Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Carvana, Caterpillar, Dollar General, DraftKings, eBay, Facebook, Microsoft, Schlumberger, Spotify, Tesla and More

Investing

Published: April 30, 2020 9:05 am

Last Updated: April 30, 2020 9:20 am

Stocks have somehow managed to keep on recovering from their March lows with a snapback rally so strong that it has rivaled the tempo of the February to March panic selling. The bull market may have died, but after such a strong recovery during increasingly negative economic reports, some market watchers are worried that the stock market may be getting ahead of itself. This is a time when investors need to be considering new ideas, now that the major equity indexes have recouped so much of their losses.

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

Analysts are still making many upgrades, downgrades, reiterations and initiations ahead of and after key earnings reports. While some are still cutting price targets and earnings estimates for the coming quarters and the year, many are maintaining their prior official ratings. There are even many traditional upgrades and reiterations taking place as though things were 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 seen on Thursday, April 30, 2020.

Boston Scientific Corp. (NASDAQ: BSX) was reiterated as Strong Buy and the price target was raised to $43 from $42 at Raymond James.

Carvana Co. (NYSE: CVNA) was started as Neutral with an $89 price target (versus an $84.89 prior close) at Nomura/Instinet.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that Caterpillar fell short in the first quarter as the coronavirus is taking its toll on the economy. Shares last closed at $120.06 and have a consensus price target of $122.65.

Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Loop Capital.

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG) was started with an Overweight rating and a $23 price target at Morgan Stanley.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) was reiterated as Outperform with a $44 price target at Wedbush Securities.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) was up 6.1% at $194.19 ahead of earnings and up another 7% at $208.65 afterward. Noting that it is seeing some stabilization in the ad market, Rosenblatt reiterated Facebook as Buy and raised its price target to $244 from $223. Robert W. Baird reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $240 from $200. Pivotal Research raised it to Hold from Sell with a $225 price target, while BofA Securities reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price objective to $240 from $200.

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was lowered to $9.50 from $12.00 at HSBC.

InflaRx N.V. (NASDAQ: IFRX) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $10 price target (versus a $5.42 close) at Raymond James. Shares were indicated up 13% at $6.13 after the call in the post-earnings response.