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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Beyond Meat, Home Depot, KeyCorp, Lowe's, Nike, Nvidia, Palo Alto, PG&E, Salesforce, Under Armour and More
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Stocks have enjoyed a nice bounce from the COVID-19 vaccine news earlier this week. However, Thursday’s indexes were called mostly lower after a Biden advisor suggested that a four- to six-week lockdown in the United States could control the pandemic and revive the economy at the same time that new cases in the country are now handily over 100,000 per day. As the market is learning to deal with a contested election, with run-offs and legal challenges, investors are trying to look forward and plan for 2021.
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 Thursday, November 12, 2020.
Beyond Meat Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND) was named as the Bear of the Day at Zacks with the “strong sell” moniker. The research firm noted a poor recent earnings reaction and off the chart valuations. The stock closed up 2.3% at $127.89 a share ahead of the call, and analysts have come in with many downgrades this week, along with a couple of upgrades.
Camping World Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CWH) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that bulls are looking to camp out in this stock after a big pullback. Shares most recently closed at $26.07 and have a consensus price target of $38.00.
Coherent Inc. (NASDAQ: COHR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Longbow.
Copart Inc. (NASDAQ: CPRT) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $135 from $117 (versus a $117.80 prior close) at Truist Securities.
Essex Property Trust (NYSE: ESS) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $314 target price at BTIG. The stock closed down 4.7% at $246.75 a share ahead of the call, and it has a $241.00 consensus target price.
Euronet Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: EEFT) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $160 from $145 (versus a $116.35 prior close) at Truist Securities.
Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. (NASDAQ: GLPI) was started as Strong Buy and a $52 price target (versus a $41.24 prior close) at Raymond James.
Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) was raised to Buy from Accumulate with a $315 target price (versus a $277.75 prior close) at Gordon Haskett. It had a $303.87 consensus price target.
KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $17 from $14 at RBC Capital Markets.
Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) was downgraded to Accumulate from Buy at Gordon Haskett.
MGM Growth Properties LLC (NYSE: MGP) was started as Outperform with a $35 target price (versus a $29.99 prior close) at Raymond James.
Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) was started with an Outperform rating and a $145 price target at RBC Capital Markets. The firm noted it as the best of its peers as a global athletic play, and it expects that the company will see a faster recovery from all of the COVID-19 disruptions.
Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was reiterated as Hold but its target price was raised to $500 from $450 at Deutsche Bank, with high valuations keeping its rating in check. The stock closed up 5% at $536.72 per share on Wednesday, and it has a $571.37 consensus target price.
Old National Bancorp (NASDAQ: ONB) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Stephens.
Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was reiterated as Buy with a $305 price target (versus a $242.72 prior close) at Truist Securities. The call was brought on after the company said it was paying $800 million to acquire Expanse, and Truist sees this as taking over unique product assets that could prove to be a significant growth driver ahead.
PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG) was raised to Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe Research.
Regional Management Corp. (NYSE: RM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Janney.
Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley, with the firm noting that its subscription model may come with some near-term pressures against its earnings and free cash flow.
Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UAA) was started as Sector Perform with a $16 target price (versus a $14.51 prior close) at RBC Capital Markets. The shares were indicated down 3.1% at $14.05 a share on Thursday, and the prior consensus target price was $13.25.
The top financials have rallied big recently, but they still offer long-term growth investors large upside potential. BofA Securities has raised price targets on four Buy-rated companies that pay dependable dividends and look like solid 2021 ideas.
Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included AIG, CrowdStrike, Datadog, Devon Energy, eGain, Lyft, Moderna, Occidental Petroleum, Peloton Interactive and Yelp.
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