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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Boeing, Costco, Intel, KeyCorp, NVIDIA, PayPal, Snap and Many More
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Stocks were looking for direction as the second week of July kicks off. Still, the bear market is over eight years old and the market indexes are very close to all-time highs. Equity investors have proven time after time that they will buy stocks on any major pullback or sell-off. Investors are also continuing to search for new investing and trading ideas.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of the daily analyst reports cover stocks to buy. Other reports cover stocks to sell or to avoid.
Consensus analyst price target data are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service. Additional color and commentary also has been added on most of the daily analyst calls.
These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Friday, July 10, 2017.
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $230 from $200 (versus $a 202.37 prior close) at Jefferies. Boeing was seen as having its earnings growth last through 2020. Its 52-week trading range is $126.31 to $204.39, and it has a consensus analyst price target of $192.70.
Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets, noting online pressure from online commerce and Amazon. Costco has a 52-week range of $142.11 to $183.18 and a consensus price target of $182.85. Costco shares were down 1.9% to $154.11 on Friday and were indicated down another 0.5% at $153.30 on Monday.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was downgraded to Underperform from Hold and the price target was cut to $29 from $28 (versus a $33.88 close) at Jefferies. The firm sees Intel as having the most to lose in the sector, being the data center incumbent. This call is after a similar, but less pessimistic, target price call from Merrill Lynch late last week. Intel has a 52-week range of $33.34 to $38.45 and a consensus price target of $39.79.
KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $22 price target (versus a $19.22 close) at UBS. It has a 52-week range of $11.17 to $19.53 and a consensus price target of $20.58.
NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $180 from $140 (versus a $146.76 close) at Jefferies. The upgrade was after an industry tectonic shift and due to its pole position as the ecosystem enabler for deep learning applications. NVIDIA has a 52-week range of $51.52 to $168.50 and a consensus price target of $133.89. Its stock was up 2.3% on Friday and was indicated up another 1.7% at $149.30 on Monday.
PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $61 price target (versus a $53.97 close) at Bernstein. It has a 52-week range of $36.28 to $55.14 and a consensus price target of $53.95. PayPal shares were up almost 1% on Friday and were indicated up 2% at $55.10 on Monday.
Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) was maintained as Outperform at Credit Suisse, but the firm lowered its target price to $25 from $30, based on continued near-term monetization headwinds while medium term friction against advertising budgets abates. Snap shares were down 0.75% on Friday and were indicated down another 0.35% at $17.12 on Monday. Its post-IPO range is $17.00 to $29.44, and it had a consensus target price of $20.83 ahead of this call.
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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen in the following:
AerCap Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: AER) was started as Overweight with a $61 target price (versus a $46.83 close) at Barclays.
Aircastle Ltd. (NYSE: AYR) was started as Equal Weight at Barclays, but the $24 target price was still above the $21.61 prior close.
Air Lease Corp. (NYSE: AL) was started as Overweight with a $48 target price (versus a $38.07 close) at Barclays.
Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was reiterated as Outperform and the target price was raised to $29 from $28 at Oppenheimer.
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) was reiterated as Outperform and the target price was raised to $80 from $78 at Oppenheimer.
Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $180 from $175 at Credit Suisse. The firm thinks its advertising price growth may accelerate again.
Five Below Inc. (NASDAQ: FIVE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $52 target price (versus a $47.87 close) at UBS.
Cavium Inc. (NASDAQ: CAVM) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $79 from $73 (versus a $62.54 close) at Jefferies, with the firm noting that the chip industry has started a tectonic shift toward a parallel computing model.
Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $34 price target (versus a $28.45 close) at BMO Capital Markets.
Puma Biotechnology Inc. (NASDAQ: PBYI) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $115 price target (versus an $87.05 close) at Leerink.
Sandstorm Gold Ltd. (NYSEMKT: SAND) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.
SeaSpine Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SPNE) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $15 price target (versus a $12.19 close) at H.C. Wainwright.
Valeritas Inc. (NASDAQ: VLRX) was started as Outperform and assigned a $12 price target (versus a $6.78 close) at Wedbush Securities. Valeritas is a medical technology company focused on commercializing the V-Go Wearable Insulin Delivery Device for people with insulin-requiring Type 2 diabetes, and Wedbush believes it is well positioned after a recent capital raise to increase adoption of its V-Go platform.
Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $77 from $68 (versus a $65.35 close) at Jefferies. The firm noted that the chip industry has started a tectonic shift toward a parallel computing model, and Xilinx’s recent investment in software tools and programmable gate arrays positions it as a beneficiary of this shift.
In trucking, both Heartland Express Inc. (NASDAQ: HTLD) and Werner Enterprises Inc. (NASDAQ: WERN) were raised to Neutral from Sell UBS.
One analyst sees five stocks that will benefit from major dollar weakness during the rest of 2017.
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