Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Ambarella, Apple, Comcast, Costco, CSX, Domino's, Dish, Etsy, HP, 3M, Nike, PepsiCo, Snap and More

Investing

Published: October 4, 2019 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 3:03 pm

Stocks managed to bounce on Thursday, but that was after seeing a 1,000-point move lower this week in three trading sessions. Investors were treating the bad news as good news in the sense that it increases market expectations for more Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. With payrolls and unemployment coming in close enough to estimates the Dow Jones industrials and S&P 500 were indicated to open 0.2% to 0.3% lower. The bull market is now well over 10 years old, and volatility has been elevated despite strong double-digit percentage gains in 2019. Investors need to be considering what changes they should be making for their portfolios and assets heading into late 2019 and as 2020 approaches.

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

We have provided these calls in a quick-hit summary for easy reading, and additional comments and trading data have been added on some 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 for Friday, October 4, 2019.

Ambarella Inc. (NASDAQ: AMBA) was started with a Hold rating and assigned a $61 target price (versus a $57.60 prior close) at Stifel. The stock has a 52-week range of $30.00 to $67.15, and its consensus target price was $58.22.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Outperform with the same $245 price target (versus a $220.82 close) at Wedbush Securities. The firm keeps making these calls due to the recent iPhone 11 launch with updates and tweaks to its forecasts, and this report noted that a Nikkei report is further confirming that iPhone 11 orders are looking strong.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $56 from $50 at Citigroup. Comcast closed up one cent at $44.06 a share on Thursday, but it was indicated down marginally on Friday, and its prior consensus target price was $50.30 ahead of this call.

Continental Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLR) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the target price was lowered to $34 from $42 at Credit Suisse.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) was up 1.3% at $289.00 ahead of earnings on Thursday and was indicated to open down just over 1% at $285.75 on Friday after the report. Merrill Lynch reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price objective to $320 from $310.

CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and the price target was lowered to $76 from $83 at JPMorgan. The stock previously closed up 1% at $66.96, and it was indicated down 0.8% at $66.40 after the call. The consensus target price was $77.79, and the 52-week trading range is $58.47 to $80.73.

Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) was maintained as Buy at Citigroup, but the firm lowered its target price to $40 from $42. Shares closed up five cents at $32.98 ahead of the call, and the consensus target price was $43.32.

Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $280 price target (versus a $242.37 close) at Wedbush. The firm noted that it expects long-term gains despite some short-term pain.

Dova Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: DOVA) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $29 price target at Wedbush, with the terms of its buyout now representing a $27.50 price and a $1.50 contingent right value.

EchoStar Corp. (NASDAQ: SATS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the target price was lowered to $44 from $48 (versus a $37.93 close) at Citigroup. The consensus target price was $54.50, and the 52-week trading range is $27.22 to $41.32.