Stocks rose about 2% on Wednesday as the markets cheered the second round of small business loans to act as coronavirus pandemic support. Thursday’s market indications were mixed, with another high level of 4.4 million weekly jobless claims, although that is down about 800,000 from the prior week. Many investors were caught off guard when the raging bull market turned into a roaring bear market, and they were caught off guard again when the markets rallied so much that they recovered over half of the stock market’s entire peak-to-trough losses. Many of those same investors are now looking for new ideas about how to be best positioned for growth or safety for the rest of 2020.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find some of those new ideas for long-term investors and short-term traders alike. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and some of the analyst reports cover stocks to sell or avoid. Consensus analyst target prices are from Refinitiv.

Many upgrades, downgrades, reiterations and initiations are still being seen ahead of and after key earnings reports. A dominant trend after the market drop and in the recovery is that analysts have been lowering their target prices in most stocks, even if they are maintaining their prior official ratings. Still, there remain many traditional upgrades and reiterations as if things were still close to normal. Remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision.

These are the top analyst calls tracked for Thursday, April 23, 2020.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was maintained as Buy with a $235 price target (versus a $276.10 prior close) at Wedbush Securities, with the firm noting that earnings will be weak and guidance likely bad, but also noting that investors are trying to look beyond for strong recoveries late this year and into 2021.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) was maintained as Buy but its price target was lowered to $38 from $39 at Nomura/Instinet, and BofA Securities maintained its Buy rating while lowering its price objective to $36 from $43. CFRA maintained its Buy rating but cut its price target to $37 from $42.

Avis Budget Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CAR) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $13 price target (versus a $12.00 close, after a 5% drop) at JPMorgan.

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was maintained as Overweight but its price target was lowered to $136 from $140 at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Shares closed up 0.35 at $101.75 ahead of the call.

Baker Hughes Co. (NYSE: BKR) was maintained as Overweight but its price target was cut to $17 from $18 at Wells Fargo, and Barclays maintained its Overweight rating but trimmed its price target to $14 from $15.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) fell 9.4% to $298.01 after earnings and a delay on its Alzheimer’s drug submission to the FDA. Oppenheimer maintained it as Outperform but cut its price target to $365 from $390. Barclays maintained its Overweight rating but lowered its price target to $370 from $389. Raymond James downgraded it to Underperform from Market Perform, and Citigroup downgraded it to Sell from Neutral.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (NYSE: CP) was reiterated as Buy at Argus, with the independent research firm noting that recent weakness offers a buying opportunity.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was up 12% at $882.26 on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets upgraded it to Market Perform from Underperform and raised its price target to $780 from $680.

CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $71 from $68 (versus a $60.89 close) at CFRA.

Gladstone Commercial Corp. (GOOD) was maintained as Buy with an $18 price target (versus a $13.90 close) at Janney, which noted that it received 98% of its April rents.

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTZ) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) was maintained as Outperform but its price target was cut to $17 from $18 at Raymond James. Kinder Morgan closed at $14.67 ahead of the call, with an $18.34 consensus price target.

Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $320 from $265 (versus a $271.78 close, after an 11.5% gain) at Nomura/Instinet. Needham maintained its Buy rating but lowered its price target to $325 from $340.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $57 from $55 at Nomura/Instinet, and Deutsche Bank reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $54 from $50. Shares closed at $41.04 ahead of the call, with a $64.93 consensus price target.

Nasdaq Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $120 from $118 (versus a $104.63 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Nautilus Inc. (NASDAQ: NLS) was raised to Buy with an $8 price target (versus a $5.04 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, which noted that Nautilus should benefit in the coming quarters from a surge in demand for home fitness equipment.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was down almost 3% at $421.42 after earnings. Imperial Capital reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $485 from $447.

New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) was downgraded to In-Line from Outperform with a $32 price target at Evercore ISI.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse and the $190 price target remained in place. The firm noted that its negative structural thesis is largely reflected in the stock.

Paycom Software Inc. (NYSE: PAYC) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral and its price target was slashed to $190 from $290 (versus a $217.74 close) at Credit Suisse. Shares were indicated down almost 6% at $205.00 after earnings, and its prior consensus price target was $259.38.

Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that as the retail apocalypse benefits online platforms, this store of stores may gain the most long-term traction. Shares most recently closed at $626.56, with a consensus price target of $494.40.

SolarWinds Corp. (NYSE: SWI) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, with the firm concerned about its valuation and exposure to small and midsized businesses.

Teradyne Inc. (NASDAQ: TER) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral and its price target was cut to $52 from $58 (versus a $62.78 close) at UBS.

Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ: ULTA) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that malls and strip stores may never fully recover, but this beauty will rise again. Shares last closed at $208.71 and have a consensus price target of $234.87.

ViacomCBS Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAC) was downgraded to In-Line from Outperform with an $18 price target (versus a $14.93 close) at Evercore ISI.

Zscaler Inc. (NASDAQ: ZS) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform but its price target was raised to $75 from $70 (versus a $66.91 close) at Credit Suisse.

There are seven oil stocks that have hedged oil production at much higher oil prices, and BofA Securities has five oil stocks trading under $10 in which it sees very large upside potential.

The team at BofA Securities has recently increased their 18-month price target on gold to the $3,000 per ounce level. That would be a massive 75% move from current levels, and five top gold picks to are expected to score handily on the move.

Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Boston Scientific, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Coca-Cola, Darden Restaurants, Home Depot, Netflix, Snap, Tesla, Transocean, Zynga and more.

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