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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alibaba, Anadarko, Beyond Meat, Boeing, Ctrip.com, GW Pharma, Roku, Texas Instruments, Veeco and More
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Stocks were indicated to open lower on Tuesday, but nowhere close to the opening bell drop indications seen on Monday’s “sell China” day. With many investors wondering if they should “sell in May and go away” with the markets still so close to all-time highs, those same investors should be considering how they want their portfolios positioned for the rest of the year and beyond.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new trading and investing ideas for our readers. Some of the daily analyst reports cover stocks to buy, but other reports cover stocks to sell or to avoid.
Additional commentary and trading data have been added on some of the daily analyst reports. The consensus analyst price targets and other valuation metrics are from the Refinitiv (Thomson Reuters) sell-side research service.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday, May 7, 2019.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) closed down only 1.1% at $188.24 on Monday’s “sell China day” after having been as low as under $185. KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated the stock as Overweight and raised the target price to $240 from $210.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC) was up 5.5% at $75.49 on Monday as Occidental sweetened its cash component of the offering. Stifel downgraded Anadarko to Hold from Buy. The stock has been trading above the consensus target price because of the buyout, but that consensus target was last seen at about $67.80.
Beyond Meat Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND) closed up another 12% at $74.79, with a $4.3 billion market cap, valuing it at about 50 times last year’s revenue. Bernstein started it with an Outperform rating.
Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) was reiterated as Hold at Argus, with the independent research firm noting that the company is seeing slower growth and opportunities for its multiple sclerosis drugs. After closing up 2.1% at $236.07 most recently, the stock has a 52-week range of $216.12 to $388.67 and a consensus target price of $259.12.
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays. The firm believes that passengers will try to avoid flying the troubled 737 MAX jets for longer than anticipated after the air-grounding is lifted. Boeing shares were down 1.3% at $371.60 on Monday and were indicated down another 1.4% at $366.25 in Tuesday’s early trading indications. The consensus target price is $425.33, and the 52-week trading range is $292.47 to $446.01.
Ctrip.com International Ltd. (NASDAQ: CTRP) was down 5% at $41.05 on Monday with the big drop in Chinese shares after Trump’s tariff tweets. Mizuho raised its rating to Buy from Neutral with a $55 price target.
Cumulus Media Inc. (NASDAQ: CMLS) was started with a Neutral rating at B. Riley. Shares closed up 1.6% at $17.90 on Monday and have a consensus target price of $23.50.
Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs. The stock was down 1% at $29.01 on Monday and was indicated down another 2.2% at $28.40 on Tuesday. This was a $40 stock last week, prior to a surprise loss on earnings and its CEO’s resignation.
24/7 Wall St.GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ: GWPH) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $215 from $180 (versus a $180.09 close, after a 2.6% gain) at JPMorgan. Oppenheimer also raised it to Outperform from Perform with a $234 price target. The stock was indicated up 9% at $197.00 on Tuesday after its sales were shown to have risen by more than 1,000% to just over $39 million. The prior consensus target price was close to $190, ahead of the news and update.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Macquarie. It closed down 0.5% at $117.69, and it has a consensus target price of $186.08. Lululemon has a 52-week trading range of $96.79 to $179.50.
Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $220 from $210 (versus a $204.26 prior close) at Argus. The firm raised earnings estimates and sees that the management team has accelerated an aggressive restructuring program that is lowering costs and improving profitability.
Planet Fitness Inc. (NYSE: PLNT) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie. After closing up 0.6% at $73.11 on Monday, its shares were indicated up 1.1% at $73.90 on Tuesday. The consensus target price is $77.33. The 52-week trading range is $36.72 to $77.34.
Roku Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned an $84 target price (versus a $65.75 close, after a 1.1% gain) at Stephens. The consensus target price is $68.23, and the 52-week trading range is $26.30 to $77.57.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) was started as Neutral with a $106 target price (versus a $115.86 close) at Nomura/Instinet. It has a consensus target price of $116.92 and a 52-week trading range of $87.70 to $119.32.
Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) was raised to Buy from Hold at Benchmark. Its shares closed up 0.8% at $12.97 on Monday. The consensus target price is $14.75, and the 52-week trading range is $6.27 to $19.50.
Vivint Solar Inc. (NYSE: VSLR) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup, a day after Roth Capital started it with a similar Buy rating. Its shares closed up 6% at $6.18 on Monday, with a consensus target price of $8.55 and a 52-week range of $3.55 to $7.44.
WageWorks Inc. (NYSE: WAGE) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo. Its shares closed up 0.3% at $50.00 on Monday, in a 52-week trading range of $25.15 to $56.80. The consensus target price is $57.60.
The market had a roller-coaster ride Monday as investors worried over the China trade deal, but Merrill Lynch has five stocks with solid Buy ratings that have no exposure to China.
Monday’s top analyst calls included Acacia Communications, Aqua America, Dish Network, Expedia, First Solar, PagerDuty, Pinterest, Walt Disney and many more.
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