Stocks have bounced around all week after Monday’s big gains, but Thursday’s losses were recovered only partly on Friday morning. Investors are now moving past earnings season and looking beyond bad economic readings in what was a major recovery since the panic selling lows of March. Some investors now should be considering new ideas for how to be best positioned ahead of summer and the rest of 2020.

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

Analysts are still making many upgrades, downgrades, reiterations and initiations ahead of and after key earnings reports. While many analysts are still cutting price targets and earnings estimates for the coming quarters and for the year, some are still maintaining their prior official ratings. Another observation is that a lot of the stocks have now recovered enough that they are trading above what the analyst pack would consider to be fair value.

Remember, no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision. Consensus analyst target prices are from Refinitiv.

These are the top analyst calls we have seen on Friday, May 22, 2020.

Accenture PLC (NYSE: ACN) was started with a Neutral rating Piper Sandler. The stock had closed at $193.55, and its consensus price target was $188.22.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $95 from $90 (versus an $80.75 prior close) at SVB Leerink.

Apollo Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: AINV) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup.

Aquestive Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: AQST) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $15 from $13 (versus a $6.15 close) at H.C. Wainwright. Shares were indicated up almost 9% at $6.70 after a royalty program it was involved in with Sunovion Pharmaceuticals received FDA approval.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE: ACB) was downgraded to Underperform from Hold at Jefferies, although its Canadian price target was raised to C$14 from C$12, after noting that its 36% gain after earnings and an acquisition seemed unsustainable. The U.S.-listed shares were indicated down over 5% at $16.19 on Friday morning.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $85 from $75 at Barclays. Best Buy closed down over 4% at $77.98 on Thursday, with an $80.22 consensus price target.

Box Inc. (NYSE: BOX) was reiterated at Overweight and its price target was raised to $21 from $17 at Morgan Stanley. The stock closed at $17.89 and had a $17.75 consensus price target.

Brinker International Inc. (NYSE: EAT) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that the future is uncertain for the owner of Chili’s and Maggiano’s. Shares last closed at $24.50 and have a consensus price target of $27.79.

Chegg Inc. (NYSE: CHGG) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that online education tools likely will be vital for students and teachers going forward. Shares most recently closed at $62.25, with a consensus price target of $44.50.

Chuy’s Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CHUY) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $21 from $17 at Wedbush Securities.

Harpoon Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: HARP) was started with an Overweight rating and a $35 price target (versus a $21.11 close) at Piper Sandler. It had a $26.50 prior consensus price target, and its 52-week high is $25.00.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (NYSE: HPE) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James. Its shares were indicated down almost 7% at $9.64 on Friday after posting an $800 million loss and announcing more job cuts amidst the coronavirus economy.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $34 from $31 (versus a $29.10 close) at B. Riley FBR. It had a $28.83 consensus price target.

Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was down 2.1% at $351.01 ahead of earnings and was indicated up 1% at $354.85 after earnings beat expectations. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey reiterated it as Buy and raised its price target to $384 from $327. Wedbush reiterated its Outperform rating but raised its price target to $420 from $340, and Wells Fargo reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target price to $430 from $360. Needham reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $400 from $360. Other target hikes have been seen from Oppenheimer, Instinet, Rosenblatt, Raymond James and more.

National Health Investors Inc. (NYSE: NHI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Mizuho.

ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was down 2% at $229.26 ahead of earnings but was then indicated up 7% at $245.50 after beating earnings expectations. Its consensus price target ahead of earnings was $212.77. Barclays reiterated it as Overweight and raised its price target to $280 from $236.

Paylocity Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: PCTY) was started with a Neutral rating at Piper Sandler.

Protagonist Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: PTGX) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $30 from $17 at SVB Leerink. Shares closed up 4% at $16.00 ahead of the call, with a $20.60 consensus price target and a $17.33 52-week high.

Roku Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight and its price target was lowered to $105 from $155 at Stephens.

Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $190 from $160 (versus a $163.45 close) at Stifel. Shares were indicated up over 6% at $174.00 on Friday. Needham reiterated it as Buy and raised its price target to $192 from $168.

TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $64 from $60 at Barclays. The stock was up almost 7% at $54.30 on Thursday, and its consensus price target was $59.96.

BofA Securities has five stocks trading under $10 in which it sees huge upside.

Many investors believe that the stock market is completely decoupled from the actual economy, but here are 10 of the major forces that have been driving the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 higher and higher since March’s panic selling lows. Some investors would point out that this is not even a bear market anymore.

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Aerojet Rocketdyne, Avis Budget, Carnival, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Expedia, Home Depot, Lowe’s, MGM Resorts, Stratasys, Square, Walmart and more.

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