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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, BHP Billiton, CBS, Eli Lilly, GE, Halliburton, IBM, Schlumberger, Verizon and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: January 22, 2018 9:14 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 4:16 am

Stocks were lower on Monday, but perhaps not as bad as many might have worried about considering the government shutdown. What investors have to consider is that prior to the pullback, the Dow Jones Industrial Average went over 26,100 and had the fastest 1,000-point move on record of just eight trading days. Investors also have to consider that buying stocks on any dips has been the winning move for about six years now. Now it’s time to decide how to position portfolios for 2018 and beyond.

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 investors and traders alike. Some analyst reports and research reports cover stocks to buy. Others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

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

24/7 Wall St. has also identified 10 top technology giants that analysts have grown more bullish for strong earnings and guidance ahead of their formal earnings reports in the next couple of weeks.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Monday, January 22, 2018.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BTIG.

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $212, versus a $195 prior price target and a $187.80 close, at Deutsche Bank.

AFLAC Inc. (NYSE: AFL) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James.

American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $76 price target at Macquarie, just after AEP was raised to Buy from Hold with a $75 price target at Deutsche Bank just last week.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $102 price target (versus a $98.03 prior close) at Guggenheim. The shares were down 1.8% on Friday after earnings and were indicated down another 0.75% at $97.30 on Monday.

Andeavor Logistics L.P. (NYSE: ANDX) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $58 price target (versus a $52.52 close) at Citigroup.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Atlantic Equities. Apple closed down 0.45% at $178.46 on Friday, but this call was about softening signs for iPhone demand rather than just being about valuations. The stock was indicated down 0.6% at $177.35 on Monday, with a 52-week trading range of $119.50 to $180.10.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein. BHP’s American depositary shares closed up 0.65% at $49.65 on Friday, and it was indicated down 0.2% at $49.55 on Monday.

Caesarstone Ltd. (NASDAQ: CSTE) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse. While the firm was positive on the building products sector as a whole, the firm is awaiting greater clarity around its ongoing turnaround efforts to restart its domestic growth.

CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $64 price target (versus a $57.75 close) at Stephens.

Charles River Laboratories International Inc. (NYSE: CRL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $111 price target (versus a $107.89 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DNKN) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair.

Dynavax Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: DVAX) was started as Outperform with a $27 price target (versus a $15.65 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

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Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse. The downgrade was based on the firm’s concerns over growing competitive challenges to key diabetes products Trulicity (which is about 40% of sales) and Humalog.

EQT Corp. (NYSE: EQT) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $79 price target (versus a $56.03 close) at Citigroup.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at CIBC, but the $22 price target still implied 10% upside from the $19.96 closing price.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $17 price objective (versus a $16.26 close) at Merrill Lynch. While this call may be very late to the GE story, this represents losing one of the long-term bullish firms that had been defending upside in GE on a valuation and recovery basis.

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $75 price target (versus a $53.01 close) at Guggenheim.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) was down on Friday after it was given poor marks despite seeing a revenue growth for the first time in over five years. Now the independent research firm Argus has reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $185 from $175 (versus a $162.37 close).

Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) was raised to Outperform from Perform with a $33 price target (versus a $27.85 close) at Oppenheimer.

KMG Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: KMG) was started as Neutral and was given a $73 price target (versus a $64.16 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Kirby Corp. (NYSE: KEX) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with an $83 price target (versus a $74.55 close) at Wells Fargo.

Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: MKTX) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.

Meritage Homes Corp. (NYSE: MTH) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE: PEG) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $55 price target (versus a $49.80 close) at Macquarie.

Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $21.50 price target (versus an $18.67 close) at Sandler O’Neill.

Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at Atlantic Equities.

Sierra Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ: SRRA) was reiterated as Outperform with a $5 price target (versus a $3.19 close) at Wedbush Securities, with the firm noting that its Prexasertib study shows proof of concept in BRCA wild-type ovarian cancer.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) was maintained as Outperform with a $70 price target (versus a $61.26 close) at Wedbush, noting that same-store sales growth should be in line with expectations and that the medium-term hurdle American same-store sales growth is also achievable.

Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse with a $30 price target (versus a $27.46 close) at Credit Suisse.  The firm’s channel checks suggest meaningful risk of a mixed execution versus accelerating revenue expectations from the street. This is after Jefferies downgraded Symantec to Underperform with a $23 target just last week.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $60 price target (versus a $51.91 close) at Scotia Capital.

Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $62 from $60 (versus a $55.29 close) at Argus, noting an expectation for a lower tax rate in fiscal 2019.

Worldpay Inc. (NYSE: WP) was reinstated as Overweight with a $93 price target (versus a $78.73 close) at Morgan Stanley. Worldpay was also reinstated as Outperform with an $87 price target at Credit Suisse.

Credit Suisse’s U.S. Equity Strategy team asserts that the stock market strength in January has not only been about taxes. The firm noted that the performance across regions and sectors does not support the consensus view that the strong S&P 500 gains in January were primarily due to tax reforms. Credit Suisse believes that a constructive economic and earnings backdrop is the true catalyst for the gains, and the importance of this note is that fundamentally driven rallies are far more sustainable.

Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Altria, American Express, Apple, Chipotle Mexican Grill, IBM, Netflix, Nike, Sirius XM, Switch and about two dozen more.