Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Capital One, Domino's, Home Depot, Mosaic, Regenron, Six Flags, US Steel, Walmart and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: February 21, 2018 9:14 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 3:12 am

Stocks have returned to a period of volatility, but Tuesday’s selling pressure has been mostly mitigated as futures stabilized on Wednesday’s early trading hours. The trend that has worked without fail for roughly six years has been to buy the dips for a snapback rally. We also have to consider that the bull market is now just about two weeks shy of being nine years old. Investors still have to decide how they want to be positioned for 2018 and beyond.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some analyst reports and research reports cover stocks to buy. Others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Additional color and commentary has been added on most of the daily analyst reports. The consensus analyst price targets mentioned and other valuation metrics are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Wednesday, February 21, 2018.

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL) was reiterated as Buy with a $110 price target at Argus, with the independent research firm noting strong fourth-quarter earnings.

Anthera Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ANTH) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $10 price target at Roth Capital. Shares closed at $1.69 on Tuesday but were indicated up 9.5% at $1.85 on Wednesday morning after the call. Anthera has a 52-week trading range of $1.20 to $6.24, and investors should consider that its market cap is a mere $23.5 million.

Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $109 price target (versus a $98.47 prior close) at Instinet.

CF Industries Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CF) was started as Outperform and assigned a $60 price target (versus a $41.82 close) at Bernstein.

Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was kept at $450 at Argus.

ConforMIS Inc. (NASDAQ: CFMS) was down 4.1% at $1.39 on Tuesday, but its stock was up almost 8% at $1.50 on Wednesday morning after Cowen started coverage as Outperform with a $4 price target. The 52-week range is $1.15 to $5.98, and the market cap is a mere $82 million.

Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $240 from $230 at Oppenheimer. Credit Suisse reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target price to $245 from $235.

EPAM Systems Inc. (NYSE: EPAM) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, but the price target of $130 compared with a $113.85 close.

Finish Line Inc. (NASDAQ: FINL) was down 6% at $9.54 on Tuesday but was indicated up 4.8% at $10.00 on Wednesday. Finish Line shares were raised to Neutral from Underperform at Buckingham Research.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) was maintained as Outperform but the price target was cut to $217 from $220 (versus a $186.71 close) at Telsey Advisory. Wedbush Securities maintained a Neutral rating and $190 price target. Home Depot was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $215 at Argus.

LendingClub Corp. (NYSE: LC) was maintained as Neutral but the price target was cut to $5.00 from $5.60 at Credit Suisse. Wedbush maintained its Neutral rating and $4 price target.

Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $30 target price (versus a $26.76 close) at JPMorgan.

Okta Inc. (NASDAQ: OKTA) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $40 from $34 (versus a $35.84 close) at Oppenheimer.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was raised to Positive from Neutral with a $195 price target (versus a $162.92 close) at Susquehanna.

Quotient Technology Inc. (NYSE: QUOT) was started as Outperform and assigned a $16 target price (versus a $13.30 close) at Oppenheimer.

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Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $356 price target (versus a $323.04 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

Six Flags Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: SIX) was reiterated as Outperform with a $76 price target (versus a $66.18 close) at Wedbush. Janney maintained its Buy rating and $77 price target.

Spark Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCE) was down 7.8% at $50.23 on Tuesday after an earnings and progress update. Spark Therapeutics was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $64 from $73 at Stifel. Wedbush maintained its Underperform rating and $40 price target.

Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned an $82 price target (versus a $76.13 close) at Buckingham Research.

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: RARE) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $74 from $85 (versus a $48.18 close) at Stifel. Wedbush maintained its Outperform rating and $64 price target.

United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $52 from $41 at Argus.

Viper Energy Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: VNOM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $24 price target (versus a $23.34 close) at Citigroup.

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) shares fell 10.2% to $94.11 on Tuesday after weak e-commerce sales and guidance. The stock was maintained as Outperform but the price target was cut to $110 from $120 at Telsey Advisory. It was maintained as Hold but the target price was cut to $99 from $104 at Stifel. Walmart was maintained as Buy at Merrill Lynch in a flash note after earnings on Tuesday. The 52-week range is $69.33 to $109.98.

Merrill Lynch was one of the first big firms at the end of July to basically issue a technical and tactical sell on the market due to massive inflows and sentiment reaching historic highs. In the RIC Report last week they switched to a “Down but Not Out” call for the bull market. Now the technical team has issued more positive views on the S&P 500 noting an encouraging rally off the 200-day moving average and 2016 uptrend. The next resistance levels are seen as 2,670 and 2,800 or more, and the support ranges are now 2,701 to 2,649 and then 2,593 to 2,580. The firm’s view is that the global equity market breadth remains solid, and they noted that tactical put/call ratios are generally more fearful, oversold and contrarian bullish. Yes, it’s true: technicians do not speak the same language as fundamental investors.

Tuesday’s top analyst calls included those in Chipotle Mexican Grill, Etsy, Home Depot, PagSeguro, Snap, Walmart, Wingstop and many more.