Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Dropbox, EA, Halliburton, Intuit, Juniper Networks, ProLogis, Silicon Motion, Taiwan Semi, Textron, Vertex and More

October 22, 2019 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were indicated to have a mixed opening bell on Tuesday, but the S&P 500 was last seen back above 3,000 and is now well within 1% of an all-time high all over again. If things were simple enough, it might feel like all that persistent uncertainty around trade wars, impeachment, armed conflict and even the global slowdown were not really a focus. Ditto for all those media calls for an imminent recession. The 10-year bull market has remained resilient and has managed to climb a wall of worry. This is a time where investors need to be considering how they want their assets positioned for the rest of 2019 and into 2020.

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 for Tuesday, October 22, 2019.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that movie theatres are treading water in the video streaming economy today that is hitting the media segment like a tidal wave. Shares of AMC last closed at $9.22, with a consensus price target of $15.08.

Amphenol Corp. (NYSE: APH) was started with a Neutral rating and a $104 target price (versus a $100.41 prior close) at JPMorgan.

Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (NASDAQ: AAOI) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral with an $11 target price (versus a $10.84 close) at JPMorgan.

Beyond Air Inc. (NASDAQ: XAIR), formerly AIT Therapeutics, was started with an Outperform rating and a $9 price target at Oppenheimer. Shares closed at $4.36, and the market cap was a mere $47 million.

CryoLife Inc. (NYSE: CRY) was started with an Outperform rating and a $34 price target (versus a $24.00 close) at Oppenheimer.

Dropbox Inc. (NASDAQ: DBX) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $25 target price (versus an $18.92 close) at Normura/Instinet.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays.

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: JAL) was reiterated as Outperform at RBC Capital Markets, but its price target was cut to $23 from $28 in the call. Halliburton closed up over 6% at $19.61 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $16.97 to $36.51 and with a prior consensus target price of $27.05.

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) was downgraded to In-Line from Outperform at Evercore ISI.

Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) was raised to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.

Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE: LYG) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

MSC Industrial Direct Co. (NYSE: MSM) was downgraded to Underperform with a $62 target price (versus a $71.11 close) at Wells Fargo.

ProLogis Inc. (NYSE: PLD) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $101 from $86 at Citigroup.

Silicon Motion Technology Corp. (NASDAQ: SIMO) was started as Neutral with a $39 target price (versus a $38.90 close) at Wedbush Securities. While the call suggests the shares are fully valued, the firm noted that the company is building the brains for NAND, has favorable near-term customer tailwinds and could deliver meaningful earnings growth over the intermediate term.

Solar Winds Inc. (NYSE: SWI) was downgraded to In-Line from Outperform at Evercore ISI.

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SPR) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird.

SPX Corp. (NYSE: SPXC) was started with a Buy rating and a $50 target price (versus a $41.33 close) at Seaport Global.

Tactile Systems Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: TCMD) was started as Perform at Oppenheimer.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturer Co. (NYSE: TSM) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that TSMC is a driving force in the fourth industrial revolution, and it might be time to take ownership. The shares most recently closed at $50.00 and have a consensus price target of $54.78.

Textron Corp. (NYSE: TXT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $110 from $105 at Morgan Stanley. The stock closed up 2.3% at $93.21 on Monday, and it has a consensus target price of $99.94.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $225 from $205 at Citigroup.

ViewRay Inc. (NASDAQ: VRAY) was started with an Outperform rating and a $7 price target at Oppenheimer. The shares previously closed at $2.50, and the market cap was just $235 million.

Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) was raised to Outperform from In-Line at Evercore ISI.

Zions Bancorp (NASDAQ: ZION) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $55 from $49 at Citigroup. Wedbush maintained its Neutral rating and raised its target to $48 from $41.

Raymond James has one trade related to housing that has worked for nine of the past 10 years, and the firm thinks it is set up to see another repeat.

Credit Suisse has a call for refinery stocks to continue to do well at a time that most other energy stocks have not lived up to anything positive in 2019.

After all the trade war noise and after all the global slowing, one firm shows why now may be time to add stocks to your holdings that have serious international exposure.

Five stocks trading under $10 may have significant upside to their price targets if the analysts following them are correct.

Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Amazon.com, Apple, Bank of America, Boeing, Cheniere Energy, Chipotle Mexican Grill, CommScope, IBM, Peloton Interactive, Pinterest, Schlumberger and many more.

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