Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Citigroup, Oracle, PTC Therapeutics, Starbucks, Tableau Software, Williams-Sonoma and More

The futures traded higher Wednesday morning, and while concerns over the potential for a full-out trade war continue to trouble investors, buyers look ready to jump in. Despite the big losses in the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, once again the Russell 2000 small cap index printed another all-time high on Tuesday. Clearly, investors look to be rotating to small cap stocks, as many do the bulk of their business in the United States and may face less pressure from potential tariffs.

Many investors may be reconsidering what the nine-year-old bull market may bring for the rest of this year and beyond. It has become very clear that the multiyear trend of buying pullbacks is now more vulnerable to sellers, volatility and each major news headline. Many investors are finding it harder to decide how they want their assets positioned for the longer term.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of the top analyst reports cover stocks to buy. Other analyst calls cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Additional color and commentary have been added on some of these daily analyst calls. The consensus analyst price target data are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Wednesday, June 20, 2018.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) was raised to Buy from Hold a Deutsche Bank. The bank’s shares have traded in a 52-week range of $63.16 to $80.70. The consensus price target is $83.90. The shares ended trading on Tuesday at $66.78.

Mimecast Ltd. (NASDAQ: MIME) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $25.06 to $45.15, and the consensus price target across Wall Street is $46.54. The stock closed Tuesday at $43.05.

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Wedbush. The 52-week trading range for the software giant is $44.04 to $53.08. The consensus price target is $55.73, and the stock ended trading Tuesday at $46.27.

PTC Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: PTCT) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $14.56 to $52.95. The consensus price target is set at $24.20, and shares closed at $33.24 yesterday, down a stunning 30.6% as a competitor posted solid clinical results on a drug the company already has.

Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SBH) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen. The 52-week trading range for the shares is $14.05 to $21.06. The posted consensus price target is $15.85. With the stock closing at $15.97, this was a possible valuation call.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley, and BTIG Research downgraded the coffee retailer to Neutral from Buy. The company reported disappointing results, and guidance. The 52-week trading range is $52.58 to $61.94, and the consensus price target is $63.88. The shares closed Tuesday at $57.43, but traded down over 2% in premarket action.

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