In what has been a whirlwind week for the stock markets, one that is set to be topped off by the highly anticipated Alibaba initial public offering (IPO), many investors have seen strong gains as indexes have hit new all-time highs and the market bears have run for cover. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each morning of the week to find new investment and trading ideas for its readers. Some analyst research reports feature stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Here are the top analysts upgrades, downgrades and initiations for Friday.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) is initiated, before a share has even traded, at Cantor Fitzgerald with a $90 price target.

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Evercore.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) reiterated as a Buy at RBC, and the firm raises the price target on the stock to $435 from $380, citing numerous positives and seeing the company as one of the best Internet assets to own.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reiterated as a Buy at Cowen. The research indicates that sales for iPhone 6 could be higher than estimates. The firm raised the price target to $110 from $106.

ALSO READ: 6 More Expected DJIA Dividend Hikes Before 2014 Ends

Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AUXL) downgraded from Buy to Neutral at Goldman Sachs. In an odd twist though, the company raised its price target on the stock from $28 to $31.

CARBO Ceramics Inc. (NYSE: CRR) is already down big in the premarket as the stock was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs. The price target was chopped all the way to $71 from $104.

Copa Holdings S.A. (NYSE: CPA) downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James. The Latin American airline was hit hard this summer and has traded poorly since mid-July. Morgan Stanley also downgraded the stock earlier this month.

Concur Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: CNQR) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse and to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair. Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock from Sell to Neutral. Shareholders won’t mind as SAP announced a purchase of the company for $7.3 billion, or $129 a share, this morning.

FireEye Inc. (NASDAQ: FEYE) reiterated as Overweight at Piper Jaffray, which raised its price on the very hot tech security stock to $40 from $36.

MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) downgraded from Buy to Hold at Argus. The company cites a 19% decline in tourist traffic in Macau among other reasons for the downgrade.

Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) downgraded from Buy to Hold at Deutsche Bank. The price target on the software giant was lowered from $48 to $42. In what has to be a titanic move in Silicon Valley, the co-founder Larry Ellison is stepping down as CEO. Ellison will become the chairman of the board, replacing Jeff Henley. The tech legend will also take on the title of chief technology officer.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) maintained as a stock to Buy at Stifel, but the company lowered the price target on the hard-disc-drive giant from $114 to $112, citing acquisition costs associated with the Fusion-io deal.

Sprouts Farmer Markets Inc. (NASDAQ: SFM) initiated with an Overweight rating at Barclays with a $37 price target.

V.F. Corp. (NYSE: VFC) upgraded to Buy from Hold at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION) is upgraded from Outperform to Strong Buy at Raymond James, which also raised its price target to $35 from $33.

ALSO READ: Drop in Oil and Gas Prices Is a Buying Opportunity for Oil Services Stocks

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.