Investing

10 Stocks Receiving Multiple Analyst Upgrades and Price Target Hikes

Earnings season is going strong, and many brokerage firm analysts are raising targets and ratings on their favorite stocks. The Thursday morning list of full analyst upgrades and downgrades included about 20 companies, but there were many companies which received multiple analyst upgrades or price target hikes after strong news.

With about 80% of the S&P 500 having reported earnings for the second quarter of 2018, roughly 70% of the companies reporting are beating expectations. In short, there are many reasons that investors are willing to remain positive despite the market being close to all-time highs again.

24/7 Wall St. tracked 10 companies seeing three or more analyst rating upgrades or price target hikes on Thursday, August 9, 2018.

Alteryx Inc. (NYSE: AYX) may be far from a household name, but the shares were last seen trading up 17% at $55.95 after it said revenues rose by over 50%. Cowen raised its target price to $59 from $43 and Oppenheimer’s went up to $56 from $48. JPMorgan is still far south of the current price, but it raised its price target to $45 from $36. Raymond James raised its price target for Alteryx to $54 from $38.

Cubic Corp. (NYSE: CUB) has seen almost no gain in its share price on Thursday, but that’s after the post-earnings run took its shares up to about $72 from $67 in a day. Canaccord Genuity raised its price target to $78 from $76, JPMorgan raised its target to $75 from $70, and Raymond James raised its own target to $82 from $70. The stock now has a 52-week trading range of $41.05 to $77.35.

Endo International PLC (NASDAQ: ENDP) was back in positive territory on Thursday, but that’s after a jump to $16.23 from $12.65 from it beat earnings and revenue expectations. JPMorgan raised its target price to $14 from $10. And Leerink was even more aggressive, raising its target price to $18 from $12. Stifel launched its target to $17 from $10, and now the 52-week trading range $5.27 to $17.34,

Equinix Inc. (REIT) (NASDAQ: EQIX) has become a real estate investment trust (REIT) of the cloud, and its shares were last seen trading up 1.4% at $453.50 on Thursday. That’s still more than $40 shy of its 52-week high. Cowen lifted its price target to $504 from $495, and JPMorgan hiked its target even more to $520 from $475. Raymond James also raised its price target on Equinix, from $500 to $525.

Green Dot Corp. (NYSE: GDOT) was last seen trading up 4.6% at $84.43 after hitting a 52-week high of $85.50 due to a strong earnings reaction. The biggest target hike seen on Thursday came from SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, with a lift to $100 from $75. Compass Point raised its target to $85 from $72, and Guggenheim lifted its target to $88 from $78. Jefferies already had an $89 target on Green Dot, and that was raised to $92 in its call. JPMorgan remains more cautious, but the firm did raise its price target from $69 to $77.

Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: KORS) has come way back from the days when discounting of merchandise at clearance was hurting the company’s image. Its shares hit a 52-week high of $73.17 on Thursday, and the stock was up 3.6% at $72.55 in midday trading. Canaccord Genuity has a Buy rating, and the firm hiked its target all the way up to $90 from $84. Robert W. Baird maintained a Neutral rating on the stock but raised its target price to $75 from $72. Other analyst price target hikes were seen as follows: JPMorgan to $75 from $73, Nomura/Instinet to $85 from $80 and RBC Capital Markets to $74 from $68.

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