24/7 Wall St.

Stocks have been hitting all-time highs, and Tuesday’s sell-off from the coronavirus impact and fears from China felt more like a major excuse profit-taking than systemic fear. Stocks were also indicated to open a tad higher on Wednesday.

Many investors still have not made portfolio changes during and after a very strong market in 2019. The markets are treating a risk-on trade as being better than sell-the-news at this time, despite being in overbought territory heading into earnings season. This is also an election year in which much is at stake, and strategists are by and large calling for single-digit percentage gains in 2020.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding new ideas for traders and long-term investors alike. Some of the daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while some calls cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

We have provided these analyst calls in a quick-hit summary for easy reading, and additional comments and trading data have been added on many 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 from Wednesday, January 22, 2020.

Aimmune Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: AIMT) was reiterated as Outperform with a $79 target price (versus a $33.08 prior close) at Wedbush Securities, with the firm noting that the Palforzia peanut allergy treatment is likely to hit the United States and European Union in 2020.

Allergan PLC (NYSE: AGN) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) closed up 1.5% at $1,892.00 on Tuesday and was indicated marginally higher on Wednesday. Pivotal Research reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $2,250 from $2,100. Amazon had a $2,177.93 consensus target price, but it was among the 10 tech leaders seeing waves of recent target price hikes.

Aqua America Inc. (NYSE: WTR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch.

Arconic Inc. (NYSE: ARNC) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Longbow Research.

ArTara Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: TARA) was started with a Buy rating and a $45 target price (versus a $28.34 close) at Ladenburg Thalmann.

Aspen Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ASPU) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that the swing from losses to profits often brings in a lot of new investors and this is just what is expected for this stock. Shares most recently closed at $8.36, with a consensus price target of $11.00.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was down 3.3% to $313.27 on Tuesday, and its shares hit a 52-week low of $305.75 on news that it now doesn’t see a return of the 737 Max until mid-2020. Vertical Research downgraded Boeing to Hold from Buy, with the firm lowering its target price to $294 from $388 and predicting a disastrous quarterly earnings report. Credit Suisse maintained its Neutral rating and trimmed its target price to $321 from $324.

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO) was reiterated as Buy with a $360 target price at New Street Research. Shares closed down 0.2% at $308.07 ahead of the call, and the consensus target price is $349.93.

Carpenter Technology Corp. (NYSE: CRS) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that a recent miss has analysts pulling future earnings estimates down and this has hurt the valuation as well. Shares last closed at $43.98 and have a consensus price target of $56.00.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was reiterated as Overweight and its target price was raised to $54 from $52 (versus a $48.80 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Cisco has a consensus target price of $52.22, and its 52-week range is $43.40 to $58.26.

Citizens Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: CFG) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised to $44 from $42 (versus a $40.09 close) at Argus.

Coca-Cola FEMSA SAB de C.V. (NYSE: KOF) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) closed down 3.5% at $66.31 on Monday’s post-earnings reaction. Citigroup raised it to Neutral from Sell with a $70 target price.

CubeSmart (NYSE: CUBE) was started as Neutral at JPMorgan.

24/7 Wall St.
10 Top Tech Stocks for 2020 Score Major Analyst Upgrades Ahead of Earnings