Investing
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Best Buy, CarMax, Elanco, GM, Home Depot, ICE, JD.com, McDonald's, P&G, Vonage, Voya and More
Published:
Last Updated:
Stocks were indicated to open up marginally higher on Tuesday, but the S&P 500 is again back up within 10 points of that all-time high that was seen in February, before the COVID-19 pandemic sent the economy into an instant recession. Amazingly, the S&P is up over 50% from the March panic-selling lows. Earnings season has been winding down, and many investors feel as though they may have missed out on the recovery rally. This has investors looking for new ideas for how to be positioned in 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.
Now that stocks have recovered so much, daily analyst calls have basically normalized, with fewer extreme target changes. Remember that no single analyst call should ever be used as a basis to buy or sell a stock. Consensus analyst target data is from Refinitiv.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from Tuesday, August 18, 2020.
AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAG) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays. Shares closed up 3% at $10.89 on Monday and were indicated up 5% at $11.45 on Tuesday.
Anheuser-Busch InBev S.A./N.V. (NYSE: BUD) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $62 from $52 (versus a $56.19 prior close) at Argus.
Annexon Inc. (NASDAQ: ANNX) was started with a Buy rating and a $33 price objective (versus a $26.55 close) at BofA Securities.
At Home Group Inc. (NYSE: HOME) was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $54 from $45 at BofA Securities.
Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) was reiterated as Outperform and its target price was raised to $130 from $95 at Wedbush Securities.
CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) was reiterated as Outperform and its target price was raised to $120 from $100 (versus a $105.62 close) at Wedbush.
Coherent Inc. (NASDAQ: COHR) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that slowdown in laser tooling needs for mobile and automotive markets this year hit sales by 15% and profits by 55%. Shares last closed at $122.35 and have a consensus price target of $161.89.
Elanco Animal Health Inc. (NYSE: ELAN) was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $30 from $26 (versus a $25.85 close) at Argus.
General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $46 from $43 (versus a $30.01 close) at Morgan Stanley. GM had a $39 consensus target price.
Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) was given a quick glance after reporting earnings, and Wedbush maintained its Neutral rating and $270 price target. Home Depot closed up 2.7% at $288.24 ahead of earnings and was last seen up 0.5% at $290.00.
Howmet Aerospace Inc. (NYSE: HWM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus.
Inozyme Pharma (NASDAQ: INZY) was started as Outperform with a $35 price target (versus a $29.00 close) at Wedbush. Piper Sandler started it with an Overweight rating and a $40 price target.
Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.
24/7 Wall St.iTeos Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ITOS) was started as Outperform with a $45 price target (versus a $32.92 close) at Wedbush. SVB Leerink started it as Outperform and assigned a $36 target price.
JD.com Inc. (NASDAQ: JD) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $85 from $73 (versus a $66.98 close, after a 7.9% gain) at Goldman Sachs. Jefferies reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $78 from $73. BofA Securities reiterated it as Buy and raised its price objective to $79 from $70. Shares had a $68.69 consensus target price.
McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $225 from $215 (versus a $208.67 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets. McDonald’s had a $213.37 consensus target price.
MetLife Inc. (NYSE: MET) was reiterated as Buy and with a $45 price target (versus a $38.88 close) at Argus.
Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc. (NYSE: MAA) was reiterated as Hold and the price target was raised to $122 from $119 (versus a $114.86 close) at Truist Securities. It had a $125.23 prior consensus target price.
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE: NBR) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $35 price target (versus a $46.45 close) at Citigroup.
Penn National Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $62 from $50 (versus a $53.37 close) at Truist.
Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $149 from $145 (versus a $135.50 close) at BofA Securities. It had a $137.85 consensus target price.
RH (NYSE: RH), the parent of Restoration Hardware, was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $352 from $285 (versus a $314/57 close) at BofA Securities.
Quidel Corp. (NASDAQ: QDEL) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that multiple FDA approvals for new 15-minute COVID-19 antigen tests have estimates and shares rising sharply. Shares most recently closed at $247.24 and have a consensus price target of $264.75.
Unity Biotechnology Inc. (NASDAQ: UBX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Mizuho.
Vonage Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: VG) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $13 price target (versus an $11.77 close) at Morgan Stanley. It had a $14.14 consensus target price.
Voya Financial Inc. (NYSE: VOYA) was started with an Overweight rating and a $62 price target (versus a $51.22 close) at Wells Fargo.
The BofA Securities analysts on the US 1 team have added a medical technology leader as a top stock to Buy, with several others still looking solid in health care.
Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Alibaba, Applied Materials, Baidu, BP, Brinker, Chevron, Marriott, Nvidia, Teladoc, Tesla and Yelp.
Today’s Top Rated Credit Cards Are Hard to Believe
It’s hard to believe, but today there are credit cards offering up to 6% cash back (you read that right) on some items, $200 statement credits, $0 annual fees, travel rewards, and more. See for yourself, we’ve assembled a list of the top credit cards today right here.
Frankly, with rewards this good we don’t expect them to be available forever. But if you sign up today you can secure some of the best rewards we’ve ever seen. Click here to get started.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
