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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Bluebird Bio, Ciena, CommVault, Dollar General, JD.com, Kroger, Nucor, Target, Walmart and More

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Stocks were indicated to open marginally higher on Wednesday after Tuesday’s sell-off. Investors have to be wondering if the stock market has rebounded too much or if the trillions of stimulus dollars and the reopening of the economy are enough to keep it going. Some investors are considering new ideas to decide how to be best positioned ahead of summer and 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 reports cover stocks to buy, and some cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Analysts are still making many upgrades, downgrades, reiterations and initiations ahead of and after key earnings reports. While many analysts are still cutting price targets and earnings estimates for the coming quarters and for the year, many are still maintaining their prior official ratings.

Remember, no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision. Consensus analyst target prices are from Refinitiv.

These are the top analyst calls seen on Wednesday, May 12, 2020.

Adverum Biotechnologies Inc. (NASDAQ: ADVM) was started as Outperform and a $24 price target (versus an $18.81 prior close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Allegiant Travel Co. (NASDAQ: ALGT) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $115 price target at Raymond James.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) was maintained as Overweight but its price target was lowered to $13 from $15 at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Arvinas Inc. (NASDAQ: ARVN) was removed from the Best Ideas List at Wedbush Securities.

Bluebird Bio Inc. (NASDAQ: BLUE) was started with an Outperform rating and a $100 price target (versus a $56.86 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Charles River Laboratories International Inc. (NYSE: CRL) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and its price target was lowered to $51 from $54 at B. Riley FBR. Shares closed at $48.09 and had a consensus price target of $49.88.

CommVault Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CVLT) was maintained as Buy but the price target was lowered to $53 from $55 (versus a $37.31 close, after a 17.7% drop) at Needham.

Covanta Holding Corp. (NYSE: CVA) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: DRNA) was started with an Outperform rating and a $35 price target at RBC Capital Markets.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that despite the recent climb, the shares are down big over the past year. Shares last closed at $28.52 and have a consensus price target of $31.17.

Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $220 from $200 at BofA Securities.


Fate Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: FATE) was started with a Buy rating and a $42 price target (versus a $28.75 close) at H.C. Wainwright.

JD.com Inc. (NASDAQ: JD) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its price target was raised to $58 from $37 at Mizuho. The stock closed at $47.03 ahead of this call and had a $49.60 consensus price target.

Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $42 from $37 (versus a $33.55 close) at BofA Securities.

Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) was maintained as Overweight but its price target was lowered to $45 from $49 at KeyBanc Capital Markets. It closed down almost 4% at $39.01, with a $45.89 consensus price target ahead of the call.

ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS. Shares closed up almost 5% at $32.94 ahead of this call, with a $39.43 consensus price target.

Peloton Interactive Inc. (NASDAQ: PTON) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that this stock began to soar in mid-March when Wall Street dove into stocks that were considered safe bets. Shares most recently closed at $46.17, with a consensus price target of $38.48.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE: RS) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Spirit Airlines Inc. (NYSE: SAVE) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.

Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc. The stock closed down over 4% at $23.24, and it had a $27.98 consensus price target ahead of the call.

Steven Madden Ltd. (NASDAQ: SHOO) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Loop Capital.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $145 from $125 (versus a $119.39 close) at BofA Securities. Target had a $121.76 consensus price target.

Theravance Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ: TBPH) was started with an Outperform rating and a $42 price target at Cowen.

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $145 from $140 at BofA Securities. Walmart closed at $123.78 ahead of the call, with a $128.56 consensus price target.

WW International Inc. (NYSE: WW) was started with a Buy rating and a $32 price target at Jefferies. The parent of Weight Watchers closed down 2.4% at $23.49 ahead of the call, with a $30.77 consensus price target.

Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Apple, CenterPoint Energy, Chevron, Datadog, Home Depot, Novavax, Under Armour and more.

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