Stocks were in rally mode on Thursday morning, with DJIA futures up 100 and S&P futures up 12. Are the markets going to challenge new highs again? Investors just keep buying the dips, a trend that is now almost four years old. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day to find new trading and investment ideas for its readers. Some of these analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while other reports cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

These are Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Atmel Corp. (NASDAQ: ATML) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Stephens. While price target data was not seen, the consensus price target from analysts is $9.02 (versus a $8.47 close) and its 52-week range is $6.32 to $9.76.

BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) had more buyout rumors around it this week, all of which have proven to be misguided. Cowen maintained its Market Perform rating but raised the price target to $11 from $10 (versus a $10.26 close).

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee CRT after earnings narrowly beat expectations and guidance was more or less in line with estimates. This is after two pre-earnings upgrades this week. Wells Fargo maintained its Outperform rating and raised its price target range to $34.00 to $38.00 from a prior range of $33.00 to $36.00. Credit Suisse maintained its Underperform rating and insisted on keeping with its tradition of a $21 price target.

Ctrip.com International Ltd. (NASDAQ: CTRP) shares were indicated up 12% at almost $74 after beating earnings. The Chinese travel services provider was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel. Oppenheimer raised its rating to Outperform from Perform with an $80 price target. Bank of America Merrill Lynch maintained its Neutral rating, but raised its price objective to $80 from $68.

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CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) was started as Buy with an $87 price target (versus a $71.11 close) at Sterne Agee CRT. The firm was almost all positive here, calling it the leader in fragmented market, with new expansion opportunities and favorable vehicle demographics, and with falling used car prices being a net positive. Another boost is that credit concerns seem overstated.

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS, now that it is being acquired. We saw much of the same this week, but there were also many upgrades from the firms that had turned negative on AOL prior to the buyout.

Additional top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations were seen in the following companies this Thursday:

Akebia Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: AKBA) was started as Buy with a price target of $18 (versus a $7.71 close) at Brean Capital.

Casella Waste Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CWST) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $7.00 price target (versus $5.37 close) at Raymond James.

Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $17 price target (up from $13 and versus a $14.54 close) at Piper Jaffray.

Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) was reiterated as Outperform and the valuation range was raised to $21.00 to $22.00 from a prior range of $19.00 to $20.00 (versus a $18.41 close) at Wells Fargo. This is after earnings and guidance were slightly ahead of estimates.

Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) was reinstated as Neutral at Credit Suisse, but the price target was raised to $86 from a prior $79 (versus a $74.44 close).

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (NYSE: DD), or DuPont, was raised to Neutral from Underperform with a $76 price objective (versus a $69.33 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Euronav N.V. (NYSE: EURN) was started as Outperform with a $20 price target (versus a $13.39 close) at Credit Suisse. The firm expects close to a 6% yield now that its dividend has been reinstated.

Good Times Restaurants Inc. (NASDAQ: GTIM) was started as Buy with a fair value estimate of $11.00 (versus a $9.25 close) at Janney Capital Markets. Shares were down over 5% after gapping up to almost $10 on Wednesday after earnings.

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Hi-Crush Partners L.P. (NYSE: HCLP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price objective was cut to $35 from $45 at Merrill Lynch.

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) was reiterated as Buy with a $245 price objective (versus a $198.23 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Ingersoll-Rand PLC (NYSE: IR) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight with a $80 price target (versus a $68.12 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) was maintained as Neutral but the loss estimates were narrowed (raised) at Sterne Agee CRT, following a loss that was less bad and guidance that was also less bad than estimates.

Linear Technology Corp. (NASDAQ: LLTC) was raised to Neutral from Underweight with a $48 price target (versus a $46.07 close) at JPMorgan.

Pall Corp. (NYSE: PLL) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform, but the price target was raised to $127 from $108 (versus a $123.89 close) at R.W. Baird. William Blair downgraded it to Market Perform from Outperform.

Spectra Energy Corp. (NYSE: SE) was started as Buy with a fair value estimate of $43.00 (versus a $36.28 close) at Janney Capital Markets. The firm sees upside from DCP, new projects and Western Canada.

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Spectra Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: SEP) was reiterated as Buy at Janney Capital Markets, and the fair value estimate was set at $60. The firm called Spectra the gold standard of MLPs for safety and quality, with a 4.6% distribution that is growing each year.

Superior Energy Services Inc. (NYSE: SPN) was raised to Outperform from Perform and with a $30 price target (versus a $24.27 close) at Oppenheimer.

TECO Energy Inc. (NYSE: TE) was started as Neutral but with a price target of $20 (versus a $18.22 close) at Credit Suisse.

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) was reiterated as Buy with a $91 price target (versus a $86.93 close) at Sterne Agee CRT.

Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. (NYSE: TNP) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $13 from $9 (versus a $9.00 close) at Credit Suisse.

WABCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE: WBC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

If you missed out on Wednesday’s analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included American Eagle Outfitters, AOL, Boeing, Lululemon Athletica, Microsoft, ResMed and about 20 more companies.

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