Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alcoa, Apple, Ciena, Cisco, Dave & Buster's, GameStop, Hilton, Newmont Goldcorp, RH, Square, Zscaler and More

Investing

Published: September 11, 2019 9:00 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 3:55 pm

Stocks have been volatile, but the major indexes were last seen trading up about 0.2% on average on Wednesday. With all the volatility in the stock market, and considering that the bull market is well over 10 years, investors need to be considering what changes they should be making for their portfolios and assets heading into late 2019 and as 2020 approaches.

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 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 for Wednesday, September 11, 2019.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $27 from $26 at Credit Suisse. Alcoa closed up 2.6% at $20.83 ahead of the call and was indicated up 2.4% at $21.33 afterward. Its prior consensus target price was $28.58.

Alliance Data Systems Corp. (NYSE: ADS) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $152 target price (versus a $132.28 prior close, after a 2.5% gain) at Goldman Sachs. Its prior consensus target price was $174.21.

Altice USA Inc. (NYSE: ATUS) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $42 from $35 (versus a $28.79 close) at Nomura/Instinet.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated with a $245 price target and Outperform rating at Wedbush Securities on the heels of the iPhone 11 launch and release of new products from the prior day. Merrill Lynch reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price objective to $250 from $240. Needham reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $250 from $225.

Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that this stock is well off its highs and giving up ground. Shares of Autodesk closed at $148.05, with a consensus price target of $173.26.

Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NASDAQ: ADP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch.

Bicycle Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ: BCYC) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $14 target price (versus a $7.03 close) at Goldman Sachs. It has a 52-week range of $6.24 to $14.91, and its consensus target price was $19.50.

Callaway Golf Co. (NYSE: ELY) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James, with the firm talking up its stake in TopGolf driving growth as it plans to take its 50 locations up to 130 in the coming years.

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $48 target price at Evercore ISI. Shares closed up 1.9% at $39.65 ahead of this call and were indicated up 0.6% at $39.900 afterward, and its prior consensus target price was $50.82.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $60 target price at Evercore ISI. It closed up 1.3% at $49.21 ahead of the call and was indicated up 0.5% at $49.50 after the call, and its prior consensus target price was $55.39.

CommScope Holding Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: COMM) was started as In-Line and assigned a $12 target price (versus a $12.54 close) at Evercore ISI. The prior consensus target price was $19.13.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer, but the firm raised its target price to $300 from $295 after a $297.00 close. Costco’s 52-week range is $189.51 to $307.34, and its consensus target price was $286.08.