Friday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AMD, Apple, Best Buy, Costco, Intel, KCS, Nikola, Plug Power, Salesforce and More

Investing

Published: May 28, 2021 9:01 am

Last Updated: May 28, 2021 9:08 am

The futures were all higher on Friday as trading wraps up for May and investors eye the long, three-day holiday weekend. Thursday was another wacky trading day across Wall Street, with the Dow Jones industrials, S&P 500 and the Russell 2000 all posted gains while the Nasdaq closed with a small loss. Once again the so-called meme stocks were in focus, especially AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC), which was up a stunning 44% on a massive volume spike of 637 million shares. Electric vehicles and many of the recently dormant SPAC stocks took off as well.

Despite the concerns across Wall Street about tapering of the quantitative easing program and the clear building inflationary pressures, the Federal Reserve is vowing to keep interest rates contained, which could one reason for the continued moves higher in the equity markets, even after sell-offs. Also note that money markets continue to see massive inflows, which is another big plus.

With major Wall Street firms still warning of the potential for impending 5% to 10% correction across the board, it makes sense for investors to continue building some cash reserves into the market strength while repositioning portfolios for the balance of the second quarter and the rest of 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 Friday, May 28, 2021.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD): Benchmark resumed coverage of the chip leader with a Buy rating and a $100 price target. The consensus target is higher at $104.48. The stock was last seen trading on Thursday at $78.42 per share.

American Campus Communities Inc. (NYSE: ACC): Piper Sandler raised its Neutral rating to Overweight and also hiked the price target to $55. The posted consensus target is $49.50. The stock closed trading on Thursday at $46.26

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL): New Street downgraded the Silicon Valley legacy leader to Sell with a $90 price target. The consensus target is much higher at $159.60. The stock closed Thursday at $125.28.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY): Telsey Advisory raised the price target on the electronics retailing giant to $140 from $130 and maintained an Outperform rating on the stock. The consensus price target is $120.94, and the shares were last seen Thursday at $118.14.

ALSO READ: 4 Recent IPOs Have Potential for Some Huge Gains

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST): Telsey Advisory raised the $395 price target on the retailing behemoth to $415 and kept its Outperform rating in place. The consensus price target is $396.74, and the stock closed Thursday at $387.50.

CytomX Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CTMX): Barclays downgraded the shares to Underweight from Equal Weight and lowered the price target to $7. The consensus target is up at $13.19. The shares closed on Thursday at $8.19.

DexCom Inc. (NASDAQ: DXCM): Wells Fargo raised the stock to Equal Weight from Underweight and has a $380 price target. The consensus target is up at $475.50, and the shares closed Thursday at $361.91,

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS): Telsey Advisory raised the price target to $38 from $35 while keeping a Market Perform rating on shares of the popular clothing retailer. The posted consensus price target is $32.60. The shares rose almost 4% on Thursday to close at $35.15 apiece.

GasLog Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: GLOP): Barclays downgraded it to Underweight from Equal Weight and also lowered the price target to $3. The consensus target is $3.80. The stock closed at $3.04 on Thursday.

GoodRx Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: GDRX): Baird started coverage with a Neutral rating and a $37 price target. The consensus target is $43.25. The stock was last seen on Thursday at $37.50, after an almost 7% gain for the day.

ALSO READ: What’s Up With Apple: Sony Games Goes Mobile, Wearables Market and More

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC): Benchmark resumed coverage of the legacy semiconductor company’s stock with a Hold rating and a $55 price target. The consensus price objective is much higher at $64.87, and the last trade to hit the tape Thursday was reported at $57.73 a share.

JELD-WEN Holding Inc. (NASDAQ: JELD): Stifel started coverage of the shares with a Buy rating and a $34 price target. The consensus is $32.22 and the shares ended trading Thursday at $28.01.

Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU): Barclays downgraded the railroad to Underweight from Equal Weight but raised the price target to $310. That compares with the lower $280.80 consensus and Thursday’s closing print of $295.36.

Lordstown Motors Corp. (NASDAQ: RIDE): Deutsche Bank started the stock with a Hold rating and an $8 price target. The posted consensus target is $9.83. The stock was last seen Thursday at $10.55, which was up almost 12% for the day.

Nikola Corp. (NASDAQ: NKLA): BTIG Research started the electric vehicle company’s stock with a Buy rating and an $18 price target. The consensus target is $18.17, and Thursday’s last trade was at $15.49 a share.
Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG): BTIG Research started coverage with a Buy rating and a $40 price target. The consensus price objective is $47.31, and the last trade to hit the tape Thursday was reported at $29.93. The shares are up over 3% in Friday’s premarket action.

Rocket Companies Inc. (NYSE: RKT): This was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The analyst wonders whether this mortgage lending stock came too far too fast. Shares last closed at $18.35, and the consensus price target is $21.33.

Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM): Moness Crespi & Hardt raised the $275 price target on the software giant to $290. The consensus target is $274.38, and Thursday’s closing print was $225.83.

Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ: TITN): Stephens upgraded the shares to Overweight from Equal Weight and also raised the price target to $40. The consensus target is $32.67. The last Thursday trade came in at $31.67 per share.

Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ: ULTA): Telsey Advisory raised the price target on the cosmetic retaining leader to $400 from $375, and it also maintained an Outperform rating on the stock. The consensus price target is just $346.50. The stock ended Thursday’s trading session at $328.36.

XPO Logistics Inc. (NYSE: XPO): Zacks named this as the Bull of the Day. The firm said that Wall Street is getting excited about this shipping and logistics stock after a very strong first-quarter earnings report. Shares most recently closed at $145.69 and have a consensus price target of $157.86.

ALSO READ: 5 High-Yielding Dividend Aristocrats May Be the Best Stocks to Own Now

Four recently public stocks have had some wild price swings in 2021, but they are rated Buy across Wall Street and offer stellar technologies and applications. They all offer excellent entry points and have posted some solid results so far.

See which two corporate giants are taking very different stances on the waning of fossil fuel demand, and why one meme stock is still a trainwreck.

Thursday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Airbnb, CrowdStrike, DoorDash, Ford, Intuit, Lumber Liquidators, Occidental Petroleum, T-Mobile, Twilio, Uber and UBS. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Chipotle Mexican Grill, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Nvidia and more.

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