Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alexion, Bill.com, Boeing, Costco, Generac, Proofpoint, Regeneron, Shopify and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: October 6, 2020 8:57 am

Last Updated: October 6, 2020 9:11 am

Stocks surged on Monday, and futures were indicated higher on Tuesday by a small margin. As many investors missed out on the recovery from late in March, many of the key leadership stocks that led the market higher this year have pulled back significantly from their highs.

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 seen on Tuesday, October 6, 2020.

Advance Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral and its price target as raised to $190 from $183 (versus a $155.86 prior close) at JPMorgan.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN) was up over 3% at $115.25 on Monday and was indicated up over 2% at $117.75 on Tuesday based on strong guidance from its virtual investor day included long-term targets and near-term targets. Wedbush Securities reiterated its Outperform rating and has a $156 target price. The consensus target price is $141.32.

Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ARCT) was started with a Buy rating and a $65 price target (versus a $49.97 close) at Citigroup. The stock closed up almost 17% on Monday after positive study data, and it had a $67.50 consensus price target.

Avrobio Inc. (NASDAQ: AVRO) was reiterated as Outperform with a $36 price target at Wedbush, with the firm adding in expectations around AVR-RD-05 as a target for Hunter syndrome in the company’s pipeline.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $41 from $43 at UBS. The stock closed up almost 2% at $35.38 on Monday and has a $43.75 consensus target price.

Bill.com Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BILL) was started with a Buy rating and a $125 price target (versus a $101.84 close) at BTIG. Guggenheim started it as Buy with a $115 price target.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was reiterated as Neutral but its target price was raised to $184 from $154 at Credit Suisse. Shares closed up almost 2% at $171.20 on Monday, with a $175.77 consensus price target.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and its price target was set at $400 (versus a $358.58 close) at Barclays. Credit Suisse reiterated its Neutral rating but still raised its target to $370 from $328.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that bulls are swinging for the fences with this retail winner. Shares most recently closed at $62.13 and have a consensus price target of $62.61.

Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) was started with a Buy rating and a $200 price target at Needham. Shares closed up 0.5% at $159.87, and they had a $189.59 consensus price target ahead of the call.

Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GNRC) was started with a Market Outperform rating and a $285 price target (versus a $207.86 close) at JMP Securities. It had a consensus price target of $197.90.

Hanmi Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: HAFC) was started with a Neutral rating and $9 target price (versus an $8.38 close) at Wedbush. The company was noted as having the highest COVID-19-impacted loan portfolio of its peers.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: IOVA) closed up 1.8% at $32.06 on Monday and was indicated down 20% at $25.45 on Tuesday after FDA questions about its melanoma drug. H.C. Wainwright maintained its Buy rating but cut its price target to $46 from $47.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that while most gambling stocks are on a heater, investors in this stock continue to be on tilt. Shares last closed at $46.22 and have a consensus price target of $59.06.

Lightspeed POS Inc. (NYSE: LSPD) was started with an Overweight rating and a $40 target price at Barclays. Shares closed up 2.3% at $32.32 ahead of the call, and the Barclays price target is a new street-high among sell-side analysts.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $47 from $38 (versus a $41.52 close) at Rosenblatt. The stock closed up 4.4% on Monday and has a $42.29 consensus price target.

Miragen Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: MGEN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at H.C. Wainwright. Its shares closed at $0.76 on Monday and were down more than 26% at $0.56 on Tuesday, after discontinuing a cutaneous T-cell lymphoma study.

MyoKardia Inc. (NASDAQ: MYOK) was up 57% at $220.34 on Monday after news that it was being acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Now the analysts are walking away from their ratings, with merger-related downgrades from BMO Capital Markets, Citigroup, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and others.

Northrup Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $391 price target (versus a $312.18 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Proofpoint Inc. (NASDAQ: PFPT) was reiterated as Outperform with a $135 target price (versus a $103.62 close) at Wedbush. The firm sees higher Microsoft Office 365 adoption continues to lead to more migrations to Proofpoint.

Qiagen N.V. (NYSE: QGEN) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $59 price objective at BofA Securities. Shares closed up 1.7% at $53.20 on Monday and have a $52.64 consensus price target.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $650 from $630 at SVB Leerink. The stock closed up 7.1% at $605.08 on Monday, after it was used as one of President Trump’s COVID-19 treatments.

Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP) was reiterated as Overweight and its target price was raised to $1,250 from $1,150 (versus a $1,065.53 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets. The consensus price target was $1,113.25 ahead of the call.

Tradeweb Markets Inc. (NASDAQ: TW) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $62 from $60 (versus a $57.56 close) at Rosenblatt.

Raymond James restarted coverage on the top cybersecurity software stocks, and three companies look in particular good to the analysts, especially with demand from major corporations remaining very robust.

Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included American Express, AT&T, CRISPR Therapeutics, DocuSign, ONEOK, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Shopify and Tesla.