Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alphabet, Amazon, Chipotle, Disney, Ford, Goldman Sachs, Grubhub, New Relic, Pinterest, Snap, Tesla and More

Stocks surged on Monday and Tuesday, and the gains looked set to continue on Wednesday with the index futures 0.8% to 0.9% higher. Just like that, stocks went from overbought panic selling to within striking distance of all-time highs again.

Many investors have yet to make any major changes to their holdings after the incredible gains in 2019. This is an election year with much at stake. Strategists largely are 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 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 from Wednesday, February 5, 2020.

Albermarle Corp. (NYSE: ALB) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird, but the firm raised its target to $100 from $90 in the call. Shares closed up almost 12% at $90.43 on Tuesday as lithium stocks are garnering interest on Tesla’s coattails. The stock is up from $73.04 at the end of 2019.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $1,620 from $1,450 at Argus.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised to $2,400 from $2,200 at Citigroup. Amazon closed up 2.2% at $2,049.67 on Tuesday, and its consensus target price has risen to $2,384.84 after strong earnings.

Baozun Inc. (NASDAQ: BZUN) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that analyst coverage here is a ghost town and the EPS tumbleweeds are rolling downhill. The shares last closed at $32.67 and have a consensus price target of $40.75.

Callon Petroleum Co. (NYSE: CPE) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays.

Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN) was reiterated as Buy with an $82 target price (versus a $74.22 prior close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) closed up 2% at $884.82 ahead of earnings and shares were indicated up 1.7% at $900.00 in the post-earnings reaction. Wedbush Securities reiterated it as Outperform with a $980 target price. RBC Capital Markets reiterated its Sector Perform rating and raised its target to $920 from $890. Merrill Lynch maintained its Neutral rating but raised its price objective to $900 from $850. And UBS maintained it as Neutral and raised the target price to $925 from $900

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) was up 2.2% at $9.18 on Tuesday ahead of earnings, but the post-earnings reaction had shares down over 8% at $8.41 Wednesday morning. JPMorgan maintained it as Neutral and cut its target to $9 from $10. Merrill Lynch maintained its Buy rating but lowered its price objective to $10 from $12. Ford’s prior consensus target price was $10.09.

Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy and the target price was trimmed to $80 from $81 (versus a $67.40 close) at Raymond James. Merrill Lynch reiterated its Neutral rating but raised its price objective to $72 from $70. The consensus target price is $76.39.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised to $290 from $255 (versus a $241.94 close) at Citigroup. Goldman Sachs had a prior consensus target price of $266.20.

Grubhub Inc. (NYSE: GRUB) was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $63 from $42 at Benchmark. Shares closed up 4% at $55.97 ahead of the call, which was up from a 52-week low of $32.11 and down from a high of $87.98. Its consensus target price was $46.76.

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