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Is Elon's Twitter Move 4D Chess? Analysts Upgrade or Downgrade Bank of America, Meta, Twitter and More
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Markets dipped to start out the week, with the Nasdaq leading the charge lower, down about 1%. This comes after a strong showing last week, which many are calling a bear market rally. Last week marked the second positive week over the past quarter, signaling more or less that we are in a bear market, but there are still questions about a potential recession.
The talk of the market on Monday morning was Elon Musk backing out of an attempt to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion. Ultimately, Musk noted that there were material breaches that precipitated his termination of the deal. Many think the chief among these concerns was how many bots, or fake accounts, are actually on the platform, because the numbers and engagement do not seem to match up. As a result, Twitter was looking into an audit of the platform.
Taking a counterpoint to the bots argument, Wells Fargo’s Senior Equity Analyst, Brian Fitzgerald suggests that by backing out of the deal Musk is actually negotiating a lower price for the company. Theoretically, if Twitter takes Musk to court to recoup the billion termination fee, over the course of discovery, Twitter will have to disclose its initial assessment of bots and then potentially the results of its audit, among other things.
So there is a chance Musk could be fishing for a lower price, but that remains to be seen. As per his statements on the termination of the deal, Musk commented on the bots and the alleged material breach of the agreement. At the same time, Musk shared a couple of memes on his account seemingly mocking Twitter management.
24/7 Wall St. is reviewing additional analyst calls seen on Monday. 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 American Airlines, BP, Colgate-Palmolive, Costco, PayPal, Six Flags and more.
Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC): Societe Generale upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and has a $37.50 price target. The stock traded near $31 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $30.45 to $50.11.
Duolingo Inc. (NASDAQ: DUOL): KeyBanc Capital Markets downgraded the shares to Sector Weight from Overweight. The 52-week trading range is $60.50 to $204.99, and shares traded above $101 apiece on Monday.
Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HLT): Evercore ISI’s upgrade to Outperform from In Line included a price target cut to $150 from $155. The 52-week trading range is $108.41 to $167.99. The stock traded near $111 on Monday.
Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ: HON): BofA Securities lifted its Neutral rating to Buy with a $210 price target. The 52-week range is $168.96 to $236.86. Shares traded near $174 apiece on Monday.
KB Home (NYSE: KBH): Credit Suisse downgraded it to Neutral from Outperform, and it cut the $42 price target to $35. The shares traded near $30 on Monday. The 52-week trading range is $24.78 to $50.20.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU): The Jefferies downgrade to Underperform from Hold included a price target cut to $200 from $375. The stock traded near $282 on Monday. The 52-week trading range is $251.51 to $485.83.
Marriott International Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR): Evercore ISI upgraded the stock to Outperform from In Line and cut the $180 price target to $165. The 52-week trading range is $127.23 to $195.90, and shares traded above $137 apiece on Monday.
Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META): Needham’s downgraded was to Underperform from Hold. The 52-week trading range is $154.25 to $384.33, and shares were trading near $163 on Monday.
Qorvo Inc. (NASDAQ: QRVO): Cowen cut its Outperform rating to Market Perform and cut the $150 price target to $108. The stock traded near $95 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $90.16 to $201.46.
Southwestern Energy Co. (NYSE: SWN): Wells Fargo upgraded the shares to Equal Weight from Underweight and raised the $10 price target to $12. The 52-week trading range is $3.81 to $9.87, and shares traded above $6 apiece on Monday.
Stryker Corp. (NYSE: SYK): BofA Securities downgraded it from Buy to Neutral with a $215 price target. The 52-week trading range is $193.34 to $281.16. The stock traded near $197 on Monday.
Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR): Stifel reiterated a Hold rating and cut the $54.20 price target to $30. Mizuho reiterated a Neutral rating and cut its price target to $35 from $54. Rosenblatt reiterated a Neutral rating and reduced the $54.20 price target to $33. The 52-week range is $31.30 to $73.34. Shares traded near $34 apiece on Monday.
Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UAA): When Jefferies downgraded its Buy rating to Hold, it also halved the $20 price target to $10. The shares traded near $8 on Monday. The 52-week trading range is $8.13 to $27.28.
Upstart Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: UPST): Goldman Sachs lowered its Neutral rating to Sell and slashed the $40 price target to $14. The stock traded near $26 on Monday. The 52-week trading range is $25.43 to $401.49.
Zillow Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ZG): Wedbush upgraded the stock to Outperform from Neutral, and the firm raised its $37 price target to $41. The 52-week trading range is $28.76 to $118.31, and shares traded above $33 apiece on Monday.
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