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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Altice, CenturyLink, Cigna, Disney, Emerson, Foot Locker, Groupon, Lululemon, Nike, State Street and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: November 6, 2019 9:00 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 1:32 pm

Stocks were indicated to open marginally higher on Wednesday, but not by enough to have the outcome and bias of the day feeling solid. The Dow Jones industrials and S&P 500 have both hit new all-time highs, and the yield curve has normalized as the 10-year and 30-year yields have gone back up. So much for all those endless media calls predicting an imminent recession. Still, investors have a lot of pressing issues and risks to consider now that the bull market is over 10 and a half years old. This is a time for investors to consider 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. Our goal is 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 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 sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations for Wednesday, November 6, 2019.

Altice USA Inc. (NYSE: ATUS) was down 0.8% at $31.35 ahead of earnings and was trading down about 15% at $26.50 after earnings. KeyBanc Capital Markets downgraded it to Sector Weight from Overweight, and Barclays downgraded it to Equal Weight from Overweight.

BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) was upgraded to Buy from Hold and the target price was raised to $545 from $465 (versus a $482.44 prior close) at Deutsche Bank.

CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Guggenheim. Shares closed at $13.67 ahead of the call and were indicated down about 4% at $13.10 afterward. The consensus target price was $12.38, and CenturyLink has more than a 7% yield.

Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI) was reiterated with a Buy rating and its target price was raised to $205 from $180 (versus a $181.85 close) at Mizuho.

Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen. The stock closed up 0.8% at $73.79 on Tuesday, with a consensus target price of $72.81 and with a 52-week trading range of $55.39 to $75.54.

Foot Locker Inc. (NYSE: FL) was started with an Outperform rating and a $70 target price (versus a $45.87 close, after a 3% gain) at Raymond James.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) was flat at $3.00 ahead of earnings, and the shares were last seen down about 2% at $2.94 after the report. JPMorgan downgraded it to Underweight from Neutral.

Grupo Financial Galicia S.A. (NASDAQ: GGAL) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which asked how low can a stock go before earnings take over. Shares most recently closed at $12.68, with a consensus price target of $22.07.

GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ: GWPH) was last seen trading lower by almost 12% at $118.75 ahead of Wednesday’s opening bell, despite its marijuana-derived treatment for epilepsy seeing 25% sales growth. Cantor Fitzgerald maintained its Overweight rating but cut its target price to $174 from $229.

Haliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that oil stocks are not gushing profits the way they used to. The shares last closed at $21.05, with a consensus price target of $26.55.

HubSpot Inc. (NYSE: HUBS) was down 1.75% at $151.57 ahead of earnings but traded down about 6.6% at $141.50 afterward. Raymond James maintained its Outperform rating and cut its target price to $200 from $210, and UBS reiterated its Neutral rating while lowering its target to $168 from $175.

KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was started with a Strong Buy rating and a $275 price target at Raymond James. Lululemon closed down 1.1% at $194.34 ahead of the call and was indicated up about 1% at $196.25 afterward. It has a $211.35 consensus target price, and the prior street-high target price was $238.

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Masonite International Corp. (NYSE: DOOR) closed up 0.8% at $63.02 after earnings. RBC Capital Markets downgraded it to Sector Perform from Outperform, but Stifel boosted its rating to Buy from Hold and raised its target to $80 from $50.

Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and its target price was lowered to $20 from $24 at JPMorgan. Shares closed up 1.4% at $21.65 ahead of the call but were indicated down 0.8% at $21.48 before the opening bell on Wednesday. The consensus target price was $26.99, and the 52-week trading range is $17.37 to $37.37.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) was started with an Outperform rating, and the apparel and sporting goods giant was assigned a $100 price target, at Raymond James.

NVR Inc. (NYSE: NVR) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

Prudential Financial Inc. (NYSE: PRU) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform by Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) was reiterated as Neutral at Credit Suisse, but the firm raised its target price to $340 from $310. Shares closed up almost 7% at $332.60 on Tuesday, and the prior consensus target price was $379.80.

State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT) was raised to Buy from Hold and the target price was raised to $81 from $64 at Deutsche Bank. The stock closed up 1.6% at $53.66, and its shares have recovered from a 52-week low of $40.78 as the yield curve has become closer to normal. The consensus target price was $52.67.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC) was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $33 from $30 (versus a $28.11 close) at Mizuho.

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: RARE) was reiterated as Outperform with a $70 target price (versus a $39.86 close) at Wedbush Securities. The firm sees its focus tilting toward gene therapy for now and continues to see its pipeline as largely not represented in current estimates and also where the risk/reward skewed to the upside.

Vishay Intertechnology Inc. (NYSE: VSH) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $17 price objective (versus a $20.72 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) was maintained as Buy at UBS, but the firm trimmed its price target to $155 from $165.

Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZBH) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $165 from $158 at UBS. RBC Capital Markets reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $165 from $155. The stock closed up 2.77% at $140.31, and its prior consensus target price was $151.64.

The analysts at Jefferies have four top growth stock picks for this week that are members of the firm’s Franchise Picks list, and these technology leaders all have solid upside to the firm’s price targets.

Wedbush has issued a report on overall technology stocks and the U.S./China trade war, noting that as the trade battle appears to be heading toward an important Phase 1 agreement over the next month and an eventual broader deal further down the line, this ultimately will remove the biggest risk for tech names heading into year-end and 2020. It specifically sees a win for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) if the tariffs are not put on, and it sees the semiconductor space as the poster child of the beneficiaries if there is a Phase I resolution.

Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Amgen, Beyond Meat, Cisco, Home Depot, Microsoft, RingCentral, Shake Shack, Tilray, Uber, Under Armour, U.S. Steel and many more.