Stocks were indicated higher on Wednesday after a strong preliminary jobs report from ADP. While the U.S. indexes are effectively at all-time highs, many investors have seen lower upside from buying on market pullbacks than in prior years. Now the investing community has to consider how to position their investments for the rest of 2018 and 2019.
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, 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 Wednesday, October 3, 2018.
Analog Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI) was maintained as Overweight at Barclays, but the firm cut its price target to $108 from $110. The 52-week range is $80.95 to $103.59 and the consensus price target is $108.70.
BankUnited Inc. (NYSE: BKU) was maintained as Overweight at Barclays, but the firm lowered its price target to $45 from $49. The 52-week range is $32.34 to $44.97 and the consensus price target is $44.68.
Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (NYSE: BKD) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $11 from $9 (versus a $9.35 prior close) at JMP Securities. The 52-week range is $6.28 to $11.09 and the consensus price target is $10.50.
Diamondback Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FANG) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $166 price target (versus a $137.05 close) at Oppenheimer. The 52-week range is $97.81 to $138.49 and the consensus price target is $168.93.
Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was lowered to $55 from $58 (versus a $41.71 close) at Wells Fargo. Halliburton was indicated up 0.6% at $41.97 on Wednesday, and it had a consensus target price of $51.67.
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) was maintained as Equal Weight and the price target was lowered to $59 from $60 at Morgan Stanley. The 52-week range is $47.94 to $74.94 and the consensus price target is $74.94.
Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP) was maintained as Equal Weight and the price target was lowered to $95 from $98 at Morgan Stanley. The 52-week range is $77.14 to $104.20 and the consensus price target is $113.73.
Neovasc Inc. (NASDAQ: NVCN) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $3 from $2 at Leerink. Shares closed down 10.7% at $2.25 on Tuesday, but its shares were up 22% at $2.75 on Wednesday on news of positive follow-up data on patients implanted with a Neovasc Reducer.
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Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC. Shares closed down 2% at $82.77 on Tuesday and were indicated down about 0.6% more at $82.26 on Wednesday morning. The consensus target price was last seen at $87.69.
NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) was maintained as Equal Weight and the price target was lowered to $100 from $105 at Morgan Stanley. The 52-week range is $84.35 to $125.93 and the consensus price target is $109.06.
PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) was maintained as Hold at Deutsche Bank after its earnings report, but the firm lowered Pepsi’s price target to $116 from $118. BMO maintained its Market Perform rating but lowered its target to $109 from $110, and Citigroup maintained its Neutral rating while lowering its target to $116 from $118.
Repligen Corp. (NASDAQ: RGEN) was reiterated as Buy at Janney, which raised its fair value estimate to $70 from $56 (versus a $55.69 close) after news that the recent partnership with Sartorius Stedim opens a significant share of the global bioreactor market for the company.
Seattle Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: SGEN) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $95 from $80 at Barclays. The 52-week range is $47.75 to $84.13 and the consensus price target is $86.09.
24/7 Wall St.Skyworks Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) was reiterated as Underweight but the price target was lowered to $79 from $80 (versus a $91.88 close) at Morgan Stanley. The 52-week range is $83.05 to $117.65 and the consensus price target is $117.71.
Tempur Sealy International Inc. (NYSE: TPX) was raised to Neutral from Sell and the target price was raised to $55 from $45 at UBS. The stock was down almost 2% at $48.38 on Tuesday, but its shares were higher by 11.6% at $53.99 on Wednesday after reports that the Mattress Firm’s bankruptcy looks imminent.
Viper Energy Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: VNOM) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $51 price target (versus a $43.00 close) at Oppenheimer. The 52-week range is $18.02 to $43.31 and the consensus price target is $42.93.
Whiting Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: WLL) was started as Outperform and assigned a $67 target price. Shares closed down 2.5% at $53.14 on Tuesday but were indicated up 2.8% at $54.60 on Wednesday. The consensus analyst target is $59.21.
Tuesday’s top analyst calls were in Boston Scientific, Etsy, General Electric, Morgan Stanley, SeaWorld, Skechers, Shopify, Square, Tesla and many more.
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