Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: IBM, Lennar, Regions, Shake Shack, Shopify, TerraForm, McDonald’s and Many More

January 19, 2016 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks tanked on Friday but were indicated sharply higher on Tuesday after the three-day weekend and after China’s gross domestic product met expectations. While investors may feel that every rally has been a sucker’s bet in 2016, the reality is that investors have bought every market pullback for over four years. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each morning of the week. The aim is to find new investing and trading ideas. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other reports cover stocks to sell or avoid.

We recently ran a downside projection using the most bearish analyst targets on Wall Street, and that indicated a Dow of 15,076 for a potential floor, versus a bullish case at the start of 2016 for Dow 19,700.

These are this Tuesday’s top analyst calls.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) was reiterated as Underperform at Jefferies, and the price target was cut to $110.00 from $125.00. What stands out here is that Jefferies now has the most negative price target, even lower than the prior $125 target Credit Suisse has on IBM. This is far lower than the bullish and bearish outlook for IBM in 2016.

Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $52.00 price target (versus a $40.91 prior close) at Sterne Agee CRT. Lennar’s consensus price target is $54.43 and its 52-week trading range is $39.52 to $56.04.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $130 price target (versus a $115.18 close) at BTIG. The firm talked up all-day breakfast and returns of capital. McDonald’s has a consensus price target of $120.65 and a 52-week range of $87.50 to $120.23.


Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with an $11 price target (versus an $8.20 close) at Piper Jaffray. Regions was also reiterated as Buy with a $10.00 fair value estimate at Janney Capital Markets.

Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE: SHAK) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair, noting that its premium has come more in line with peers if you consider its growth rate. Shake Shack closed at $32.07 and was indicated up 6% at $34.00 or so on the call. Still, Shake Shack trades at 82 times consensus 2016 earnings estimates.

Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley. Shares closed at $19.89, with a consensus analyst target of $35.83 and a post-IPO range of $17.00 to $42.13.

TerraForm Power Inc. (NASDAQ: TERP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with an $11.00 price objective (versus a $9.41 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The firm sees TerraForm in a runoff valuation range of $9 to $12 with reasonable discount rates and positive outcomes to the pending Vivint transaction.

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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades from this Tuesday were in shares of the following companies:
AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE: AZN) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays. The stock closed at $30.59, within a 52-week range of $29.50 to $36.69.

Cerulean Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: CERU) was reiterated as Buy at Janney Capital Markets with a roughly a $9.00 enterprise value, much higher than the $2.41 close. Janney noted it is high speculative despite targeting the end of times for cytotoxic chemotherapy — and unlikely to be profitable until 2021. Cerulean has a 52-week range of $2.28 to $10.87, showing just how volatile it is.

China Mobile Ltd. (NYSE: CHL) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) was maintained as Outperform at RBC Capital Markets, but the firm did lower its target price to $60 from $65.

CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) was maintained as Buy at Argus, but the price target was cut to $28 from $37.

Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE: DSX) was maintained as Hold at Jefferies, but the price target was cut to $2.50 from $5.50 in the call.

Freshpet Inc. (NASDAQ: FRPT) was maintained as Buy at Canaccord Genuity, but the firm lowered its price target to $9 from $11.


Intrepid Potash Inc. (NYSE: IPI) was raised to Sector Perform from Underperform at Scotia Capital.

McCormick & Co. (NYSE: MKC) was downgraded to Underweight from an already cautious Neutral rating, and the price target was cut to $76 from $82 (versus an $83.71 close) at JPMorgan.

NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) was maintained as Hold at Jefferies, but the firm lowered its price target to $23.00 from $31.00.

Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. (NYSE: NAT) was maintained as Hold at Jefferies, but the price target was cut to $12.00 from $15.00.

Progressive Corp. (NYSE: PGR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $33 price target (versus a $29.91 close) at Bernstein.

ResMed Inc. (NYSE: RMD) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight and the price target was cut to $52 from $61 at Barclays.

Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform with a $15 price target (versus a $14.28 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Scorpio Bulkers Inc. (NYSE: SALT) was maintained as Buy at Jefferies, but the firm slashed its price target to $10.00 from $36.00.

Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE: STNG) was maintained as Buy at Jefferies, but the price target was cut to $10.00 from $12.00.

Silgan Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SLGN) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ: SBLK) was maintained as Buy at Jefferies, but the price target was cut to $1.00 from $4.00.

St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE: STJ) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. (NYSE: SHO) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $12.50 price target (versus a $10.32 close) at Evercore ISI.

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: RARE) was reiterated as Buy with a $126 price target (versus a $79.63 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was maintained as Buy at Argus, but the price target was cut to $58 from $63.

If you missed out on Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of Best Buy, 3D Systems, EA, Gilead, Nokia, Shire, United Rentals and over a dozen more.

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