Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alibaba, Amazon, Apple, Carvana, Illumina, NextEra, Nikola, Shake Shack, Teladoc, WPX Energy and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: September 22, 2020 8:59 am

Last Updated: September 22, 2020 9:42 am

Stocks sold off hard on Monday, but the indexes all finished well above their lows of the day and there has been rekindled interest in the battered tech stocks. Stocks were looking mixed, with no set direction, on Tuesday. Many investors missed out on the recovery from late in March through September and they are looking for new ideas for how to be positioned for the rest of 2020 and ahead of the election.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid.

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, September 22, 2020.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ: BABA) was reiterated as Buy with a $300 price target (versus a $272.41 prior close) at Mizuho, which noted it is ahead of the analyst day, when it is expected to affirm its annual revenue guidance.

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform and its price target was raised to $108 from $107 (versus a $92.03 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $3,400 price target at Bernstein, with the firm highlighting that the double-digit stock drop in the past three weeks has brought an attractive entry point for those who had missed the run-up in 2020.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Outperform and its target price was raised to $120 from $110 at Raymond James. Apple shares closed up 3% at $110.08 on Monday after Citigroup also raised its target price higher, and shares were indicated up about 0.8% at $111.00 on Tuesday morning.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) was reiterated as Outperform and its target price was raised to $78 from $75 at Raymond James. The stock closed down 2.5% at $57.77 on Monday, with a $73.25 consensus target price.

Carvana Co. (NYSE: CVNA) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $205 price target at Goldman Sachs. The firm talked up Carvana’s longer-term growth prospects in auto sales and noted that its stock has sold off too much from its highs. While the stock closed up 5% at $173.67 on Monday, its former high was $235.00.

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN) was started with a Buy rating and a $199 price target at Loop Capital. Shares closed down 2% at $175.56 on Monday, with a $208.65 consensus target price.

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) was down 8.6% at $270.13 on Monday after it announced it was paying over $7 billion to acquire Grail. Stifel downgraded it to Hold from Buy and cut its price target to $280 from $380, and UBS downgraded it to Neutral from Buy and cut its target to $285 from $390. The firms both cited issues around the gene-sequencing leader’s acquisition of the cancer test developer. SVB Leerink maintained its Outperform rating but cut its target to $315 from $360.

24/7 Wall St.
Jefferies Has 4 High-Conviction Consumer Staples to Buy Now for Worried Investors

Immatics N.V. (NASDAQ: IMTX) was started with a Buy rating and a $17 price target (versus a $9.14 close) at Goldman Sachs. It had a $19.56 consensus target price ahead of the call, but its market cap is only about $600 million.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: KTOS) was downgraded from Overweight to Neutral with a $20 price target at JPMorgan. Shares closed down 5.8% at $19.76 on Monday, with a $23.20 consensus target price and a 52-week trading range of $5.00 to $22.26.

Leidos Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LDOS) was raised from Neutral to Overweight with a $115 target price (versus an $88.43 close) at JPMorgan. The consensus target price was $117.92.

Matador Resources Co. (NYSE: MTDR) was raised to Buy from Hold at Truist Securities, which noted that it is one of very few exploration and production firms that it expects to have solid continued annual free cash flow starting next year and that will also grow its production.

NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE: NEE) was started with a Buy rating and a $229 price target at Seaport Global. Shares closed at $276.20 on Monday, with a $289.19 consensus target price, but these are all pre-split levels.

Nikola Corp. (NASDAQ: NKLA) was down over 19% at $27.58 on Monday on news that its founder was suddenly resigning after the recent scandal with allegations of fraud. Deutsche Bank maintained its Hold rating but slashed its price target to $29 from $50, noting that the scandal will make it harder to sign new partnerships and to land new customers.

PPD Inc. (NYSE: PPD) was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $38 from $35 (versus a $34.16 close) at Mizuho, with the firm talking about its increased guidance.

Seattle Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: SGEN) was reiterated as Outperform and its target was raised to $187 from $185 at SVB Leerink. The stock closed down 1.1% at $178.83 on Monday, with a $187 consensus target price.

Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE: SHAK) was reiterated as Hold at Truist, and the firm raised its target to $58 from $51 (versus a $66.30 close) based on greater confidence of a sales recovery.

Teladoc Health Inc. (NYSE: TDOC) was started with a Buy rating and a $250 price target at D.A. Davidson, with the firm calling it a pure play in telehealth that is winning under the COVID-19 pandemic with growth that is higher than 60%.

Veritex Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: VBTX) was down 6.6% at $15.83 on Monday. Raymond James raised it from Outperform to Strong Buy with a $22 price target. It had a $22.20 consensus target price, and its 52-week trading range is $10.02 to $29.41.

Vroom Inc. (NASDAQ: VRM) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $60 price target at Goldman Sachs, which talked up its long room for growth in auto sales and noted that the stock has sold off too much from its highs. Shares closed down 0.5% at $46.43 on Monday but were indicated up over 9% at $51.00 on Tuesday. The recent high is $75.49.

WPX Energy Inc. (NYSE: WPX) was raised to Buy from Hold with an $8 price target (versus a $4.51 close) at Truist, with the firm noting that it will have free cash flow next year and that it will grow its production.

Jefferies has four defensive consumer staples leaders that worried investors can hide out in for safety and upside alike.

Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Automatic Data Processing, Carrier Global, Darden Restaurants, KLA, Lam Research, Oracle, Snowflake, Southern, Tilray, UPS and Visa.