Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Baidu, BellRing, Chegg, Chewy, Cisco, Expedia, Home Depot, Nvidia, Occidental, Qualcomm, Tesla and More

Investing

Published: November 11, 2019 9:00 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 1:22 pm

Stocks hit new all-time highs last week, but Monday’s indications suggested a breather on a lack of any solid news. Investors still 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 stocks 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 Monday, November 11, 2019.

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACRX) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and its target price was slashed to $2 from $7 (versus a $1.94 prior close) at Credit Suisse.

Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK) was reiterated as Overweight and the target price was raised to $80 from $76 (versus a $71.17 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was raised to Outperform from Perform and it was given a $145 target price (versus a $124.56 close) at Oppenheimer. Baidu has seen multiple analyst upgrades and target price hikes in recent days.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral and its target was raised to $55 from $46 at UBS, with the firm talking up how interest rates have normalized and that will stabilize its net interest income in custodial assets at the same time it focuses on its costs.

BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Janney.

BellRing Brands Inc. (NYSE: BRBR) was started as Overweight with a $21 target at JPMorgan, started as Outperform with a $23 target at Wells Fargo and was started as Outperform with a $21 target at Credit Suisse. Merrill Lynch started it with a Neutral rating and a $19 price objective. Barclays started it as Overweight with a $22 target price, and Goldman Sachs started it as Buy with a $24 target price.

Cementos Pacasmayo SAA (NYSE: CPAC) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral with an $8.50 target price (versus a $9.57 close, after a 1.96% drop) at JPMorgan.

Chegg Inc. (NYSE: CHGG) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that the stock has surged over 15% since it posted stronger-than-projected third-quarter results. Shares most recently closed at $34.05, with a consensus price target of $43.68.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: CHRW) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day. The firm said that this stock tumbled roughly 15% since the most recent results were posted on October 29. Shares last closed at $78.06, with a consensus price target of $81.12.

Chewy Inc. (NYSE: CHWY) was started with an Outperform rating Credit Suisse. The firm sees the online retailer of pet products as well-positioned in an already strong pet care industry. Shares closed up two cents at $22.99 ahead of the call, with a consensus target price of $36.80.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray. The firm noted that slower macro trends in Cisco’s markets are hurting it at the same time it sees a lack of near-term catalysts supporting its stock.

Expedia Group Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer. The stock closed up 3% at $10.32 on Friday, but this was a $135 stock last week ahead of the online travel site earnings.