Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Chipotle, Disney, Hasbro, Inogen, Lending Club, Mosaic, Mylan, Pinterest, US Steel and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: May 8, 2019 9:00 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 9:03 pm

Stocks traded lower again on Wednesday morning with the looming threat of higher tariffs on China becoming more of a reality now that China has backpedaled on the core aspects of the trade negotiations. And also Iran is partially withdrawing from its multination 2015 nuclear agreement as well. Investors have been given all the recipes for “sell in May and go away” playbook, and with the markets still so close to all-time highs it’s time for investors to consider how they want their portfolios positioned for the rest of 2019.

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 Wednesday, May 8, 2019.

AvalonBay Communities Inc. (NYSE: AVB) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Mizuho. Its shares closed down almost 2% at $196.97 on Tuesday, with a consensus target price of $207.10 and in a 52-week trading range of $156.93 to $204.53.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $797 from $695 (versus a $706.52 prior close) at Citigroup. The consensus target price is $624.17, and the 52-week trading range of $383.20 to $721.21.

Globant S.A. (NYSE: GLOB) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $90 (versus an $81.07 close) at Wedbush Securities. The firm sees this as one the fastest-growing digital/SMAC IT Services vendors with delivery capabilities in Latin America, and the firm sees 2019 results being stronger due to the ongoing expansion of digital-related project sizes and currency tailwinds.

GreenSky Inc. (NASDAQ: GSKY) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Guggenheim. Its shares closed down 4.8% at $14.17 on Tuesday with earnings, and its shares were indicated down about 3% more at $13.75 on Wednesday morning.

Hasbro Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) was reiterated as Buy and the target price raised to $118 from $103 (versus a $101.19 close) at Citigroup. Hasbro has a 52-week range of $76.84 to $109.60, and it had a consensus target price of $106.79.

Inogen Inc. (NASDAQ: INGN) was last seen trading down 28.5% at $65.20 after a 4.2% pre-earnings drop to $91.14. JPMorgan downgraded it to Neutral from Overweight and slashed the target price to $72 from $175. The previous 52-week range was $77.14 to $287.79, and the market cap was $2 billion as of Tuesday’s close.

LendingClub Corp. (NYSE: LC) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $5.00 from $3.75 (versus a $3.22 close, after a 4.1% drop) at Wedbush. The firm noted numerous positives after earnings: significant gains on all fronts over the past three years, operating with a more complex and diversified source of loan buying and funding, a tighter focus on its niche of “at-prime to super-prime” and using operating efficiencies to move toward adjusted EBITDA margins of 20% by the end of 2019.

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Middlesex Water Co. (NASDAQ: MSEX) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target (fair value estimate) was raised to $66 from $58 (versus a $56.79 close) at Janney. The firm noted that Middlesex’s first-quarter earnings results were well above their expectations, and the firm raised 2019 and 2020 estimates based on strong results and further adjustments at the tax line.

Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) was raised to Overweight from Neutral but the price target was lowered to $27 from $33 at JPMorgan. Scotia raised it to Outperform from Sector Perform, and Credit Suisse raised it to Outperform from Neutral. After closing down almost 8% at $23.25 on Tuesday, shares were indicated up 2.6% at $23.85 on the heels of the earnings report.

Mylan N.V. (NASDAQ: MYL) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the target price was lowered to $22 from $33 (versus a $21.53 close) at Wells Fargo. Mylan’s price drop was almost 24% on Tuesday, and it hit a 52-week low of $21.52, compared with a 52-week high of $42.50.

PagSeguro Digital Ltd. (NYSE: PAGS) was started with a Reduce rating and assigned a $24 target price (versus a $27.15 close) at HSBC. The 52-week range is $17.02 to $36.07, and the consensus target price was $31.64 ahead of this call.

Pinterest Inc. (NYSE: PINS) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $32 price target at Rosenblatt Securities. Shares closed down 2.75% at $28.69 on Tuesday and were indicated down another 0.5% at $28.50 on Wednesday. The post-IPO range is $23.05 to $35.29, and the market cap is about $15 billion.

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: SEAS) was reiterated as Buy with a $37 price target (versus a $25.98 close) at Janney. The firm raised estimates after revenue and EBITDA came in ahead of consensus estimates, with its deferred revenue up 9% and with the company having reaffirmed its 2020 EBITDA outlook of $475 million to $500 million.

Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $47 (versus a $32.19 close, after a 1.2% drop) at UBS, but some sites had shown it as a downgrade earlier in the morning. The stock was indicated up by 0.5% at $32.35 after the call and ahead of China’s tariff deadlines. The 52-week range is $28.91 to $52.10, and the prior consensus target price was $39.63.

2U Inc. (NASDAQ: TWOU) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse. After closing down almost 4% at $59.93, the stock was down over 19% at $48.10 after its earnings reaction on Wednesday morning. The 52-week range is $44.50 to $98.58.

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United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) was downgraded to Sell from an already cautious Neutral rating at UBS, and the price target was slashed to a street low of $10 from a prior $22 target. The consensus target was $21.71, and U.S. Steel had seen a sharp 17% or so jump higher after earnings last week.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) has been rerated with much higher analyst targets and expectations ahead of earnings, but most of these calls are about long-term views on movies, parks and the Disney+ DTC platform rather than predicting strong earnings results this week. Citigroup reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target price to $160 from $132 on Wednesday.

Stifel sees four other potential oil and gas merger targets as the Occidental-Chevron takeover bidding war for Anadarko has heated up.

Gold and gold ETFs are attracting new interest with U.S. and European rates stuck, and on the heels of China backing away from its negotiated trade terms and with Iran partially backing out of its 2015 nuclear pact signed with six nations.

Tuesday’s top analyst calls included Alibaba, Anadarko  Petroleum, Beyond Meat, Boeing, Ctrip.com, GW Pharmaceuticals, Roku, Texas Instruments, Veeco Instruments and many more.