Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AbbVie, Beyond Meat, Bio-Rad, Dell, HP, Jumia, Nabriva, PG&E, Salesforce, Sarepta and More

Investing

Published: August 20, 2019 9:10 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 5:12 pm

Last week’s worst one-day sell-off was followed by three straight days of rallies, and the losses have been effectively wiped out. Stocks were indicated to open marginally higher on Tuesday as the yield curve isn’t really inverted and longer-maturity interest rates have risen. And to keep things in context, the major U.S. equity indexes had hit all-time highs late in July and the bull market is still well over 10 years old. Investors need to be giving strong considerations to how they want their portfolios and assets positioned as the end 2019 and the start of 2020 get closer.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new ideas for traders and long-term investors alike. Some of the daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while some calls cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

We have provided these calls in a quick-hit summary for easy reading, and additional comments and trading data have been added on some of the calls. 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 on Tuesday, August 20, 2019.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) was up 3.3% at $66.56 on Monday and was indicated up another 1.5% at $67.55 on Tuesday. Piper Jaffray raised it to Overweight from Neutral and set the target price at $80. The consensus target price is $85.25.

Beyond Meat Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND) was indicated up over 7% at $155.20 on Tuesday as JPMorgan raised its rating to Overweight from Neutral, reversing a downgraded from just two months earlier. The firm also raised its target price to $189 from $188. The consensus target price is $165.29, and the post-IPO trading range is $45.00 to $239.71.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: BIO) was already rated as Buy at Goldman Sachs, but the firm added it to the prized Conviction Buy list, with a $400 target price (versus a $330.95 prior close). The stock has a $385 consensus target price.

Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) was raised to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan, with its relative underperformance being the key for the move.

Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) was maintained as Buy and the price target was lowered to $65 from $85 at Citigroup. Shares were up 1.3% at $49.05 on Monday, and the consensus target price had been $68.65.

Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $231 from $197 (versus a $201.65 close) at Citigroup. Shares closed up 12.5% on Monday and were indicated up marginally on Tuesday. Wells Fargo maintained a Market Perform rating on Estee Lauder but raised its target price to $190 from $175.

Hain Celestial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. The stock closed up 0.7% at $21.90 on Monday, and its consensus target price was $23.00.

HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the target price was cut to $21 from $25 (versus a $19.21 close) at Citigroup, with the firm noting that its PC segment will see more weakness in the printing segment outweighing near-term pull-forward gains from the PC sales. The stock was indicated down 1.6% at $18.90 on Tuesday, and its consensus target price was $23.08 ahead of the call.

Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy with a $75 target price (versus a $70.02 close) at Raymond James.