The major equity indexes were set to open lower on Thursday due to more trade war and tariff concerns against China. Earnings are still deciding the direction of many companies. Investors have had less success buying the all the stock market dips in 2018 than in prior years. Many investors are also reconsidering how they want their investments positioned ahead of the midterm elections and with international trade concerns.

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

Additional commentary has been added on most of the daily analyst reports, along with trading history. The consensus analyst price targets and other valuation metrics are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Thursday, August 2, 2018.

Century Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ: CENX) was up 1.25% at $12.97 on Wednesday ahead of earnings but was indicated up 4% at $13.50 afterward. Deutsche Bank raised it to Buy from Hold with a $20 price target.

Cedar Fair L.P. (NYSE: FUN) was down 9.6% at $51.63 on Wednesday after earnings disappointed. KeyBanc Capital Markets maintained it as Overweight but cut the target price to $70 from $75.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $34 from $32 (versus a $29.41 prior close) at Stifel.

Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE: FRT) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $135 from $130 (versus a $124.98 close) at Stifel.

Foot Locker Inc. (NYSE: FL) was started as Underweight and assigned a $44 price target (versus a $47.85 close, after a 2% drop) at Morgan Stanley.

Ferrari N.V. (NYSE: RACE) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight and the price target was raised to $120 from $110 at Morgan Stanley. The shares closed down 11% at $118.00 on Wednesday, but this was a more than $140 stock just two weeks ago.

Fitbit Inc. (NYSE: FIT) was last seen up 2.5% at $6.07 after earnings. Stifel maintained Fitbit as Hold but raised the target to $6.00 from $5.50.

Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GNRC) was maintained as Hold at Stifel, but the firm raised its target to $56 from $52 (versus a $54.47 close).

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HollyFrontier Corp. (NYSE: HFC) was started as Neutral at Mizuho.

Hub Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HUBG) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $59 price target (versus a $46.95 close) at Loop Capital.

Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE: LYG) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) was started as Overweight and the price target was set at $88 at Morgan Stanley.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) was started as Neutral and assigned a $124 price target (versus a $123.01 close) at Mizuho.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE: RDS-A) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Skechers USA Inc. (NYSE: SKX) was started as Equal Weight and the price target was set at $28 (versus a $27.73 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Square Inc. (NYSE: SQ) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised to $76 from $72 at Stifel. Square closed up 3.4% at $66.86 on Wednesday but was indicated down 2.3% at $65.38 on Thursday.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was up 0.9% at $300.84 ahead of earnings on Wednesday, and Thursday’s indications were for shares to open up 9% at $330.00 or so. Oppenheimer raised Tesla to Outperform from Perform with a $385 target price.

Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UAA) was started with an Equal Weight rating and assigned a $20 target price (versus a $19.09 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) was started as Neutral and assigned a $125 price target (versus a $116.78 close) at Mizuho.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) was down 4% at $159.99 ahead of earnings but was down another 4.5% at $152.70 after the earnings report. Stifel maintained its Buy rating but trimmed its target price to $192 from $207. Morgan Stanley maintained it as Equal Weight and cut its target to $187 from $200.

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) was up 1.6% at $3.85 on Wednesday ahead of earnings and shares were indicated up about 3% at $3.97 on Thursday morning. Zynga was maintained as Underperform but the price target was raised to $4.90 from $4.00 at Credit Suisse. Morgan Stanley maintained its Overweight rating while raising its price target to $5.00 from $4.70.

Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades were in Akamai Technologies, Apple, AutoZone, Dropbox, Electronic Arts, Ford, Kinder Morgan, Pandora Media, Procter & Gamble, Shopify and many more.

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