U.S. stocks and many overseas markets were lower on Thursday amid higher tensions between North Korea and the United States, with S&P 500 futures down about 10 points and Dow futures down about 48 points. It is important to keep in mind that the Dow and S&P 500 are effectively at all-time highs and have barely pulled back in the grand scheme of things. Even though this bull market is now well over eight years old, the prevailing theme is that investors keep finding new reasons to buy stocks on weakness and after every sell-off. Those same investors are also searching for new investing and trading ideas.

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

Additional color and commentary has been added on most of the daily analyst calls. Consensus analyst price target data are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Thursday, August 10, 2017.

Alliance Data Systems Corp. (NYSE: ADS) was reiterated as Underperform and called a house of cards with a $174 fair value at Credit Suisse. The firm thinks that the ADS risks will drive more downside, and it feels it is mis-indexed as a technology company and therefore has an artificially high earnings multiple. ADS shares closed down 1.3% at $232.44 on Wednesday and were indicated down another 1% at $230.00 on Thursday.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was reinstated as Outperform with a $30 target price (versus a $24.74 prior close) at Wells Fargo. The 52-week trading range is $14.70 to $25.80, and the consensus analyst price target is $27.00.

Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight with a $62 price target (versus a $62.49 close) at Morgan Stanley. Cerner has a 52-week range of $47.01 to $69.28 and a consensus price target of $68.45.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) was started as Overweight with a $70 price target at Barclays. Delta closed down 1.3% at $49.67 on Wednesday, and it has a 52-week range of $35.84 to $55.75.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) was started as Outperform with a $265 price target (versus a $231.01 close) at Wells Fargo. The 52-week range is $157.77 to $255.15, and the consensus price target is $238.20.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was started as Outperform with a $110 price target (versus a $93.53 close) at Wells Fargo. JPMorgan has a 52-week range of $64.86 to $95.22 and a consensus price target of $94.60.

Perrigo Company PLC (NASDAQ: PRGO) was reiterated as Buy with an $80 target (versus a $66.37 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

RingCentral Inc. (NYSE: RNG) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $41 price target (versus a $38.80 close) at Robert W. Baird.

Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup, and there was a decrease in 3D printing short selling. Stratasys closed down 0.45% at $22.29 on Wednesday, and it has a 52-week range of $16.37 to $30.88 and has a consensus price target of $26.04.

Synacor Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Craig-Hallum. Shares were indicated down 14% at $3.05 after closing at $3.55 the prior day on the post-earnings reaction. The stock has a 52-week range of $2.51 to $4.25 and a consensus price target of $6.20.

Syros Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: SYRS) was reiterated as Outperform with a $25 target (versus a $22.84 close) at Wedbush Securities.

Follow @Jonogg on Twitter to receive the daily analyst calls and other market research calls directly on your feed.

UBS Sees big upside on four of its Dividend Rulers.

Wednesday’s top analyst calls were in shares of Alcoa, Apple, Netflix, Plains All American, Starbucks, Transocean, Vivint Solar, Vodafone, Walt Disney and more.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

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