Analysts Chime in on Corning, Quest Diagnostics, Canadian Pacific, Norfolk Southern, and More

Although it’s FOMC day, the markets are rather quiet as all three major index futures are modestly in the red. In this article, we take a look at how analysts have recently weighed in on Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW), Quest Diagnostics Inc (NYSE:DGX), Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (USA) (NYSE:CP), CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX), and Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE:NSC).

We will also take a look at how elite funds are positioned among the five stocks.

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Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) is 2% in the red after Goldman analyst Doug Clark changed his rating to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’, citing valuation reasons for the downgrade. Corning has rallied around a third since Clark’s original upgrade in April of last year. The investment bank has a $29 price target. Of the 742 elite funds we track, 41 funds owned $614.28 million of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) and accounted for 2.70% of the float on December 31, versus 36 funds and $662 million respectively on September 30.

While Goldman might have downgraded Corning, the investment bank upgraded Quest Diagnostics Inc (NYSE:DGX), with analyst Isaac Ro upgrading the stock to ‘Conviction Buy’ from ‘Buy’ and setting a price target of $113 per share. That’s up from the previous $101 per share. Ro believes Quest will be a beneficiary of future changes in the healthcare system as costs move more to the individual from intermediaries. Not surprisingly, Quest Diagnostics Inc (NYSE:DGX) shares are in the green this morning as the market factors in the upgrade. According to our data, 28 top funds had a bullish position in Quest Diagnostics Inc (NYSE:DGX) at the end of December, up 4 funds from the previous quarter. Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management owned more than 1.26 million shares at the end of the fourth quarter.

On the next page, we put the analyst commentary surrounding Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (USA), CSX Corporation, and Norfolk Southern Corp under the microscope.
Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (USA) (NYSE:CP), CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX), and Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE:NSC) received the thumbs up from the analysts at Wells Fargo recently, as the money center bank has an ‘Outperform’ rating on the three. In particular, analysts at Wells believe Norfolk Southern’s exposure to coal will be an advantage in the future as the Trump administration rolls back many of the ‘War on Coal’ regulations passed under the Obama administration. More coal demand could translate to more coal shipments and higher profits at Norfolk. The analysts also believe Canadian Pacific has potential margin expansion upside and view CSX’s new boss, Hunter Harrison, as a solid candidate to turn around the railroad. According to our data, 47, 53, and 33 elite funds were long Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE:NSC), CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX), and Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (USA) (NYSE:CP) at the end of December.

Despite the positive rating from Wells, shares of all three railroads are down partly due to crude prices falling. Many railroads ship crude, and commodity prices generally correlate with the price of the commodity as well.

Disclosure:None