Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, Broadcom, CarGurus, Cree, Rigel, T-Mobile, Sprint, Twitter, Weatherford and More

November 6, 2017 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks have hit all-times highs all over again, but Monday’s market was simply looking for direction. The bull market is already nearing nine years old now, and the one trend that prevails is that investors keep finding new reasons to buy stocks after every sell-off. Those same investors are also looking for new investing and trading ideas to generate gains and income ahead.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst reports and research notes cover stocks to buy. Others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

Consensus analyst price target data and valuation metrics are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service. Additional color and commentary has been added on most of these daily analyst calls.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Monday, November 6, 2017.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $210 from $185 at Argus. Shares closed up 2.6% at $172.50 on Friday in its post-earnings reaction, and they hit a $174.26 all-time high. Apple took many other analyst target hikes on Friday as well, and its consensus target has moved up to almost $182 after the target hikes.

Broadcom Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO) was up 5.5% at $273.63 ahead of the offer to acquire Qualcomm, and shares are up 2% at $279.15 now that it has made the bid for $70 per share. Broadcom was maintained as Buy and the price target was raised to $300 from $275 at Nomura.

CarGurus Inc. (NASDAQ: CARG) was down 1.1% at $31.44 on Friday and was last seen down 2.4% at $30.70 after analysts did not exactly give the biggest endorsements as the quiet period has ended. It was started as Outperform at William Blair. RBC Capital Markets started it as Sector Perform, and Raymond James started CarGurus as Market Perform. The post-IPO trading range is $25.85 to $35.00, but the IPO was at $16 per share.

Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $45 price target (versus a $34.08 close) at Deutsche Bank. The stock was down 0.2% at $34.08 on Friday but was indicated up 4.7%a t $35.67 on Monday. Cree has a 52-week range of 20.50 to $37.43 and a consensus analyst target price of $27.86.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: RIGL) was started as Buy and assigned a $7 price target (versus a $3.88 close) at H.C. Wainwright. The shares were indicated up 1.5% at $3.94, in a 52-week range of $1.94 to $4.33.

T-Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) was last seen down 5% at $55.85 and Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) was down 10% at $6.00 after merger talks have been called off. UBS maintained its Buy rating on T-Mobile and cut the target to $70 from $80, and the firm maintained its Neutral rating and cut its target to $7.50 from $9 on Sprint. KeyBanc cut Sprint to Underweight from Sector Weight.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $20 price target (versus a $19.90 close) at Citigroup. The 52-week range is $14.12 to $21.96, and the consensus target price was $18.29. Twitter shares were up 1% on Friday but down 1.5% at $19.60 on Monday.

Weatherford International PLC (NYSE: WFT) was downgraded to Hold with a $4.20 price target (versus a $3.99 close) at Citigroup. This call is less than a week after Sanford Bernstein raised its rating to Outperform with a $6.50 price target. Weatherford shares were up over 5% on Friday and were indicated down 2.2% at $3.90 on Monday. Its 52-week range is $3.16 to $7.09.

Also check out last week’s analyst calls in speculative stocks with price targets calling for 50% to 200% upside.

Friday’s top analyst calls included Activision, Aetna, Apple, Blue Apron, Pandora Media, Starbucks, Twitter, YogaWorks and many more.

Follow @Jonogg on Twitter to receive the daily analyst calls and other market research calls directly on your feed.

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