Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AECOM, BBVA, Cheniere, Chevron, DraftKings, GM, Moderna, Novavax, Palo Alto, Penn National and More

Investing

Published: November 17, 2020 8:39 am

Last Updated: November 17, 2020 10:04 am

Stocks surged Monday on news that a second coronavirus vaccine was over 90% effective in preventing COVID-19, but Tuesday looks to be a day of profit-taking. Investors are trying to factor in a post-election and post-coronavirus 2021. After missing out on much of the rally in 2020, now investors are planning how they should be invested 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 Tuesday, November 17, 2020.

AECOM (NYSE: ACM) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $60 from $45 (versus a $50.55 prior close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets. The stock had a $53.00 consensus target price.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (NYSE: BBVA) saw its American depositary shares close up 12.5% after it sold its U.S. BBVA operations to PNC on Monday. Credit Suisse raised its Underperform rating to Neutral.

Cerence Inc. (NASDAQ: CRNC) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets. Raymond James reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $56 from $80. The stock closed up 9.9% at $72.53 per share on Monday and has a $66.22 consensus target price.

Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $54 price target at Citigroup. Shares closed up 1.9% at $46.89 ahead of the call and have a $44.25 consensus target price.

Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSEARCA: LNG) was raised to Buy from Neutral at BofA Securities, which also raised its price objective to $61 from $56 based on a rerating driven by lower discount rates with M&A potential in the sector. The stock closed up 1.7% at $52.99 on Monday and has a $68.40 consensus target price.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was raised to Sector Perform from Underperform with a $95 price target (versus an $88.96 close, after a 7% gain) at RBC Capital Markets.

Chico’s FAS Inc. (NYSE: CHS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley FBR.

Co-Diagnostics Inc. (NASDAQ: CODX) was maintained as Buy but its price target was cut to $29 from $33 at H.C. Wainwright. The stock was down 9.3% at $13.59 on Monday as news of a second COVID-19 vaccine’s success may hurt the need for endless testing that this company makes, and its shares were down 15% at $11.60 on Tuesday morning.

Concho Resources Inc. (NYSE: CXO) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Dentsply Sirona Inc. (NASDAQ: XRAY) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight with a $40 price target at Barclays. The stock was down over 3% at $49.68 a share on Monday, with a $50.86 consensus target price.

Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs. Morgan Stanley raised it to Overweight from Equal Weight. The stock closed up 6.3% at $12.53 on Monday, with a $16.13 consensus target price.

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG) was started with a Buy rating and a street-high $100 price target at Loop Capital.