This has been a volatile week with big ups and downs, and stocks were indicated to open marginally higher on Thursday after Wednesday’s selling pressure lessened late in the day. Earnings season has peaked, but many companies are still finding themselves as big winners or big losers based on their reports. Even with all the trade uncertainty dominating the news, the major stock market indexes have seen just over a 5% pullback from the all-time highs put in just last month. Investors have many reasons to remain cautious and positive alike, but they also have to be considering how they want their assets positioned for the rest of 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 Refinitiv (Thomson Reuters) sell-side research service.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Thursday, August 8, 2019.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was started as Equal Weight and assigned a $192 target price (versus a $199.04 prior close) at Barclays.

Aqua America Inc. (NYSE: WTR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy in a valuation call at UBS, but the firm raised its target price to $45 from $42 in the call. Shares closed up 2.2% at $42.06 on Wednesday, in a 52-week high of $42.32 and with a prior consensus target price of $42.33.

Camping World Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CWH) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan. The stock closed down 4.5% at $10.38 on Wednesday, but it was indicated down 26% at $7.65 after earnings on Thursday.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the target price was cut to $130 from $156 at Goldman Sachs. Caterpillar closed down 1% at $120.78 on Wednesday and was indicated down another 1.1% at $119.45 on Thursday.

CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. CenturyLink closed down 3.1% at $11.58 on Wednesday and was indicated down another 4.2% at $11.30 on Thursday.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) was started as Overweight with a $50 target price at Barclays. It closed down 1.7% at $65.14, and the shares were indicated up 0.6% at $65.52 on Thursday.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was started as Equal Weight and assigned a $52 target price at Barclays. Cisco closed down 0.5% at $52.34 on Wednesday and was indicated up 0.3% at $52.50 on Thursday. It has a consensus target price of $59.23.

Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) was started as Overweight with a $35 target price at Barclays.

Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) was started as Equal Weight and assigned a $53 target price at Barclays.

Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $152 target price at Goldman Sachs. The stock closed up 0.1% at $134.59, and the consensus target price was $140.24.

F5 Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) was started as Overweight with a $160 target price at Barclays, and Morgan Stanley raised its rating top Equal Weight from Underweight with a $130 target price. Shares closed down 1.56% at $134.00 on Wednesday, and the prior consensus target price was $160.82.

Green Dot Corp. (NYSE: GDOT) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods. Deutsche Bank maintained its Hold rating and lowered its target to $29 from $44.

GreenSky Inc. (NASDAQ: GSKY) was up 1.5% at $6.91 on Wednesday, but this was closer to $10.50 earlier this week ahead of earnings. Raymond James downgraded it to Market Perform from Outperform.

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTZ) was down 5.1% at $14.17 on Wednesday but was indicated up 3.6% at $14.69 on Thursday. Barclays raised it to Overweight from Equal Weight and the target price was set at $19.

Inogen Inc. (NASDAQ: INGN) closed down 23.3% at $42.32 on Wednesday after earnings. SVB Leerink downgraded it to Market Perform and cut the target to $47 from $78, and Stifel downgraded it to Hold from Buy and cut its target to $48 from $85.

Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) was started as Equal Weight and assigned a $27 target price at Barclays.

Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT) was trading up 2.7% at $60.29 ahead of earnings, but the stock rose 8% at $65.25 after earnings. Canaccord Genuity reiterated it as Buy and raised its target to $78 from $75. Atlantic Equities upgraded it to Neutral from Underweight, and Wedbush Securities raised its rating to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $75 from $67.

Match Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MTCH) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy but the target price was raised to $95 from $77 at UBS. Match shares closed up 24% at $91.77 after earnings on Wednesday, and its prior consensus target price was $79.59.

NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) was started as Equal Weight and assigned a $47 target price at Barclays.

Oasis Petroleum Inc. (NYSE: OAS) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy and the target price was cut to 44.50 from $7.50 at Raymond James. This is a day after its shares closed down 30.8% at $2.65 and hit a new 52-week low of $2.41.

REV Group Inc. (NYSE: REVG) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, and the firm put its target price at $12.00. Shares closed down 0.8% at $13.04 on Wednesday, and it had a consensus target price of $12.61.

Roku Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) closed up 2.5% at $100.97 ahead of earnings, and the shares were indicated up 17% at $118.16 on Thursday after the earnings reaction. Stephens raised it to Overweight from Equal Weight and raised the target price to $120 from $84, and Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Roku to Buy from Neutral and raised its target to $134 from $77 in the call. RBC Capital Markets reiterated its Sector Perform rating but raised its target to $107 from $90 in its call.

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) was started as Underweight and assigned a $37 target price at Barclays. The stock closed down 0.2% at $44.58 a share on Wednesday and was indicated to open flat on Thursday. It had a consensus target price of $47.13.

3D Systems Corp. (NYSE: DDD) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. Shares were down 0.2% at $8.15 ahead of earnings, but the reaction was down 18% at $6.70 in early trading on Thursday. The consensus analyst target was $9.50 ahead of the report, and the 52-week trading range is $7.81 to $21.78.

Wabtec Corp. (NYSE: WAB) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the target price was raised to $89 from $84 at Goldman Sachs. It closed up almost 3% at $75.31 on Wednesday, but the shares were lower by 2.25 at $73.65 after General Electric priced a 20.5 million share offering at $72.50.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) was started as Equal Weight and assigned a $53 target price at Barclays.

Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus.

Zacks has named Sonic Automotive Inc. (NYSE: SAH) as its Bull of the Day, saying that this auto retailer’s shares are soaring thanks to growing profits and an expanding footprint. The Bear of the Day is Delphi Technologies PLC (NYSE: DLPH). Zacks noted that weaker-than-expected earnings and tariffs are weighing heavy on this stock.

The top analyst calls from Wednesday included Arconic, Boston Beer, Dunkin’ Brands, DuPont, GreenSky, International Flavors & Fragrances, Merck, Walt Disney and many more.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.