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Friday Afternoon Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Altria, Apple, Caterpillar, IBM and More
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Markets slid on Friday after earnings from Apple and Amazon failed to impress investors. The S&P 500 pulled back from its record levels on Thursday, while U.S. Treasury yields pushed higher with the 10-year note holding near 1.6%. While Friday might be disappointing to some investors, markets are still near record highs, and analysts seem to be fairly positive on the direction of the markets.
24/7 Wall St. is reviewing some big analyst calls seen on Friday. We have included the latest call on each stock, as well as a recent trading history and the consensus targets among analysts. Note that analyst calls seen earlier in the day were on Amazon, eBay, McDonald’s, Starbucks and more.
Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO): Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to an Equal Weight rating from Overweight and cut the price target to $47 from $52. Shares were trading around $44 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $35.83 to $52.59.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL): Credit Suisse resumed coverage with a Neutral rating and a $150 price target. The 52-week range is $107.32 to $157.26, and the share price is roughly $147.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT): UBS upgraded it to a Buy rating from Neutral and raised the price target to $235 from $232. Shares were trading near $205 on Friday, and the consensus price target is $2225.67.
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP): Deutsche Bank lifted its Hold rating to Buy and raised the $132 price target to $136. Shares were trading near $120, and the consensus target price is $133.53.
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM): Credit Suisse resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $172 price target. The 52-week trading range is $107.75 to $152.84, and the share price is near $125.
Proto Labs Inc. (NYSE: PRLB): Benchmark has lowered its Buy rating on the 3D printing company to Hold. The consensus price target is $85.33, and shares were changing hands near $59 apiece.
Solar Winds Corp. (NYSE: SWI): The RBC Capital Markets downgrade to Sector Perform from Outperform included a price target cut to $19 from $28. The 52-week trading range is $14.75 to $25.68, and the share price was below $25.
Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: XEL): BofA Securities upgraded it to Buy from Neutral and raised the price target to $72 from $67. Shares were trading near $65 on Friday, and the consensus price target is $71.21.
Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM): Evercore ISI started coverage with an In-Line rating and a $255 price target. Shares were trading near $275 on Friday, and the consensus target price is $369.43.
One particularly prescient analyst sees storm clouds on the horizon for the markets. See why a lightning-fast 10% correction could occur in the remaining months of the fourth quarter, and what to do about it.
Note that Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has been loading up on Robinhood and shedding Peloton.
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