The stock market was looking for direction on Thursday after big gains on Wednesday. Earnings season has reached its peak and investors have some decisions to make about how they want to be positioned ahead of an upcoming election and what is still a very deep recession.

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

Remember that 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 Thursday, August 6, 2020.

Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $91 from $73 (versus a $64.43 prior close) at SVB Leerink.

BioNTech S.E. (NASDAQ: BNTX) was reiterated as Market Perform but the target price was raised to $69 from $42 (versus an $81.30 close) at SVB Leerink.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) was up 1.6% at $345.50 after its strong July sales data. Citigroup reiterated Costco as Neutral but raised its target price to $345 from $310.

Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) closed up 8.7% at $74.99 on Wednesday. H.C. Wainwright reiterated it as Buy and raised its target to $100 from $48.

Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $160 price target at Roth Capital. KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated it as Overweight and raised its target to $150 from $115, while Needham reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target from $130 to $150.

HubSpot Inc. (NYSE: HUBS) was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $328 from $286 (versus a $237.80 close) at Citigroup. Its target was raised to $300 from $200, and it was reiterated as Overweight at Piper Sandler

IMAX Corp. (NASDAQ: IMAX) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that the movie theater business has been completely shut down by the outbreak. Shares last closed at $11.90 and have a consensus price target of $16.05.

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight with a $42 price target (versus a $34.10 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Kraft Heinz Co. (NASDAQ: KHC) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that the big food companies are benefitting from shifting consumer behavior during lockdowns. Shares most recently closed at $34.78 and have a consensus price target of $36.10.

Mallinckrodt PLC (NYSE: MNK) was reiterated as Sell and its price target was cut to $1 from $2 at Citigroup. Shares closed down 5% at $1.54 on Wednesday and were indicated down another 5.8% at $1.45 on Thursday.

Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) was reiterated as Market Perform and its target price was trimmed to $60 from $65 (versus a $75.80 close) at SVB Leerink.

Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) closed up just over 10% at $173.49 on Wednesday after positive COVID-19 study data. H.C. Wainwright reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $190 from $132.00.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) was reiterated as Neutral and its price target was raised to $635 from $585 (versus a $624.52 close) at Citigroup.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: RIGL) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $8 from $7 (versus a $2.52 close) at Citigroup. It had a $7.33 consensus target price ahead of the call, but its market cap is just $425 million.

Roku Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) was reiterated as Buy at Benchmark and its target was raised to $185 from $180. Needham reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $190 from $150, and Rosenblatt reiterated it as Buy and raised its target to $195 from $190.

Square Inc. (NYSE: SQ) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $140 target price at Compass Point. Rosenblatt reiterated it as Buy and raised its target to $181 from $136, and KeyBanc reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its price target from $140 to $165.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight with a $13 price target at Barclays.

Wayfair Inc. (NYSE: W) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight with a $320 price target (versus a $300.94 close) at Barclays.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) was last seen down 12% at $39.10 on Thursday morning after earnings and guidance. Benchmark maintained it as Buy but cut its target price to $52 from $60.

Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $26 from $24 (versus a $21.29 close) at Citigroup.

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $12 from $11 (versus a $10.07 close) at KeyBanc Capital markets.

With more calls for $3,000 gold and much higher silver prices, some of the gold-mining stocks have huge upside if this ride goes into blastoff mode.

Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Activision Blizzard, AON, Enphase Energy, Monster Beverage, New Relic, Novavax, Paycom, Walt Disney and Wynn Resorts.

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