5 Stocks Scoring Multiple Analyst Upgrades and Target Hikes After Solid News

February 13, 2018 by Jon C. Ogg

After looking through the flow of daily analyst upgrades and downgrades, it turns out that during earnings season there are almost always a few companies scoring multiple analyst upgrades and seeing price target hikes. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst calls each day, and several which out in the upgrade cycle.

Not all these stocks are trading higher, but most were up on the news despite another down-day in the equity markets. We have included trading data and some reference to its trading history, as well as named several firms issuing upgrades or price target hikes.

Tuesday’s full analyst coverage universe included ADT, CBOE, Celgene, JPMorgan, 3M, NetApp, Total, Tyson Foods, Weatherford and many more. After refining that list and revisiting the additional calls, here are the top five stocks receiving multiple analyst upgrades or price target hikes on Tuesday.

Mimecast Ltd. (NASDAQ: MIME) was last seen trading up 3.2% at $34.28 on Tuesday, after closing up 4.2% on Monday after reporting three-cent adjusted earnings per share.

BMO Capital Markets reiterated its Outperform rating on Mimecast and raised its target to $38 from $35. Oppenheimer reiterated it as Outperform and the price target was raised to $38 from $35. Deutsche Bank reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $40 from $35, while Jefferies reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $40 from $38. Needham reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $40 from $38. And Barclays reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target price to $36 from $34.

Mimecast now has a 52-week trading range of $19.12 to $35.05, and its prior consensus target price was closer to $36.00.

NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) closed up 2.8% at $57.73 on Monday and was last seen up 1.8% at $58.75 on Tuesday, though it had been indicated up over 3% before the open.

Merrill Lynch raised NetApp to Buy from Neutral with a $74 price objective. Loop Capital raised its rating to Buy from Hold with a $69 price target. NetApp’s target was raised to $62 from $53 at Citigroup, and Maxim Group raised its target from $61 to $69.

NetApp has a 52-week range of $37.43 to $64.06 and it had a consensus target price of $59.41 prior to these hikes.

Qualys Inc. (NASDAQ: QLYS) was last seen trading down 0.4% at $62.35 on Tuesday morning, after Monday’s $0.07 per share earnings report and issuing adjusted earnings guidance for 2018 of $1.39 to $1.44, but the stock had hit a new high of $65.90 earlier on Tuesday morning.

Northland has an Outperform rating and raised its target to $70 from $60. JPMorgan has a Neutral rating but it still raised its Qualys target price to $70 from $65, and Morgan Stanley has an Equal Weight rating but raised its target from $61 to $65. Robert W. Baird raised its target to $67 from $61, and RBC Capital Markets raised its target to $65 from $59. Susquehanna also has a Neutral rating, but the firm raised its price target to $58 from $46.

Qualys has a 52-week range of $33.75 to $65.90 and it had a consensus target price of $60.69.

RingCentral Inc. (NYSE: RNG) was last seen trading up 8.6% at $57.95, after beating earnings estimates and raising guidance, and its shares hit a new high of $58.45 on Tuesday.

Jefferies reiterated its Buy rating on RingCentral and raised its target to $64 from $60. Oppenheimer reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $66 from $60. Morgan Staley reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $60 from $50. RingCentral saw several other target price hikes as well: SunTrust Robinson Humphrey to $60 from $50, Craig-Hallum to $65 from $50‍, Dougherty to $66 from $60, and JPMorgan from $52 to $60.

RingCentral has a 52-week range of $22.55 to $58.60, and it had a $52.30 consensus price target prior to the report and the waves of upgrades.

Varonis Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNS) was last seen trading up 2.4% at $55.20 on Tuesday, after beating earnings estimates on Monday.

Oppenheimer reiterated Varonis as Outperform and the price target was raised to $60 from $57. RBC Capital Markets has an Outperform rating but raised its target to $63 from $55. Other target hikes were seen as follows: Barclays to $58 from $54, Stifel to $60 from $55, and Summit to $63 from $45.

Varonis shares were close to a new high, with a 52-weeek range of $26.35 to $55.85. Its consensus target price prior to these hikes was $55.42.

Monday’s top analyst calls were in shares of American Express, Cisco, First Solar, Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq, Shopify, SunPower, Workday and many more.

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