Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Best Buy, Equifax, Gilead, MongoDB, NVIDIA, Rio Tinto, Teva, UPS and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: November 13, 2017 9:10 am

Last Updated: March 20, 2020 11:26 am

Stocks were indicated to open lower on Monday, with all major U.S. equity indexes down about 0.3% on average. What investors still need to consider is that the stock indexes have bumped up against all-time highs, and the trend that has dominated is that investors have bought every major sell-off for more than five years now. 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 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 to avoid.

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

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Monday, November 13, 2017.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is set to report earnings this week, and Jefferies maintained a Hold rating and $60 target (versus a $56.68 prior close). Their valuation target is close enough now, but the firm’s checks indicate a 4.5% comparable sales estimate (at the low end of the 4.5% to 5.5% plan) and it sees strength in appliances, mobile, gaming and connected home. Wedbush maintained an Underperform rating and $33 target, noting that it expects comparable sales to decline in the fourth quarter and over the long term from online competition.

Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel. Shares closed down 0.2% at $108.74 on Friday and were indicated down just over 1% at $107.55 on Monday. The 52-week trading range is $89.59 to $147.02, and the consensus analyst target price was last seen at $123.07.

Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus on Monday, with the firm being concerned about a steepening decline of hepatitis C and flattening HIV drug sales. Shares were up 1% at $73.77 on Friday, but the stock was down 0.7% to $73.25 on Monday. Gilead has a 52-week range of $63.76 to $86.27 and a consensus target price of $84.90.

MongoDB Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB) has seen its IPO quiet period come to an end, and the old $24 IPO price was at $30.20 as of Friday, and shares were indicated up about 2% at $30.79 on Monday. Morgan Stanley started it as Equal Weight with a $31 target, while Stifel started it as Buy with a $34 target. Barclays started MongoDB as Overweight and with a $38 target, and Goldman Sachs started it as Neutral with a $30 target.

NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at BMO Capital Markets. It was up 5.2% at$216.14 on Friday, and the stock hit an all-time high of $218.67 after earnings strength. NVIDIA shares were last seen down only about 0.1% at $215.90 on Monday.

Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RIO) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan. Its American depositary shares closed up 0.8% at $49.51 on Friday but were indicated down 1.8% at $48.63 on Monday. The 52-week range is $36.25 to $50.77, and the consensus target price is $55.60.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. Teva was down 0.6% at $11.78 on Friday and indicated down another 2.5% at $11.48 on Monday. The 52-week range is $10.85 to $41.19, and the consensus target price was last seen at $14.83.

United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) was started as Buy with a $148 price target (versus a $113.23 close) at Goldman Sachs. UPS was indicated up almost 1% at $114.30 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $102.12 to $121.75 and with a consensus analyst target of $121.38.

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Other key analyst calls have been featured below.

Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD) was raised to Buy from Hold at HSBC.

Boston Beer Co. (NYSE: SAM) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna.

Chefs’ Warehouse Inc. (NASDAQ: CHEF) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets.

Coca-Cola European Partners PLC (NYSE: CCE) was downgraded to Negative from Neutral at Susquehanna.

Eldorado Gold Corp. (NYSE: EGO) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.

ExOne Co. (NASDAQ: XONE) was raised to Buy from Hold at Cannacord Genuity.

Fate Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: FATE) was reiterated as Outperform with a $7 price target (versus a $4.42 close), calling for a six times sales multiple of its estimated 2022 sales of ProTmune discounted back by 35% annually.

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) was started as Buy with a $270 target price at Goldman Sachs.

Green Dot Corp. (NYSE: GDOT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Mallinckrodt PLC (NYSE: MNK) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Praxair Inc. (NYSE: PX) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $171 target price (versus a $148.28 close) at Argus. Praxair was down almost 2% at $145.35 on Monday morning.

Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE: STNG) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS. Scorpio was up over 2% at $3.50 early on Monday.

Voya Financial Inc. (NYSE: VOYA) was raised to Buy from Hold at Sandler O’Neill.

Goldman Sachs has issued new ratings on the railroad sector:

• Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (NYSE: CP) was started as Neutral with a $178 target.
• Canadian National Railway Co. (NYSE: CNI) was started as Buy with an $85 target.
• CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) was started as Sell with a $45 target.
• Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) was started as Neutral with a $109 target.
• Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) was started as Neutral with a $126 target.
• Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP) was started as Sell with a $103 target.

It still feels too early to make a formal 2018 forecast on indexes and key asset prices, but after a 360-degree review of gold there appears to be more reasons for concern than optimism about gold in 2018.

Friday’s top analyst calls included AMD, CVS Health, Fiat Chrysler, Kinross Gold, Kohl’s, NVIDIA, Walt Disney and over a dozen more.