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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: ADT, Apple, BP, Ciena, Exxon Mobil, Fortinet, JD.com, Micron, UDR, Western Digital and More

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Stocks were hammered on Monday and were indicated to open handily lower on Tuesday due to another disappointment from Boeing and due to poor retail stock earnings reactions. Investors have been forced to see numerous waves of selling in 2018, and there has also been lower upside after buying immediately after the big market selloffs versus prior years. Now is the time for investors to start considering how they want their investments and assets positioned for 2019.

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

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

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Tuesday, November 20, 2018.

ADT Inc. (NYSE: ADT) was started with an Outperform rating and was assigned a $12 price target (versus $7.68 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was maintained as Neutral and saw its price target cut to $182 from $209 at Goldman Sachs, with the firm noting weakness in China and a less than stellar reception to the iPhone XR pricing. Apple was down almost 4% at $185.86 on Monday and was indicated down 3.5% at $178.40 on Tuesday. Another day, another Apple downgrade based on the same information as the prior 4 analyst cuts that took the shares lower. Apple is now in bear market territory.

Apptio Inc. (NASDAQ: APTI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the target price was lowered down to $38 from $39 at Nomura/Instinet.

Aramark (NYSE: ARMK) was started as Outperform with a $47 price target (versus $35.83 close) at RBC Capital Markets. Aramark has a consensus analyst target price of $47.67.

BP PLC (NYSE: BP) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James. BP has a 52-week range of $36.15 to $47.82 and its ADSs were indicated down 1% at $40.50 on Tuesday.

Beacon Roofing Supply (NASDAQ: BECN) was maintained as Outperform at Wedbush Securities, but the firm slashed its target price to $30 from $50. Raymond James lowered its rating to Outperform from Strong Buy as well.

Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE: COG) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $29 target price at Goldman Sachs. Cabot Oil & Gas was indicated down 2% at $25.28 on Wednesday, versus a prior consensus analyst target price of $27.04.

Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham & Co. Ciena shares were indicated down 4% at $31.00 on Tuesday, and the consensus analyst target price was last seen at $34.25.

Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS) was started as Outperform with a $215 price target (versus $179.58 close) at RBC Capital Markets. Cintas had a consensus analyst target price of $210.78.

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James. Exxon Mobil was indicated down 1.1% at $78.31 and the consensus analyst target price was $89.42.

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James. Fortinet was indicated down 3.5% at $65.50 with a consensus analyst target price of $84.54.

Inogen, Inc. (NASDAQ: INGN) was raised to Strong Buy from Buy with a $280 price target (versus $137.45 close) at Needham & Co.

JD.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: JD) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the target price was lowered to $24 from $41 at Nomura/Instinet. JD.com was also downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was cut to $24 from $35.00 at Macquarie.

Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was downgraded in a two-notch cut at Robert W. Baird, down to Underperform from Outperform and slashing the price target down to $32 from $75. Micron was indicated down 7.4% at $34.10, versus a 52-week low of $33.82 and versus a 52-week high of $64.66. This call fells a month or more late based on other calls, but that’s life.

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ: QLYS) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $100 price target (versus $69.21 close) at BTIG Research. Qualys has a 52-week range of $ 55.05 to $98.30and has a consensus analyst price target of $93.25.

Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral and the price objective was lowered to $75 from $92 at BofA Merrill Lynch. Skyworks was down 3% at $70.76 on Monday and was indicated down 4.6% more at $67.50 on Tuesday — breaking under its 52-week low of $70.57. Another late tech call?

Teradyne, Inc. (NYSE: TER) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $40 price objective (versus $35.29 close) at BofA Merrill Lynch. Teradyne has a 52-week range of $30.22 to $50.68 and has a consensus analyst price target of $39.29.

UDR, Inc. (NYSE: UDR) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird. UDR was indicated down over 4% at $86.50 on Tuesday, and it has a 52-week range of $32.88 to $41.63 and has a consensus analyst price target of $41.20.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna. Western Digital was indicated down 4% at $43.30 on Tuesday and it had a consensus analyst target price of $72.20 that still looks artificially high, and its 52-week range is $40.58 to $106.96.

Barclays set a 3,000 target for the S&P 500 for 2019.

Could this drug stock have over 30% upside in this bad stock market?

Credit Suisse sees 3 airline stocks flying much higher than their peers.

Monday’s top analyst calls were in shares of American Air, BlackBerry, Mallinkrodt, PG&E, RingCentral, Southwest Airlines, Yeti and many more.

 

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