (NASDAQ: CODX) was maintained as Buy but its price target was cut to $29 from $33 at H.C. Wainwright. The stock was down 9.3% at $13.59 on Monday as news of a second COVID-19 vaccine’s success may hurt the need for endless testing that this company makes, and its shares were down 15% at $11.60 on Tuesday morning.
Concho Resources Inc. (NYSE: CXO) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Dentsply Sirona Inc. (NASDAQ: XRAY) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight with a $40 price target at Barclays. The stock was down over 3% at $49.68 a share on Monday, with a $50.86 consensus target price.
Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs. Morgan Stanley raised it to Overweight from Equal Weight. The stock closed up 6.3% at $12.53 on Monday, with a $16.13 consensus target price.
DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG) was started with a Buy rating and a street-high $100 price target at Loop Capital.
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Foghorn Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: FHTX) was started with an Outperform rating and a $24 price target (versus a $16.05 close) at Wedbush Securities. It was described as leveraging unique insights into the chromatin regulatory system to develop a differentiated pipeline of precision oncology medicines. Goldman Sachs started it with a Buy rating and a $27 price target.
General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, based on a popular and profitable lineup of cars and trucks, as well as its electrification goals for this decade. While the legacy automaker is said to be worth a fresh look, it just hit a 52-week high of $42.15 on Monday, and its consensus target price is $46.29.
Glaukos Corp. (NYSE: GKOS) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight with a $68 price target at Wells Fargo. Shares closed at $66.06 on Monday and have a $55.11 consensus target price.
Maxar Technologies Inc. (NYSE: MAXR) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $36 price target at Canaccord Genuity. The stock closed up 0.6% at $25.16 a share on Monday.
McAfee Corp. (NASDAQ: MCFE) saw most of its top analysts issue ratings on Monday after the quiet period expiration, and the stock closed up 1.5% at $17.42, though it is still considered a busted IPO. Citigroup started it with a Neutral rating and an $18 target price.
Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) was up nearly 10% at $97.95 on Monday on news that its COVID-19 vaccine was better than 94% successful. The stock hit an all-time high of $103.20 on the news, before selling off. BMO Capital Markets downgraded it from Outperform to Market Perform with a $109 target price. Its consensus target price was $104.00.
Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) was down 6.1% at $90.65 on Monday after Moderna’s solid vaccine effectiveness report. H.C. Wainwright maintained its Buy rating but cut its price target to $207 from $290. The consensus target price was $202.80, and it had a 52-week trading range of $3.54 to $189.40.
PagerDuty Inc. (NYSE: PD) was started as Neutral with a $28 price target at Credit Suisse. The stock closed down nearly 2% at $29.66 on Monday and has a $30.00 consensus price target.
Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was up 7.6% at $278.50 a share on Monday. Wedbush reiterated its Outperform and raised its target to $320 from $300. The firm noted another strong quarter in the books and sees clear momentum for 2021.
Penn National Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN) was started with a Hold rating and a $60 price target at Loop Capital.
Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: SWBI) was reiterated as Neutral and the price target was cut to $17 from $20 (versus a $16.07 close) at Wedbush.
Sprout Social Inc. (NASDAQ: SPT) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley. The shares closed down 7.7% at $46.99 on Monday, and they have a $53.10 consensus price target.
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Four recent technology IPOs have started trading, some with disappointing acceptances. Analysts have big Buy ratings and see solid upside heading into 2021.
Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Bristol-Myers Squibb, Chewy, DraftKings, Exxon Mobil, McAfee, Nvidia, Square, Tilray and Walt Disney.
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