Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Bloom Energy, Chipotle, Cognizant, Cummins, FireEye, Humana, MacroGenics, Spirit Airlines, Vale, Disney and More

February 7, 2019 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were trading lower on Thursday after a light sell-off on Wednesday. Investors need to consider that the Dow Jones industrials had risen by over 2,500 points above its lows from the start of January to this week’s highs. Investors should be considering how they want their assets positioned for 2019 and beyond.

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 of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others 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 were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Thursday, February 7, 2019.

Bloom Energy Corp. (NYSE: BE) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse, with shares having fallen by 5% to $10.16 after earnings the prior day. It has a consensus target price of $22.43.

Cellular Biomedicine Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CBMG) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $26 price target (versus a $17.62 prior close) at Robert W. Baird.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was last seen trading up over 9% at $574.00 after earnings. BMO Capital Markets maintained it as Market Perform but raised the target to $540 from $420. Stephens maintained it as Equal Weight but raised the target to $525 from $425, and KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $625 from $525.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ: CTSH) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets. Shares last closed at $74.50, in a 52-week range of $59.47 to $85.10. The consensus price target is $81.45.

Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird. Shares last closed at $149.35, in a 52-week range of $124.40 to $173.50. The consensus price target is $154.41.

Elastic N.V. (NYSE: ESTC) was last seen trading down over 5% at $83.50 after closing down almost 2% at $88.34. The stock was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs and to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

Essex Property Trust Inc. (NYSE: ESS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies. Shares last closed at $275.51, in a 52-week range of $216.45 to $284.09. The stock has a consensus price target of $273.35.

FireEye Inc. (NASDAQ: FEYE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BTIG. Shares last closed at $18.42, in a 52-week range of $13.97 to $20.61. The consensus price target is $20.35.

First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive and the target was cut to $25 from $29 (versus a $25.15 close) at Susquehanna.

Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) was maintained as Buy but the target was lowered to $362 from $397 (versus a $301.77 close) at Citigroup.


Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: IOVA) was started as Outperform and the price target was set at $29 (versus a $9.83 close) at Robert W. Baird. Shares last closed at $9.83, in a 52-week range of $7.26 to $19.90 and with a consensus price target of $30.29.

MacroGenics Inc. (NASDAQ: MGNX) rose 130% to $25.60 a share on Wednesday after positive breast cancer drug news. Citigroup upgraded it to Buy from Sell and raised the target price to $39 from $10, and Raymond James raised it to Market Perform from Underperform. Wedbush Securities downgraded the stock to Neutral from Outperform with a $26 target, noting that margetuximab in 3/4L HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer being approved was baked into the price at current levels. The 52-week trading range is $9.87 to $32.74.

Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. (NYSE: OHI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel. Shares last closed at $39.37, in a 52-week range of $25.05 to $40.30. The consensus analyst target is $35.50.

Owens-Illinois Inc. (NYSE: OI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch. Shares last closed at $19.71, in a 52-week range of $15.67 to $23.45. The stock has a consensus price target of $20.46.

PACCAR Inc. (NASDAQ: PCAR) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird. Shares last closed at $65.56, in a 52-week range of $53.43 to $72.89. The consensus price target is $66.35.

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: SPPI) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $19 target price (versus an $11.23 close) at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Spirit Airlines Inc. (NYSE: SAVE) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the target price was raised to $85 from $78 (versus a $60.90 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus target price was $75.13, and the 52-week trading range is $34.36 to $65.35.

Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE: SU) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie. Shares last closed at $33.19, in a 52-week range of $25.81 to $42.55 and with a consensus price target of $42.83.

Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley. Shares last closed at $11.36. The 52-week range is $11.08 to $16.13 and the consensus price target is $16.97.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) was maintained as Market Perform but the price target was raised to $114 from $109 at BMO Capital Markets.

XPO Logistics Inc. (NYSE: XPO) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $75 price target (versus a $59.31 close) at Loop Capital. The consensus target price is $94.16, and the 52-week trading range is $41.05 to $116.27.

Zafgen Inc. (NASDAQ: ZFGN) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $9 target price (versus a $4.52 close) at Leerink. It had a consensus target price of $11.40 but only had a $166 million market cap.

Wednesday’s top analyst calls were in DowDuPont, Electronic Arts, Estee Lauder, Exxon Mobil, Generac, Match, Nasdaq, Novartis, PayPal, Snap, Vishay and many more.

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