Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Caterpillar, Chipotle, Constellation, Domino’s, Fannie Mae, FedEx, Harley-Davidson, IBM, Netflix, Peloton, Wingstop and More

October 9, 2019 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were indicated to open higher on Wednesday on news that China is open to a partial trade deal, but this is said to be if the United States ends tariffs and would not include intellectual property issues. The bull market is now well over 10 years old, and volatility has been elevated despite strong double-digit percentage gains in 2019. Now is a time when investors need to be considering what changes they should make 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 others cover stocks to sell or 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 sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations for Wednesday, October 9, 2019.

ABM Industries Inc. (NYSE: ABM) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that this building products name has seen its Zacks rank fall to the lowest level. Shares last closed at $34.30, with a consensus price target of $44.33.

Boot Barn Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BOOT) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $46 target price (versus a $32.78 prior close) at Stephens.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was maintained as Overweight but its target price was cut to $150 from $155 (versus a $117.97 close, after a 1.9% drop) at Morgan Stanley. Shares have a 52-week range of $111.75 to $149.17 and a consensus target price of $141.04.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was raised to Hold from Underperform and the price target was raised to $740 from $620 at Gordon Haskett. Chipotle closed down 1% at $805.88 on Tuesday, and the consensus target price was $788.23.

CNX Resources Corp. (NYSE: CNX) was initiated with a Sector Weight rating at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Shares previously closed down almost 3% at $7.11, and its consensus target price was $11.00.

Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) was reiterated as Outperform with a $228 price target (versus a $199.52 close) at Credit Suisse.

Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $180 from $177 (versus a $164.97 close) at Morgan Stanley. Shares have a 52-week range of $128.32 to $171.22 and a consensus target price of $169.05.

Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) was reiterated as Outperform with a $280 price target at Wedbush Securities, with the firm noting that the company’s growth was good enough and that the revised long-term targets set more realistic market expectations. Independent research firm Argus downgraded Domino’s to Hold from Buy. Shares closed up 4.6% at $253.48 on Tuesday.

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $153 price target at Bernstein. The stock closed down 2.6% at $138.39 on Tuesday and was indicated to open flat on Wednesday, with a prior consensus target price of $166.38.

Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) was reiterated as Neutral and the target price was lowered to $33 from $35 (versus a $33.17 close) at Wedbush.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) was reiterated as Outperform with a $173 price target (versus a $138.38 close) at Credit Suisse, but this is after the firm had it on its top five contrarian-buy picks earlier in the week. Shares have a 52-week range of $105.94 to $152.95 and a consensus target price of $153.05.


Maxar Technologies Inc. (NYSE: MAXR) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that after a good-sized pullback, the stock is primed to launch back to highs. The shares most recently closed at $7.85, with a consensus price target of $60.52.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was maintained as Buy at Monnes Crespi Hardt, but the firm lowered its price target by $100 to $340. Netflix previously closed down 1.3% at $270.72, and its price target was $377.66. This follows a similar call from Evercore ISI on Monday, wherein the firm lowered its target price to $300 from $380. Shares have a 52-week range of $231.23 to $385.99 and a consensus target price of $377.66.

Olin Corp. (NYSE: OLN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was cut to $19 from $24 (versus a $17.63 close) at Citigroup.

Peloton Interactive Inc. (NASDAQ: PTON) was started in coverage at Robert W. Baird with an Outperform rating and a $28 target price. Recall that Peloton’s IPO priced 40 million common shares at $29.00 apiece, and its post-IPO range has been $21.14 to $27.98. The shares previously closed down 1.3% at $23.21 and were indicated up 1.25 at $23.50 on Wednesday morning.

Pinduoduo Inc. (NASDAQ: PDD) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $34 target price (versus a $31.25 close) at Nomura/Instinet.

Sleep Number Corp. (NASDAQ: SNBR) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $48 target price at Raymond James. It previously closed at $40.22 and has a consensus target price of $40.17.

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $100 target price (versus an $88.01 close) at Loop Capital.

Keefe Bruyette & Woods has raised its ratings on government-sponsored enterprises Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), or Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac (FMCC) to Market Perform from Underperform.

Here are five top Credit Suisse contrarian picks for underappreciated and overlooked upside ahead.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration has lowered its oil demand and price forecasts for 2020.

Interesting demand trends are seen in gold ETFs, and even more impressive than when gold was at its highs earlier this decade.

Ahead of earnings season next week, Credit Suisse’s equity strategy team indicated that consensus per-share earnings projections for the third quarter point to a decline of 2.1%. Assuming a typical level of beats, Credit Suisse noted that the final earnings results should be closer to a gain of 1.5% rather than a drop. That said, the firm also noted that earnings are likely to contract modestly when buybacks are excluded. The median company is called to deliver a more robust 6.4% earnings growth, while energy weighs on the top line and while Tech+ is expected to drag margins lower.

Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Apollo Global Management, BlackRock, Cloudflare, Green Plains, Microsoft, Oracle, Target, TJX Companies and many more.

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