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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Bed Bath & Beyond, CBOE, eBay, Etsy, Intel, Netflix, Nokia, Snap, UTC, Vonage and More
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Stocks surged on Friday’s strong payrolls report, but that only recaptured some of Thursday’s more than 600-point drop in the Dow Jones industrials. Investors have become used to the notion that buying the sell-offs comes with less reward, or even more losses, than in prior years. This makes it more difficult to position assets for the long haul when so many stop-loss levels are triggered.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day to find new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid.
Additional commentary has been added on most of the daily analyst reports, along with trading history. The consensus analyst price targets and other valuation metrics are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday, January 4, 2019.
Autoliv Inc. (NYSE: ALV) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral and the target price was lowered to $64 from $84 (versus a $67.97 prior close) at Robert W. Baird.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) was reiterated as Neutral with a $15 price target at Wedbush Securities. Sadly, the firm also noted that there remains more downside than upside risk to consensus expectations ahead of next week’s earnings indications. Even with years of the same issue, the retail giant is said to still suffer from competitive pressures in the home furnishings category at low-priced online and offline retailers.
Catalyst Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: CBIO) was started as Outperform with a $24 price target (versus an $8.77 close) at Oppenheimer. Its 52-week range is $6.20 to $37.00.
CBOE Global Markets Inc. (CBOE) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $120 price target and added to the prized Conviction Buy list at Goldman Sachs.
Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY) was raised to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was cut to $32 from $34 (versus a $28.32 close) at Goldman Sachs.
Edison International (NYSE: EIX) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $63 price target at Goldman Sachs.
Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.
Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $54 from $46 (versus a $46.03 close) at Goldman Sachs.
24/7 Wall St.Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $42 price target at Goldman Sachs.
Expedia Group Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $140 from $125 (versus a $108.52 close) at Goldman Sachs.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $60 price objective at Merrill Lynch. The upgrade is based on higher margin businesses like data centers and noting that the concerns about business are overblown. Shares have a 52-week range of $42.04 to $57.60 and a consensus target price of $54.34.
Masco Corp. (NYSE: MAS) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a$36 price objective at Merrill Lynch.
Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was reiterated as Buy with a whopping $400 price target at Goldman Sachs. The firm noted that Netflix is one of the most compelling names in the internet space and added it to the prized Conviction Buy List on Friday, now that shares have lost more than one-third of their value since last summer.
Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the price target was raised to $7.50 from $5.00 at BMO Capital Markets. Nokia’s American depositary shares were indicated up over 3% at $5.77 on Friday, with a 52-week range of $4.75 to $6.41.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Guggenheim. Shares were indicated up over 2% at $381.00 Friday morning, with a consensus target price of $428.33 and a 52-week range of $281.89 to $416.49.
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was cut to $70 from $100 at Nomura/Instinet.
Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was slashed to $6 from $10 at Goldman Sachs. Shares closed at $5.68 on Thursday, and the 52-week range is $4.82 to $21.22.
Southwestern Energy Co. (NYSE: SWN) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
United Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UTX) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform and the price target was cut to $119 from $139 at RBC Capital Markets. UTC closed at $103.48 on Thursday. The 52-week range is $100.48 to $144.15.
Virtu Financial Inc. (NASDAQ: VIRT) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $14 price target (versus an $8.71 close) at Stephens. The 52-week range is $7.92 to $14.73.
Dana Inc. (NYSE: DAN) and Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA) were both raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
Thursday’s top analyst calls included AbbVie, Agilent Technologies, Albermarle, Apple, Boeing, Cheniere Energy, First Solar, HCA, LabCorp, Lumber Liquidators, Teva Pharmaceutical and many more.
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