Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Amazon, ADP, BHP Billiton, Cloudera, Expedia, Facebook, Hasbro, Mattel, Tesla, Transocean and More

April 4, 2018 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks have been looking for a base, but futures were down handily despite a strong jobs report from ADP. The culprit for Wednesday’s selling is more retaliatory tariff news out of China, with the Dow Jones industrial average indicated down 2.1% and the S&P 500 indicated down 1.5%.

You have heard over and over that the bull market is now over nine years old, but now the Dow and S&P 500 are challenging their 200-day moving averages for the first time in two years. The trend of buying pullbacks has worked for years, but now the sellers and volatility are more able to win than they have been able to in a long time. This is making it ever harder for investors to decide how they want their assets positioned for the rest of 2018 and beyond.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of the daily analyst 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 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, April 4, 2018.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was reiterated as Buy with a $1,550 price target (versus a $1392.05 prior close) at Argus. The independent research firm also noted that its fair value metrics make it worth over $1,600 per share, and the firm noted that a tweet storm won’t change Amazon’s fundamentals.

AnaptysBio Inc. (NASDAQ: ANAB) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform and the price target was slashed to $86 from $144 at RBC Capital Markets, with the firm noting concerns over peanut allergies and asthma treatments.

Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NASDAQ: ADP) was maintained as Hold and the price target was cut to $126 from $133 (versus a $114.04 close) at Stifel.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) was raised to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital Markets, with the firm noting that its coal exposure is a plus.

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG) was started as Outperform with a $2,500 price target (versus a $2,065.88 close) at Wedbush Securities. The firm noted a best-in-class OTA that is poised to capitalize on secular growth.

Cloudera Inc. (NYSE: CLDR) was up 4.7% at $22.24 ahead of earnings, but its shares were last seen down 32.5% at $15.01. Stifel maintained its Buy rating but lowered its target to $19 from $24. Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight, and Deutsche Bank downgraded it to Hold from Buy.

Dexcom Inc. (NASDAQ: DXCM) was up 0.2% at $74.69 on Tuesday but was indicated down almost 5% at $71.00 on Wednesday. Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on Dexcom with a Sell rating and assigned a $57 price target. The shares have a 52-week trading range of $42.62 to $82.30.

Dominion Energy Inc. (NYSE: D) was maintained as Neutral but the price objective was cut to $70 (versus a $67.33 close) at Merrill Lynch. The 52-week range is $66.68 to $85.30.

Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) was started as Neutral with a $117 price target (versus a $106.55 close) at Wedbush. The firm is awaiting a payback from ample investments.

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Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) was maintained as Overweight at Morgan Stanley, but the firm lowered its price target to $200 from $230 despite not seeing any material ad spending reduction from top advertisers. Facebook was last seen down 2% at $153.20 in the premarket despite news that Zuckerbrg would testify.

Gold Fields Inc. (NYSE: GFI) was raised to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital Markets.

Harris Corp. (NYSE: HRS) was started as Buy with a $196 price target (versus a $159.70 close) at Argus, with the firm citing a strong outlook for a leading military supplier.

Hasbro Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) was maintained as Hold but the price target was cut to $93 from $98 at Stifel.

Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) was reiterated as Buy with a $90 price objective (versus a $57.09 close) at Merrill Lynch, with the firm noting after strong first-quarter trends that homebuilding remains alive and well. Wedbush maintained its Neutral rating with a $62 price target.

Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) was maintained as Hold but the price target was cut to $14.00 from $15.50 at Stifel.

Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: RGLD) was downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.

Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE: SIG) saw its earnings estimates cut at Merrill Lynch, along with gross margin pressure, a shift in SG&A spending on the calendar and investments. The stock was down 1.7% at $35.46 on Tuesday and indicated down 4.1% at $34.00 on Wednesday.

SodaStream International Ltd. (NASDAQ: SODA) was started as Buy with a $110 price target (versus a $91.62 close) at B. Riley.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was up almost 6% at $267.53 ahead of production and delivery numbers but shares were last seen down 5.2% at $253.68. Tesla saw its target price cut to $275 from $300 at Independent Research, and RBC lowered its price target to $305 from $380. JPMorgan maintained its Underweight rating and lowered its price target to $185 from $190.

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) was raised to Buy from Hold at HSBC. After a 1.9% gain to $9.81 on Tuesday, the shares were last seen down 2% at $9.61. The 52-week range is $7.20 to $13.04.

TripAdvisor Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) was started as Neutral with a $42 price target (versus a $39.98 close) at Wedbush. The firm noted that metasearch struggles are overshadowing non-hotel strength.

Trivago N.V. (NASDAQ: TRVG) was started as Neutral with a $7.50 price target (versus a $6.67 close) at Wedbush. The firm says it is waiting to see monetization of strong referral trends and that it sees the CAA acquisition integrating well.

Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE: WHR) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, and the shares were indicated down 2.9% at $146.80 on Wednesday.

Credit Suisse’s U.S. equity strategy team is addressing the sell-off. It noted that bear markets have historically been driven by recessions or liquidity events. The firm’s Recession Dashboard suggests the likelihood of a recession to be low. It also introduced a framework to evaluate the potential for a disruptive liquidity event, and it shows stress but contained within equities.

Tuesday’s top analyst calls included AngioDynamics, Commercial Metals, Eldorado Resorts, GameStop, Marvell Technology, Spotify, U.S. Steel and many more.

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