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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Aerojet, Avis, Carnival, Chipotle, Expedia, Home Depot, Lowe's, MGM, Stratasys, Square, Walmart and More

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Stocks have been bouncing around this week after Monday’s huge gains, but Thursday’s equity levels were down about 0.2% ahead of the open. Investors are moving beyond all the corporate earnings and are trying to look beyond atrocious economic readings, now that the markets are up so much since March’s panic selling lows. Some investors now should be considering new ideas for 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 avoid.

Analysts are still making many upgrades, downgrades, reiterations and initiations ahead of and after key earnings reports. While 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 we have seen on Thursday, May 21, 2020.

Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AJRD) was started with a Sector Perform rating and a $45 price target at RBC Capital Markets, and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey reiterated its Buy rating and $56 price target after recent investor meetings.

Analog Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $125 from $100 (versus a $114.57 prior close) at Raymond James. KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated it as Overweight and raised its price target to $135 from $120.

ANGI Homeservices Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI) was reiterated with a Buy rating and its target was raised to $13 from $11 (versus a $10.37 close) at Needham.

Avis Budget Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CAR) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight with a $15 price target (versus a $15.36 prior close, after a 12% gain) at Morgan Stanley.

Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE: B) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that earnings estimates continue to fall for this bear of the day. Shares last closed at $36.26, with a consensus price target of $42.00.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BJ) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that everywhere you look, there’s a mad dash to the warehouse store. Shares most recently closed at $28.97 and have a consensus price target of $30.13.

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) was started as Neutral with a $12 price target (versus a $14.15 close) at Credit Suisse.

Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA Securities.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was reiterated as Overweight and its target was raised to $1,125 from $955 (versus a $1,029.96 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Entergy Corp. (NYSE: ETR) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform but its target was lowered to $107 from $115 (versus a $97.59 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Expedia Group Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $112 from $87 (versus a $79.58 close) at Deutsche Bank. Evercore ISI downgraded it to In-Line from Outperform and slashed its target to $85 from $130. The stock had a $100.25 consensus target price.


General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) was started as Outperform and a $157 price target at RBC Capital Markets.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) was reiterated as Overweight and its target price was raised to $245 from $215 (versus a $238.19 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Honeywell International (NYSE: HON) was raised to Buy from Hold and its price target was raised to $158 from $138 at HSBC.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: INO) was started with a Buy rating and a $28 price target (versus a $15.79 close, after an 8.4% gain) at Benchmark.

International Game Technology PLC (NYSE: IGT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Societe Generale. Shares closed up almost 13% at $8.29 on Wednesday, with a $13.25 consensus price target.

L3Harris Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LHX) was started as Outperform and a $219 price target (versus a $179.18 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $58 target price (versus a $50.17 close) at Credit Suisse.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) was raised to Buy from Hold and its price target was raised to $149 from $94 at Stifel. KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated it as Overweight and raised its target to $130 from $125. Lowe’s closed up just 0.1% at $116.99 after earnings, with a $116.56 prior consensus price target.

MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA Securities and to Hold from Buy at Jefferies. MGM’s consensus target price was $21.04, and its shares closed up over 8% at $16.50 ahead of these calls.

Raytheon Technologies Corp. (NYSE: RTX) was started as Outperform with a $69 price target (versus a $57.80 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) was started with an Outperform rating and a $67 target price (versus a $40.73 close) at Credit Suisse.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE: SQM) was downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at Scotia.

Square Inc. (NYSE: SQ) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral but its target was raised to $63 from $54 at UBS. Shares closed up 3.5% at $82.04 on Wednesday, and the consensus price target was $62.74.

Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) was raised to Neutral from Underweight and its price target was raised to $19 from $16 (versus a $17.33 close) at JPMorgan.

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $140 from $135 at Morgan Stanley.

Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included AbbVie, American Electric Power, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Arconic, Baidu, Best Buy, Co-Diagnostics, Cree, Exelon, Home Depot, NRG Energy, T-Mobile and Walmart.

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