Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, Chevron, FirstEnergy, Intel, Kinder Morgan, Mattel, Sprint, T-Mobile, Take-Two, Wayfair and More

April 30, 2018 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were indicated to open higher on Monday after a mixed week has come and gone. The Dow Jones industrial average remains under 24,500, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq barely closed positive on Friday after a slew of strong earnings from the top components. Many investors have considered how they want their investments positioned for the longer term.

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 Monday, April 30, 2018.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $173 from $170 at Citigroup. Shares closed on Friday at $121.37 and had a consensus target price of $158.60. The 52-week trading range is $96.18 to $149.34.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was maintained as Equal Weight but the price target was cut to $157 from $168 at Barclays. Apple closed down 1.1% at $162.32 on Friday, and the consensus target price was $192.94 ahead of the call. The 52-week range is $142.20 to $183.50.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $145 from $135 at Barclays. It closed up 1.9% at $126.62 on Friday after earnings, and the consensus target price was $137.12. The 52-week range is $102.55 to $133.88.

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo. The stock closed at $34.30 and has a 52-week range of $27.93 to $35.56. The consensus target price is $36.46.

Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $16 from $20 at Citigroup. This was after shares fell over 21% to $13.03 on Friday after earnings.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $64 from $60 at Citigroup. This was after multiple post-earnings analyst target hikes on Friday as well.

JetBlue Inc. (NASDAQ: JBLU) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) was maintained as Buy at Stifel, but the price target was cut to $21 from $22 in the call.

Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) was reiterated as Outperform at BMO Capital Markets, and the price target was raised to $20 from $17 (versus a $14.17 prior close).

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) was maintained as Underweight at Barclays, but the firm raised its price target to $115 from $105. Phillips 66 was down 1% at $111.34 on Friday, and it had a consensus target price of $110.80 and a 52-week range of $75.85 to $113.27.

Spirit Airlines Inc. (NYSE: SAVE) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

T-Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) and Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) finally have agreed to merge, and both wireless carriers were downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo. Guggenheim raised Sprint to Neutral from Sell on the news. Citigroup maintained its Neutral rating on Sprint. Sprint shares were indicated down 12% at $5.71 on Monday, but that was after an 8% gain on Friday. T-Mobile shares were indicated down 1.6% at $63.50, after rising 0.6% to $64.52 on Friday.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $126 price target at Wedbush Securities, with the firm noting an average of $5 in earnings per share over the next two years. Stifel maintained its Buy rating but lowered its price target to $131 from $135.

Wayfair Inc. (NYSE: W) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $63 price target (versus a $66.61 close) at Wedbush. The firm sees modest risk to consensus expectations for first-quarter results and more risk to second-quarter margin guidance to be delivered with earnings this week.

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) was reiterated as Outperform with a $5.50 price target (versus a $3.48 close) at Wedbush. The firm expects Zynga to deliver quarterly upside once again this week as it has a conservative approach to guidance.

Friday’s top analyst calls included Amazon.com, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Facebook, General Electric, Intel, Microsoft, Nike, Snap, Symantec and many more.

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