Stocks were surging on Wednesday morning as earnings are starting out better than expected and after Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine trial showed very positive data in midstage studies. This earnings season is expected to be the worst year-over-year comparison since the Great Recession. With an election coming up and with what is still a very deep recession, investors should be considering how they want their assets positioned for the second half of 2020 and as 2021 comes into focus.

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.

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 Wednesday, July 15, 2020.

AAR Corp. (NYSE: AIR) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

American Tower Corp. (NYSE: AMT) was started as Overweight with a $296 price target at Barclays. Shares closed up 1.2% at $258.94 and had a $277.13 consensus target price.

American Water Works Co. Inc. (NYSE: AWK) was started as Equal Weight with a $138 price target at Barclays.

Antero Resources Corp. (NYSE: AR) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $3 price target (versus a $2.66 prior close) at MKM Partners.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $450 from $350 at Needham. Apple closed up 1.6% at $388.23 and had a $350.33 prior consensus target price.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) was maintained as Outperform at Oppenheimer, but the firm cut its target price to $38 from $47. AT&T closed at $29.96 a share on Tuesday, with a $33.64 consensus target price.

Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) was started as Outperform and its price target was set at $725 (versus a $622.93 prior close) at Evercore ISI.

CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer. Shares closed up almost 2.2% at $9.89 on Tuesday, with a $9.86 consensus target price.

CoreSite Realty Corp. (NYSE: COR) was started as Underweight at Barclays.

Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI) was started as Overweight and a $197 target price at Barclays.

CyrusOne Inc. (NASDAQ: CONE) was started as Equal Weight at Barclays.

Digital Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: DLR) was started as Overweight and a $165 price target at Barclays.

Equinix Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX) was started with an Overweight rating and an $821 target price (versus a $716.91 close) at Barclays.

Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE: WTRG) was started as Equal Weight at Barclays.

Express Inc. (NYSE: EXPR) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that this retailer is suffering like many others with mall traffic way day. Shares last closed at $1.38 and have a consensus price target of $1.83.

Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy but its price target was raised to $140 from $129 (versus a $134.48 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform and the target price was raised to $18 from $13 (versus an $11.15 close) at RBC Capital Markets. It had an $11.26 consensus target price.

GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ: GWPH) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and its target price was cut to $140 from $150 (versus a $139.54 close) at Stifel. The stock closed up over 5% on Tuesday, and its consensus target price was $190.56.

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and its target price was raised to $17 from $13 at Cowen. The stock closed up almost 6% at $12.48 on Tuesday and was indicated up 4% at $13.00 on Wednesday. Its prior consensus target price was $11.96.

H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Northcoast Research.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo. Shares closed up 1.5% at $37.23 on Tuesday, with a $35.59 consensus target price.

Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the target price was raised to $16 from $13 at Citigroup.

SBA Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: SBAC) was started as Equal Weight at Barclays.

Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and its target price was raised to $27 from $22 (versus an $18.39 close) at Cowen.

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) was started as Market Perform at Bernstein.

Switch Inc. (NYSE: SWCH) was started as Overweight with a $22 price target at Barclays.

Teledyne Technologies Inc. (NYSE: TDY) was raised to Buy from Hold and its target price was raised to $360 from $310 (versus a $303.21 close) at Jefferies. It had a $350 consensus target price.

TransDigm Group Inc. (NYSE: TDG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Triumph Group Inc. (NYSE: TGI) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was raised to Outperform from In-Line and its price target was raised to $27 from $26 at Evercore ISI. Barclays maintained its Equal Weight rating and cut its target to $33 from $40.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) was started as Outperform with a $60 target price at Bernstein. Shares closed up 0.5% at $42.04 on Tuesday and were indicated up 1.4% at $42.65 on Wednesday, with a $60.34 consensus target price.

Xylem Inc. (NYSE: XYL) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its target price was raised to $85 from $70 (versus a $73.33 close, after an 8.9% gain) at Rosenblatt.

Yeti Holdings Inc. (NYSE: YETI) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that pent-up consumer demand could help this high-end cooler maker. Shares most recently closed at $41.45 and have a consensus price target of $39.50.

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Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Automatic Data Processing, GrowGeneration, Hilton Worldwide, Lululemon Athletica, Lyft, Netflix, Spotify, Tesla, Twitter, Visa, Wayfair and more.

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