Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: ADM, Broadcom, CDK, Comcast, Ctrip, DaVita, Lowe's, Monster Beverage, Nordstrom, Roku, Square and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: November 8, 2018 9:05 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 3:12 pm

Stocks were indicated to open lower in a day of light profit-taking after Wednesday’s post-election gains. While there has been a big bounce off last week’s lows, investors have seen lower upside after buying immediately after the big market pullbacks than in prior years. The investing community needs to consider how to position their investments for the rest of the year and into 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, while some reports 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, November 8, 2018.

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $53 price target (versus a $48.30 prior close) at Argus. ADM has a $53.64 consensus target price.

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $310 price target (versus a $234.40 close) at Deutsche Bank. Broadcom closed up 2.7% at $234.40 on Wednesday and has a consensus target price of $287.45.

BWX Technologies Inc. (NYSE: BWXT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the target was cut to $48 from $79 at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. The stock was down 23.75% at $46.26 on Wednesday after earnings included some bad news.

CDK Global Inc. (NYSE: CDK) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo. Shares closed down 7.6% at $52.95 on Wednesday.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) was started as Overweight and the price target was set at $46 (versus a $38.30 close) at Morgan Stanley. Comcast has a consensus target price of $43.70.

Ctrip.com International Ltd. (NASDAQ: CTRP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was lowered to $35 from $41 (versus a $34.44 close) at Citigroup. The shares were indicated down almost 10% at $31.20 on Thursday after earnings.

DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) was up almost 10% at $76.08 on Wednesday, but shares were indicated down almost 7% at $70.95 Thursday morning after earnings included weaker guidance on kidney care numbers. Raymond James downgraded DaVita to Market Perform from Strong Buy.

Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the target price was lowered to $6 from $13 at Jefferies.

EnLink Midstream Partners L.P. (NYSE: ENLK) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $14 price target at Stifel. That was after shares fell 2.2% to $14.31 the prior day.

24/7 Wall St.
After the Midterm Elections, 10 Defensive Stocks to Buy for 2019

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE: KNX) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $48 price target (versus a $33.59 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Landstar System Inc. (NASDAQ: LSTR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Gordon Haskett. Lowe’s was up 3.2% at $100.60 on Wednesday, and it has a consensus target price of $119.74.

Monster Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: MNST) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley. The stock was up 2% at $55.91 on Wednesday but was down 10.5% at $50.02 after earnings on Thursday morning.

Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) was downgraded to Reduce from Hold at Gordon Haskett.

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: RNR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

RH (NYSE: RH) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Gordon Haskett.

Roku Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) was down almost 14% at $50.75 on Thursday morning after earnings and guidance. Wedbush Securities maintained it as Outperform with a $65 target price, noting there may still be upside to its price target despite narrower guidance.

Square Inc. (NYSE: SQ) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna, which has a target price of $77. Wedbush maintained it as Neutral with a $74 target. Shares were down 6% at $77.70 on Thursday morning.

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: RARE) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup. Shares closed down 0.3% at $53.61 ahead of the call, and the consensus analyst target is $70.11.

Zayo Group Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ZAYO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Wednesday’s post-midterm analyst calls included AIG, Freeport-McMoRan, Frontier Communications, Noble Energy, Occidental Petroleum, Spark Therapeutics, Target and many more.

Follow @Jonogg on Twitter to receive the daily analyst calls and other market research calls directly on your feed.