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Friday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: BP, Comcast, Coinbase, Cisco, Editas, FuelCell, Splunk, United Airlines and More
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The futures were trading barely positive on Friday morning as the first week of earnings season was coming to a close. Major banks kicked off the first-quarter earnings blitz with stellar results across the board. Bitcoin reached new highs this week, and the S&P 500 is continuing to reach new highs. Analysts are trying to keep up.
Top strategists across Wall Street continue to point to the broad reopening of the economy, the tailwind from the stimulus package and the continued Federal Reserve pledges to keep interest rates contained as reasons for the continued moves higher in the equity markets. It also should be noted that money markets continue to see massive inflows, which is another big plus.
With major Wall Street firms still warning of the potential for impending 5% to 10% correction across the board, it makes sense for investors to continue building some cash reserves into the market strength, while repositioning portfolios for the start of the second quarter and the rest of 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 Friday, April 16, 2021.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: AAWW): Truist started coverage with a Buy rating and a $95 price target. The consensus target is higher at $90.75, and the shares closed Thursday at $65.71.
Ballard Power Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: BLDP): B. Riley started coverage with a Buy rating and a $30 price target. The consensus target is $32.66, and shares closed on Thursday at $20.63.
BioCardia Inc. (NASDAQ: BCDA): Dawson James downgraded it to Neutral from Buy. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $1.91 to $8.60 and have a consensus price target of $10.63. The final trade on Thursday was reported at $4.12.
BP PLC (NYSE: BP): HSBC Securities upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold. The $30.13 consensus price target is well above Thursday’s close of $25.20.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO): Wolfe Research upgraded it from Peer Perform to Outperform with a $63 price target. The consensus target is $52.25, and Thursday’s close was at $51.64 a share.
Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN): Loop Capital started coverage with a Buy rating and a $394 price target. The stock closed Thursday at $322.75 after coming public on Wednesday.
Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA): The Raymond James Market Perform rating was lifted to Outperform with a $61 price target. The consensus target is $61.19, and the stock closed Thursday at $54.14 per share.
Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: DRNA): Goldman Sachs started it with a Buy rating and a $48 price target. The consensus target is $37.25. Thursday’s final print was posted at $28.53.
D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI): Wells Fargo started it with a $93 price target and an Overweight rating. Shares last closed at $93.05 and have a consensus price target of $96.47.
Editas Medicine Inc. (NASDAQ: EDIT): Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Sell rating and a $20 price target. The posted consensus target is $53.57, and the shares closed Thursday at $40.98.
FuelCell Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL): B. Riley resumed coverage with a Neutral rating and an $11 price target. The consensus target is $12.74, and Thursday’s close was at $9.66.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NASDAQ: GT): Morgan Stanley downgraded it to Equal Weight from Overweight. Shares recently traded at $17.90, with a consensus price target of $17.86. The 52-week range is $5.73 to $19.38.
KB Home (NYSE: KBH): Wells Fargo started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $55 price target. Analysts have a consensus price target of $52.90, and the stock last closed at $48.08.
Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN): Wells Fargo started it at Equal Weight rating with a $112 price target. The consensus target is $108.92, and the shares closed Thursday at $102.92.
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU): Zacks has named this as the Bull of the Day, saying that the tech company beat its already-raised outlook for its second-quarter results, and Wall Street drove the stock to new highs. Shares most recently closed at $90.27 and have a consensus price target of $113.57.
Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK): The KeyBanc Capital Markets Overweight rating was lowered to Sector Weight. The consensus target is $193.45, and the stock ended trading on Thursday at $148.38.
Sunrun Inc. (NASDAQ: RUN): Piper Sandler upgraded it from Neutral to Overweight with a $77 price target. The consensus price target is $81.17. The stock closed on Thursday at $47.20.
United Airlines Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: UAL): Argus upgraded the shares from Hold to Buy with a $66 price target. That compares with a consensus target of $59.59 and Thursday’s close of $56.12.
Workhorse Group Inc. (NASDAQ: WKHS): B. Riley started coverage with a Buy rating and has a $20 price target. The consensus target is $19.40, and Thursday’s final trade came in at $11.65 a share.
The semiconductor capital equipment industry looks poised to continue massive growth this year and next. Four top companies are executing well, and their stocks still have very solid upside to the Goldman Sachs price targets.
Note that alternative energy stocks seem to be winning favor with analysts again.
Thursday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Abbott Laboratories, Anheuser-Busch Inbev, Coinbase, CrowdStrike, General Motors, Hershey, Medtronic and UPS. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on AMD, Boston Scientific, Intel, Nvidia and more.
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