Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Agilent, Ambarella, Barclays, Bluebird Bio, Chipotle, Honeywell, McDonald’s Nutanix, NVIDIA, PagSeguro and More

November 26, 2019 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks closed up on Monday and shares were indicated up marginally on Tuesday morning. Investors are starting to see upside targets being issued for 2020 but there still many pressing issues and risks to consider now that the bull market is over 10 and a half years old. Still, all those calls for an imminent recession were very misguided even as there are many uncertainties facing the coming year. 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 some analyst calls 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 mentioned and other valuation metrics are from the Refinitiv sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations for Tuesday, November 26, 2019.

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: A) was reiterated as Neutral but the price target was raised to $87 from $82 at UBS. Janney reiterated its Buy rating with a $90 target price.

Airgain, Inc. (NASDAQ: AIRG) was last seen down about 7% at $9.28 on news that its CFO is leaving the company at the end of this week to pursue other opportunities. Airgain was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the p-rice target was cut to $11.50 from $18 at B. Riley.

Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE: APD) was started with a Hold rating at Berenberg.

Ambarella, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMBA) was reiterated as Overweight and the target price was raised to $61 from $60 (versus $58.03 prior close) at Morgan Stanley. BofA Merrill Lynch reiterated its Underperform rating but still raised its price objective up to $53 from $50. Ambarella was indicated up about 1.2% at $58.75 in the post-earnings reaction.

Barclays plc (NYSE: BCS) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at BNP Paribas.

Bluebird Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLUE) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $119 target price at SVB Leerink. Bluebird Bio closed up 3.2% at $74.84 on Monday and was indicated up close to 2% more at $76.20 on Tuesday, and it has a consensus analyst target price of $150.18.

Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ: CERN) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $84 target price (versus $70.68 prior close) at UBS.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the target price was raised to $970 from $800 at Cowen & Co.

Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Commercial Metals Company (NYSE: CMC) was raised to Buy from Hold and the target price was raised to $25 from $18 (versus $20.94 prior close) at Deutsche Bank. BMO Capital started Commercial Metals as Market Perform with a $23 target price.

Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NYSE: DECK) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the target price was raised to $205 from $180 (versus $164.52 prior close) at Robert W. Baird.

Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: GBT) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $90 from $75 (versus $60.03 prior close, after a 6.9% gain) at Janney. Global Blood Therapeutics has a consensus analyst target price of $93.07 and it was indicated up 11% more at $66.60 on Tuesday.

Healthcare Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: HR) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $35 target price (versus $32.27 prior close) at Stifel. Healthcare Realty Trust has close to a 3.8% yield and its consensus analyst target price is $34.04.

Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) was reiterated as Buy and the price objective was raised to $203 from $185 at BofA Merrill Lynch. Honeywell has a consensus analyst target price of $184.35 and its 52-week range is $123.48 to $183.12.

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT) was raised to Buy from Sell and its target price was raised to $42 from $27 at UBS.

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) was started with a Hold rating and was given a $193 target price (versus $191.89 prior close) at Deutsche Bank.

Nutanix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTNX) closed down almost 2% at $28.75 ahead of earnings but was last seen trading up 10% at $34.20 after guidance and bookings looked quite strong. Nutanix was reiterated with a Buy rating and its price objective was raised to $40 from $35 at BofA Merrill Lynch. Nutanix was maintained as Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley, but the firm raised its target up to $33 from $29. KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $42 from $40 in its call.

PagSeguro Digital Ltd. (NYSE: PAGS) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $283 from $247 at Citigroup. Wedbush Securities reiterated its Outperform rating and $275 target price. Palo Alto closed up 1.4% at $250.28 ahead of earnings but was trading down 8.1% at $230.00 after the earnings report.

Purple Innovation, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRPL) was started as Outperform and was assigned a $11 target price (versus $8.56 prior close) at Raymond James. Purple Innovation has a $12.00 consensus analyst target price.

PVH Corporation (NYSE: PVH) was reiterated as Buy and the price objective was raised to $110 from $93 at BofA Merrill Lynch. PVH previously closed up 0.7% at $100.58 and it has a consensus analyst target price of $104.68.

Spirit Aerosystems Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPR) was started as Neutral at Susquehanna.

T2 Biosystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTOO) was down 7.8% at $142 on Monday after results. Janney downgraded its rating to Neutral from Buy.

Zacks has released its top calls of the day. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that double-digit growth returns in gaming, data centers and the AI brains behind autonomous driving are powering this stock. Shares of NVIDIA most recently closed at $221.21 with a consensus analyst price target of $232.80. Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE: GBX) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that the earnings slowdown at this rail car maker is expected to persist into 2021. Shares of Greenbrier last closed at $29.38 with a consensus analyst price target of $31.57.

One firm has identified 6 top technology picks for tech spending trends in 2020.

Monday’s top analyst calls were in Deere, Energizer, First Energy, Foot Locker, Lam Research, Lululemon, Netflix, NVIDIA, PG&E, Williams Companies and many more.

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