Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Biogen, Chewy, Comcast, Deere, Facebook, Intel, SolarEdge, Wynn and More

Investing

Published: January 27, 2020 9:15 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 10:43 am

Stocks saw some selective profit-taking last week before Friday’s coronavirus-related selling. The sell-off continued on Monday as more deaths and more cases have been reported in China and other nations. All in all, earnings season mostly has been rather strong so far, and stocks were at all-time highs just a few days ago. Many investors still have not made portfolio changes since the very strong market in 2019. This is also an election year in which much is at stake, and strategists by and large are calling for single-digit percentage gains in 2020.

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

We have provided these analyst calls in a quick-hit summary for easy reading, and additional comments and trading data have been added on many of the calls. The consensus analyst price targets and other valuation metrics are from the Refinitiv sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from Monday, January 27, 2020.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised to $1,650 from $1,450 (versus a $1,466.17 prior close) at Mizuho The company everyone still wants to call Google had a consensus target price of $1,521.33 ahead of this call, and shares recently hit a new high of $1,500.58. The company has joined the $1 trillion market cap club.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised to $2,300 from $2,100 at Benchmark. Amazon shares closed down 1.2% at $1,861.64 on Friday and were indicated down 1.6% at $1,831.00 on Monday. The prior consensus target price has risen handily but was last seen at $2,181.63.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Stephens, but the firm did lift its target price to $144 from $136. Morgan Stanley reiterated its Overweight rating with a $150 target price. Shares closed up 2.8% at $135.11 on Friday but were indicated down 1.7% at $132.73 on Monday. The consensus target price was $135.70.

Antero Midstream Corp. (NYSE: AM) was down 5% at $6.19 on Friday, compared with a 52-week high of $14.56 and a prior consensus target price of $8.18. Citigroup maintained it as Buy but slashed its target price to $7 from $12.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was maintained as Hold at Deutsche Bank, but the firm raised its target price to $290 from $280. Credit Suisse has maintained its Neutral rating ahead of earnings, and its target price is down at $275. Apple closed at $318.31 a share on Friday, and its consensus target has risen up to $294.78, now that so many analysts have hiked their target prices.

Arcosa Inc. (NYSE: ACA) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that this profitable infrastructure supplier fills a wide variety of need for customers. Shares most recently closed at $44.77 and have a consensus price target of $47.83.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) was raised to Buy from Hold and the target price was raised to $360 from $305 (versus a $278.14 close, after a 2.1% drop) at Canaccord Genuity. The consensus target price was $304.57 ahead of this call.

Chewy Inc. (NYSE: CHWY) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $35 target price (versus a $28.47 close) at Wedbush Securities. The firm noted that it now sees higher pet industry online sales penetration potential to about 25% by 2023, and that this bodes well for Chewy.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was raised to Neutral from Sell and the target price was raised to $900 from $690 at UBS. While the firm has been behind on the performance, after exceeding estimates previously it expects solid results in future quarters. The shares closed down 1.1% at $869.71 ahead of the call and were indicated down 1.1% at $860.00 on Monday. The consensus target price was $882.74.

Clearside Biomedical Inc. (NASDAQ: CLSD) was reiterated as Outperform with a $5 target price (versus a $2.77 close) at Wedbush, with the firm talking up potential catalysts in 2020, starting with a resubmission of Xipere new drug application in the second quarter of 2020.