Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: BBVA, Bed Bath & Beyond, Dropbox, Eli Lilly, Netflix, P&G, Splunk, Starbucks and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: April 13, 2018 9:05 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 1:31 am

Stocks have been volatile this week, and major equity indices were all trading higher on Friday morning. The bull market may now be over nine years old, but it has become more obvious that the trend of buying pullbacks has become much more vulnerable to sellers, volatility and each major news headline. This is making it more difficult 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 analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and some 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 Friday, April 13, 2018.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (NYSE: BBVA) was raised to Buy from Hold at HSBC. Its shares closed down 0.4% at $7.79 on Thursday, in a 52-week trading range of $7.22 to $9.54.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) was maintained as Neutral but the price target was cut to $20 from $25 at Credit Suisse. Wedbush Securities maintained its Neutral rating but cut its target price to $18 from $23. The shares were down 19.9% at $17.21 after earnings on Thursday.

Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse. Its shares closed at $18.39 on Thursday but were indicated down 0.8% at $18.24 on Friday.

Dropbox Inc. (NASDAQ: DBX) was started as Reduce at Nomura with a $21 price target (versus a $33.27 prior close) at Nomura. Dropbox shares were up almost 3% on Thursday, but the stock was indicated down almost 7% at $30.98 on Friday morning.

Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at BMO Capital Markets. The stock closed up 0.7% at $79.29 on Thursday, and the shares were indicated up 0.9% at $80.00 on Friday morning.

Endocyte Inc. (NASDAQ: ECYT) was started as Buy with a $17 price target (versus $9.55 close) at Jefferies. Shares were last seen up about 10% at $10.54.

Ensco PLC (NYSE: ESV) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was raised to Buy from Hold by Deutsche Bank, following multiple analyst target price hikes this week.

PagSeguro Digital Ltd. (NYSE: PAGS) was started as Overweight and assigned a $42 price target (versus a $34.80 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

24/7 Wall St.
Deutsche Bank Cautious on Semiconductors: 5 to Buy for Q2

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) was maintained as Buy at Merrill Lynch, but the price target was cut to $90 from $100 in the call.

Shaw Communications Inc. (NYSE: SJR) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at Scotiabank.

Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $115 from $110 (versus a $106.39 close) at Credit Suisse.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform $59.24 at Cowen. The stock was indicated down 1.1% at $58.75 on Friday, and Starbucks has a consensus target price of $63.82 and a 52-week range of $52.58 to $64.87.

Zillow Group Inc. (NASDAQ: Z) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Craig-Hallum after news that it intends to begin a house-flipping program of its own. The shares were last indicated down 7% at $49.75.

Thursday’s top analyst calls were in shares of Albermarle, American Airlines, Ellie Mae, Johnson & Johnson, Mallinckrodt, Mylan, NetApp, Southwest Air and many more.

Follow @Jonogg on Twitter to receive the daily analyst calls and other market research calls directly on your feed.