Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AGNC, Annaly, Arbutus, Blackstone, Chevron, Enphase, Exxon, GM, Intel, Tesla, Skyworks and More

artisteer / iStock

Stocks were taking another leg lower on Friday after Thursday’s sell-off. Some of the top stocks are selling off after earnings, and now the momentum plays are all weighing on the market as investors grapple with high valuations and a very weak economy. Many investors missed much of the recovery rally since March and are looking for new ideas for how to be positioned heading into the second half of 2020 and ahead of the election.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week in an effort to find 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.

Remember that 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 Friday, July 24, 2020.

AGNC Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: AGNC) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $15 target price at Deutsche Bank.

Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) was raised to Buy from Hold and its target was raised to $7.75 from $6.75 at Deutsche Bank.

Arbutus Biopharma Corp. (NASDAQ: ABUS) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird. Shares rose over 100% to $6.20 on Thursday as Moderna failed to invalidate one of their patents for a vaccine program, but Arbutus was up another 13% at $7.00 on Friday morning. Even after the huge pop, it had only a $427 million market cap.

AutoNation Inc. (NYSE: AN) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and its target price was raised to $70 from $53 (versus a $52.55 prior close) at JPMorgan.

Blackstone Group Inc. (NYSE: BX) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $64 from $58 (versus a $56.67 close) at Barclays.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was started as Buy with a $120 price target (versus a $91.01 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was started as Buy with a $51 price target at SunTrust.

eHealth Inc. (NASDAQ: EHTH) was last seen down about 18% at $114.00 on Friday morning after disappointing numbers in its earnings the prior day. Barclays maintained it as Overweight but cut its target to $140 from $150. SVB Leerink reiterated it as Market Perform and raised its target to $110 from $108.

Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) was started as Market Perform at JMP Securities. Shares closed at $61.67 ahead of the call, with a $54.93 consensus target price.

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) was started as Hold with a $41 price target (versus a $43.70 close) at SunTrust.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) was reiterated as Overweight and its target price was raised to $32 from $30 (versus a $26.76 close) at Barclays.


Impinj Inc. (NASDAQ: PI) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that RFID sensors will connect trillions of products to the Internet of Things. Shares most recently closed at $30.12 and have a consensus price target of $33.50.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) closed down 1% at $60.40 ahead of earnings but was last seen down almost 14% at $51.95 after lowering third-quarter expectations and after further delays on its next-generation chips. Northland Capital downgraded it to Underperform from Market Perform, and BofA Securities downgraded it to Neutral from Buy. Deutsche Bank downgraded its rating to Hold from Buy, and Bernstein downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform. Roth Capital downgraded Intel to Neutral from Buy, and Barclays downgraded it to Underweight from Equal Weight. The consensus target price will be dropping handily after the downgrades and target price cuts, but that consensus target price was $62.72 before this big drop.

Penumbra Inc. (NYSE: PEN) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that growth has stalled for this innovator in blood clot removal. Shares last closed at $207.19 and have a consensus price target of $199.75.

PulteGroup Inc. (NYSE: PHM) was up 4.7% at $41.29 on Thursday and was indicated up 3% at $42.55 on Friday. Raymond James raised it to Outperform from Market Perform and with a $48 target price.

Seattle Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: SGEN) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight but its price target was raised to $165 from $155 (versus a $172.90 close) at Piper Sandler.

Skyworks Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) was reiterated as Outperform and its target price was raised to $155 from $120 (versus a $135.34 close) at Raymond James. Benchmark reiterated a Buy rating and raised its target price to $155 from $120 as well.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) gapped up big on Thursday after earnings but closed down almost 5% at $1,513.07 on the same day, and it was indicated down another 4.6% at $1,443.10 on Friday. Daiwa Capital downgraded Tesla to Neutral from Outperform but raised its price target to $1,650 from $1,500.

Tractor Supply Co. (NASDAQ: TSCO) was reiterated as a Strong Buy and its target price was raised to $170 from $135, compared with a $146.00 prior closing price.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was reiterated as a Neutral at Rosenblatt, and its target price was raised to $33 from $30. The most recent closing price was $38.44. Twitter closed up 4% at $38.44 ahead of earnings but was indicated down 1% on Friday. Its prior consensus target price was $33.76.

Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP) was reiterated with a Strong Buy rating and its target price was raised slightly to $198 from $194 (versus a $175.00 close) at Raymond James.

Xerox Holdings Corp. (NYSE: XRX) was downgraded to an Underweight rating from Neutral and its target price was cut to $20 from $23 (versus a $16.81 close) by JPMorgan.


The Jefferies analysts are very positive on the data center and medical real estate investment trusts now as they offer some of the best potential for total return over the balance of 2020.

Goldman Sachs has seven oil and gas stocks for big upside on its prized Conviction Buy List.

Also, here 10 stocks from Morgan Stanley riding the demand for hydrogen fuel.

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Apache, Check Point Software Technologies, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Electronic Arts, Inogen, Microsoft, Moderna, Shopify, Tesla and Varonis Systems.

 

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.