Stocks have already risen each day this week, with a 1,000-point Dow Jones industrial average recovery alone, and the major equity indexes were indicated to open slightly higher again on Thursday. All-time highs have come back into focus as China lowered tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. goods. The coronavirus cases keep rising (over 28,250 cases and 565 deaths in China), but there is some growing hope that a vaccine or treatment may be available in a few months. With global gross domestic product weighed on by China weakness, there is still much uncertainty and many ongoing and unresolved developments that investors have to digest in 2020. Many investors still have not made some of their normal portfolio changes this year either.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding new ideas for traders and long-term investors alike. Some of the daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while some calls cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

We have provided these analyst calls in a quick-hit summary for easy reading, and additional comments and trading data have been added on many of the calls. The consensus analyst price targets and other valuation metrics are from the Refinitiv sell-side research service.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen for Thursday, February 6, 2020.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) was started with a Buy rating and a $96 target price at Mizuho. Shares closed up about 2.7% at $86.63 ahead of the call, with a $95.18 consensus target price.

Alteryx Inc. (NYSE: AYX) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that data analysis software is in high demand and this provider makes the science accessible to a wide variety of customers. Shares most recently closed at $135.21 and have a consensus price target of $130.14.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) was reiterated as Buy with a $265 target price at Argus. It closed up 4.5% at $231.94 ahead of his call and has a $246.05 consensus target price.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) closed up 17.5% at $332.87 on Wednesday after winning a key multiple sclerosis drug patent ruling over Mylan. Credit Suisse maintained its Neutral rating but raised its target price to $330 from $300. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target price to $361 from $315.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said the continued 737 Max grounding and the spread of the coronavirus signal that this company’s problems are not yet over. Shares last closed at $329.55, with a consensus price target of $337.50.

Cogent Communications Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ: CCOI) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the $52 target was raised to $84 by Goldman Sachs. The stock closed up just four cents at $71.82 a share on Wednesday and had a $56.82 consensus target price after it rallied about 10% so far this year.

Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY) was started with a Hold rating and a $46 target price at Stifel. It closed down 2.2% at $49.57 on Wednesday, with a prior consensus target price of $64.75.

Flagstar Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: FBC) was reiterated as Outperform with a $40 target price (versus a $35.49 prior close) at Wedbush Securities, but the firm lowered its earnings estimates over higher expected loan loss provisions and higher operating costs.

FormFactor Inc. (NASDAQ: FORM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $27 target price at Stifel. The stock closed down a penny to $26.38 ahead of the call, with a $26.32 consensus target price.

Funko Inc. (NASDAQ: FNKO) saw its shares plunge almost 40% to $9.50 after showing slower sales than expected. Merrill Lynch downgraded the shares to Underperform Buy and JPMorgan downgraded them to Underweight from Overweight. D.A. Davidson also downgraded it, to Neutral from Buy, and slashed its target price from $35 to $11.

General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and the target price was raised to $225 from $210 at JPMorgan. General Dynamics closed up 2.5% at $183.97 on Wednesday, with a $210.39 consensus target price.

Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $70 target price at Bernstein.

Gladstone Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: GAIN) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Wedbush, but the valuation downgrade also came with a target hike to $14.00 from $13.75 based on strong earnings. Shares closed up 3.9% at $13.82 on Wednesday, with a consensus target price of $13.08 and a 52-week trading range of $10.97 to $15.34.

GoPro Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRO) closed up 5% at $4.36 ahead of earnings, but the reaction to its miss had shares down more than 11% at $3.86 in early trading indications. Wedbush maintained its Neutral rating and $4 target price after the report, noting that if GoPro is unable to increase its installed base meaningfully, then its growth will stagnate after 2020.

Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) was downgraded to Market Perform from Market Outperform at BMO Capital Markets. Shares closed up 0.1% at $172.64 ahead of the call, with a $177.06 consensus target price and a $101.11 to $175.10 trading range over the past year.

Mercado Libre Inc. (NASDAQ: MELI) was started with a Hold rating and a $700 target price at Stifel. It closed down 4.8% at $675.84 on Wednesday, with a prior consensus target price of $691.43.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was raised to Strong Buy from Market Perform with a $70 target price at Raymond James. Micron shares closed up 2.3% at $56.77, and they were indicated up another 2% at $58.00 on Thursday. The prior consensus target price was $66.64.

Newmont Corp. (NYSE: NEM) was started with a Neutral rating and a $46 target price at UBS. The stock closed up almost 0.2% at $44.30 ahead of the call, and it has a $48.76 consensus target price.

Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) was up 0.7% at $19.62 ahead of earnings. Wedbush reiterated its Outperform rating with a $27 target price, after the firm beat expectations on the Dragon Medical Cloud and seeing estimates beatable ahead.

Peloton Interactive Inc. (NASDAQ: PTON) was down 2.3% at $32.70 ahead of earnings, and the stock was last seen down over 8% at $30.01 in early trading on Thursday. Needham reiterated it as Buy and raised its target to $40 from $30. Wedbush reiterated its Outperform rating with a $37 target price, and Stifel reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target price to $38 from $37.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) was started with a Buy rating and a $42 target price at Mizuho. Pfizer closed up about 1.3% at $38.17 ahead of the call, with a $42.58 consensus target price. Rival drug giant Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) was maintained as Buy at UBS, but the firm lowered its target price to $96 from $99 after Merck’s earnings call and spin-off plans caused nearly a 3% drop to $85.83 on Wednesday.

Tandem Diabetes Care Inc. (NASDAQ: TNDM) was started as Outperform with an $85 target price at Raymond James. It closed down 15 at $74.31 ahead of the call, with a $79.75 consensus target price.

Trip.com Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: TCOM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC. Its shares closed down 0.5% at $33.93 ahead of the call, in a 52-week range of $28.55 to $46.50 and with a $38.60 consensus target price.

Twilio Inc. (NASDAQ: TWLO) was down 3.6% at $127.15 ahead of earnings, and Thursday’s trading indications were down another 5% or so at $120.50. Needham reiterated it as Overweight and raised its target to $145 from $125, and Piper Sandler reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target price to $151 from $145.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) was reiterated as Buy with a $110 target price (versus an $83.78 close) at Argus. The stock closed up 3.1% ahead of this call, with a consensus target price of $109.06.

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) was down 2.5% at $5.93 on Wednesday ahead of earnings, but the shares were last seen trading up over 2% in the early trading reaction on Thursday. Wedbush reiterated it as Outperform with a $9 target price, noting strong bookings and a near-perfect quarter with guidance implying 20% margins are reachable. Credit Suisse was in the opposite camp, maintaining its Underperform rating with a $5.60 target price, as it noted new franchises have to be created to offset churn/decline from older game titles.

Credit Suisse has addressed the coronavirus outbreak’s impact on global GDP in 2020. The firm now forecasts global GDP to grow at 2.4% this year, compared with a prior forecast of 2.6%. Its U.S. GDP forecast was trimmed to 1.8%.

Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Alphabet, Amazon.com, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Ford, Goldman Sachs, Grubhub, New Relic, Pinterest, Snap, Tesla, Walt Disney and many more.

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