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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: American Superconductor, Galapagos, Humana, Intel, Philips, Pinduoduo, Qualcomm, Wayfair and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: September 13, 2018 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 5:59 pm

Stocks were indicated to open stronger on Thursday after a mixed index showing on Wednesday. The major U.S. equity indexes remain near all-time highs, while most international markets are not. One issue that stands out is that investors have seen less upside from buying on market pullbacks than in prior years. Investors also need to consider how they want to have their investments positioned for the rest of 2018.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, but some cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Additional commentary has been added on most of the daily analyst reports, along with trading history. The consensus analyst price targets and other valuation metrics are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Thursday, September 13, 2018.

Aldeyra Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ALDX) was started as Buy and assigned a $21 fair value estimate (versus an $8.00 prior close) at Janney. The firm likes its novel platform targeting inflammation with multiple upcoming catalysts, noting that Aldeyra is developing novel therapies to treat immune-mediated diseases and that its lead platform is designed to sequester reactive aldehyde species.

American Superconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: AMSC) was started with a Buy rating and assigned an $11 price target (versus a $6.00 close) at Craig-Hallum. Shares have traded in a 52-week range of $3.06 to $8.03, and they previously had an $8.17 consensus target price.

Aquestive Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: AQST) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $33 target price (versus an $18.23 close) at Wedbush Securities. The firm considers Aquestive to be an opportunity to invest in proprietary PharmFilm technology that is being leveraged to develop a pipeline of 10 drugs and candidates and as an oral alternative in patients having difficulty swallowing pills or only having invasive options like injections.

Cara Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CARA) was started as Buy and assigned a $30 target price (versus a $20.86 close) at Jefferies.

Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN) was started with an Equal Weight rating at Barclays.

Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CNCE) was started as Neutral with a $17 fair value estimate (versus a $14.07 close) at Janney.

CytomX Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CTMX) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $32 price target (versus an $18.98 close, after a 5% drop) at H.C. Wainwright. The 52-week range is $16.26 to $35.00, and the previous consensus target price was $39.33.

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: DRNA) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $27 price target (versus a $15.43 close, after a 4.4% drop) at Citigroup. It was last seen up over 2% at $15.80 on Thursday.

Four Seasons Education Inc. (NYSE: FEDU) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $4 price target (versus a $4.30 close) at Citigroup.

Galapagos N.V. (NASDAQ: GLPG) was started with an Overweight rating at JPMorgan.

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Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $370 price target (versus a $331.57 close) at Barclays. Humana has traded between $231.90 and $337.56 in the past year, and it had a consensus analyst target of $357.00 ahead of this call.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform with a $46 price target (versus a $44.93 close) at Northland Securities. The consensus target price is $56.06, and the 52-week range is $36.16 to $57.60.

Myovant Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ: MYOV) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $39 price target (versus a $23.00 close) at JPMorgan.

NRG Yield Inc. (NYSE: NYLD) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $20 price target (versus a $20.10 close) at Goldman Sachs.

ObsEva S.A. (NASDAQ: OBSV) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $29 price target (versus a $14.40 close) at JPMorgan.

Koninklijke Philips N.V. (NYSE: PHG), or just Philips Electronics as we know it, was started with an Outperform rating at Bernstein.

Pinduoduo Inc. (NASDAQ: PDD) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $31 price target (versus a $23.04 close) at Goldman Sachs. Shares were indicated up over 4% at $24.10 on Thursday, in a post-IPO range of $17.20 to $27.54.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $95 price target (versus a $71.75 close) at Barclays. Qualcomm has a 52-week range of $48.56 to $72.75 and a consensus target price of $70.35. The prior street-high target price was $88. Its shares were indicated up 3% on Thursday.

WageWorks Inc. (NYSE: WAGE) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at JMP Securities. The stock closed down 1% at $49.10 and has a 52-week range of $38.40 to $65.80. The consensus target price is $70.00.

Wayfair Inc. (NYSE: W) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy but the firm lifted its price objective to $160 from $130 (versus a $149.50 close) at Merrill Lynch. Wayfair has a 52-week range of $55.33 to $149.90.

Weight Watchers International Inc. (NYSE: WTW) was started as Equal Weight with a $76 price target (versus a $72.87 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades were in Alcoa, Chevron, GM, Lam Research, Micron, NXP Semiconductors, Royal Bank of Scotland, Tiffany, Wayfair and many more.