Stocks were indicated to open higher on Friday as a follow-on bounce from Thursday’s recovery after Wednesday’s major sell-off. Investors need to consider that the markets are still very close to all-time highs. Even with the bull market over eight years old, note that investors have found myriad reasons to buy every single major sell-off for more than five years now. Investors and traders alike also are looking for new trading and investing ideas.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy and others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Some additional color and commentary has been added on most of the following daily analyst calls, and the consensus sell-side analyst price targets are taken from Thomson Reuters. These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Friday, May 19, 2017.

Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) closed up 2% on Thursday after reporting a narrower loss, and it was indicated up 12.5% at $107.85 on Friday. Autodesk was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Merrill Lynch. Wedbush reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $125 from $120. Its prior high was $98.05, and the consensus analyst target ahead of these target hikes was $95.67.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) was started with a Sector Perform rating at Pacific Crest. IBM was down 0.1% at $150.78 on Thursday and was indicated up 0.4% at $151.35 on Friday. IBM shares have a consensus target price of $165.70, and their 52-week trading range is $142.50 to $182.79.

Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LL) was raised to Outperform from Perform with a $34 price target at Oppenheimer. The firm noted that its recovery is quickly taking shape. The stock was up 2.5% at $26.21 on Thursday and was indicated up another 4.6% at $27.41 on Friday.

NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was started as Outperform with a $165 price target at Bernstein. Shares closed up 4.2% at $133.07 on Thursday and were indicated to open up another 2.5% at $136.40 on Friday. The 52-week and all-time high is $137.44, and the consensus price target was $125.08.

Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) was reiterated Outperform at Oppenheimer, but the target price was raised to $100 from $95. Jefferies reiterated its Hold rating and its $80 price target. Stifel has a Buy rating and raised its target to $105 from $100.

Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets. After several downgrades and a down week, Symantec was down 1.26% at $29.74 on Thursday and was indicated to open marginally lower on Friday morning.

T-Mobile US Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) was already rated as Buy at Goldman Sachs, but the firm added it to the prized Conviction Buy list with an $81 price target. T-Mobile closed up 2.8% at $65.72 on Thursday and was indicated up 1.9% more at $66.99 on Friday.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform with an $80 price target at BMO Capital Markets. Wal-Mart closed up 3.2% at $77.54 on Thursday and rose another 0.4% at $77.85 on Friday.

You can follow @JonOgg on Twitter if you want the daily analyst calls and research put directly on your feed.

Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) was up 2.7% at $43.91 on Thursday and was indicated up 2.6% more at $45.05 on Friday after earnings. Cowen has an Outperform rating and raised its target to $50 from $45. Stifel has a Buy rating and raised its target to $55 from $50.

Athenahealth Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $154 from $119 at Oppenheimer. Jefferies raised its Hold rating and raised its price target to $135 from $95.

AxoGen Inc. (NASDAQ: AXGN) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $17 from $14 (versus a $13.90 prior close) at Wedbush.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. (NYSE: CFR) was raised to Neutral from Underperform with a $92 price target at Wedbush. While the firm feels that Cullen/Frost would benefit from the Trump tailwinds, the firm feels its earnings should benefit less than other banks.

Extraction Oil & Gas LLC (NASDAQ: XOG) was started as Market Perform with a $19 price target at BMO Capital Markets.

First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC) was started as Outperform at Raymond James.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was raised to Buy and the price target was raised to $150 from $130 at Jefferies. The firm believes that Palo Alto Networks recent operational weakness has more to do with a major product cycle than sales execution or increased competitive issues and should be followed by a reacceleration of the business over the next quarters.

Paratek Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: PRTK) was started with a Strong Buy rating and assigned a $36 price target at Raymond James. Paratek was down 0.7% at $21.40 on Thursday but was indicated up 7% at $22.94 on Friday.

Prosperity Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: PB) was raised to Neutral from Underperform and the $67 price target was maintained at Wedbush. While Wedbush’s fundamental view on Prosperity has not changed, the firm believes its concerns are more properly reflected in the current valuation.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) was started as Overweight with a $194 price target (versus a $171.74 prior close) at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Vital Therapies Inc. (NASDAQ: VTL) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $6 price target at Raymond James. Vital Therapies closed down 8.7% at $2.60 on Thursday, and this company has a mere $109 million market cap.

Thursday’s top analyst and downgrades were in Cisco Systems, Expedia, Exxon Mobil, First Solar, Noble, Shake Shack, Symantec and over a dozen more.

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