Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: American Air, Chewy, Chipotle, CommScope, Eli Lilly, IBM, Lyft, Oneok, Stitch Fix, Valero, Williams and More

Investing

Published: April 21, 2020 8:40 am

Last Updated: April 21, 2020 8:45 am

Stocks fell handily on Monday as the crude oil futures market broke and went into deep negative prices. Stock futures had been holding steady for a flat open overnight but additional oil weakness and earnings concerns have S&P 500 futures indicated down about 1.4% and Dow Jones industrials futures down about 1.7% ahead of Tuesday’s open. Investors have been caught off guard in many of the moves in recent weeks, and now they are looking for new ideas about how to be best positioned for the rest of 2020.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new ideas for long-term investors and short-term traders alike. Some analyst calls cover stocks to buy while other reports cover stocks to sell or avoid. Consensus analyst target prices are from Refinitiv.

Many upgrades, downgrades, reiterations and initiations are still taking place, but one trend is that analysts have been lowering their target prices in most companies, even if they are maintaining their prior ratings. Still, many traditional upgrades and reiterations happen as if things were still close to normal. Remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision.

These are the top analyst calls tracked for Tuesday, April 21, 2020.

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna.

Aprea Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: APRE) was started as Outperform with a $45 price target (versus a $33.24 prior close) at Robert W. Baird.

Chewy Inc. (NYSE: CHWY) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS. It closed up 2.1% at $44.72, with a $40.09 consensus price target.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that the recent bounce is an opportunity to sell before earnings. Shares last closed at $808.73, with a consensus price target of $822.38.

CommScope Holding Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: COMM) was maintained as Neutral but its price target was cut to $9 from $14 (versus a $9.93 close) at Rosenblatt.

Continental Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLR) was maintained as Outperform and the price target was raised to $21 from $10 (versus a $10.72 close) at Imperial Capital.

Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $158 price target at UBS. Shares closed up 0.3% at $157.79 ahead of the call, with a $147.29 consensus price target.

Freshpet Inc. (NASDAQ: FRPT) was started with a Neutral rating and a $75 price objective (versus a $73.08 close) at BofA Securities.

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $310 price target (versus a $322.88 close) at Robert W. Baird.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) was indicated down 5% at $114.50 after earnings disappointed. Wedbush Securities maintained its Neutral rating but cut its price target to $140 from $155. Morgan Stanley maintained it as Equal Weight but raised its price target to $111 from $107, while BofA Securities reiterated its Buy rating with a $145 price objective. Also, Credit Suisse reiterated IBM as Outperform with a $150 price target.

JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna.

Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT) was started with a Buy rating and a $39 target price at Argus.

National Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: FIZZ) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that the LaCroix bubble went pop but looks to make a sparkling comeback. Shares most recently closed at $49.57 and have a consensus price target of $38.00.

Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) was maintained as Outperform but its price target was slashed to $10 from $30 (versus a $6.86 close) at Imperial Capital.