Stocks were indicated to open marginally lower on Friday, with better U.S. retail sales data offsetting weak economic data in China. Earnings season is winding down at the same time that the S&P 500 has tried to challenge its all-time high from February. Many investors missed the ride higher as the recession forced many out of the market, whether they wanted to stay in or not. Investors have been looking for new ideas for how to be positioned in the second half of 2020 and ahead of the election.

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.

Now that stocks have recovered so much, analyst calls have basically normalized, with fewer extreme target changes. Some calls are praising growth over value, and others are focused on base economy stocks that already have begun recovering. Remember that no single analyst call should ever be used as a basis to buy or sell a stock. Consensus analyst target data is from Refinitiv.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from Friday, August 14, 2020.

AES Corp. (NYSE: AES) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $19 from $18 at Morgan Stanley. Shares closed up 3% at $17.79 ahead of the call, with an $18.93 consensus price target.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) closed down 2.1% at $65.07 on Thursday, but its shares were up 3.8% at $65.07 after beating earnings and raising expectations. Morgan Stanley kept its Equal Weight rating but raised its price target to $72 from $60, and Mizuho reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $77 from $70. KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $81 from $76, and Needham reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target from $70 to $76.

Bloom Energy Corp. (NYSE: BE) closed up 9% at $14.41 on Thursday and was indicated up another 1% at $14.56 on Friday. Morgan Stanley reiterated it as Overweight and raised its target price to $21 from $20. The consensus price target was $15.57 ahead of the call.

Cadence Bancorp. (NYSE: CADE) was raised to Buy from Hold and its target price was raised to $14 from $9 (versus a $9.10 close) at Truist Securities.

Chimera Investment Corp. (NYSE: CIM) was reiterated as Outperform and its target price was trimmed to $10 from $11 (versus an $8.65 close) at RBC Capital Markets. The consensus target price was $9.38, and this real estate investment trust still has a yield handily above 10%.

China Mobile Ltd. (NYSE: CHL) was reiterated as Buy at Nomura/Instinet.

Co-Diagnostics Inc. (NASDAQ: CODX) closed up 7.3% at $21.00 ahead of earnings, but the shares were last seen down 15% at $17.85 after the COVID-19 testing company posted lower than expected revenues. H.C. Wainwright maintained its Buy rating but lowered its price target to $33 from $35.

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) was maintained as Overweight at Morgan Stanley, but the firm did cut its target price to $40 from $43. The stock closed down 0.9% at $29.60 ahead of the call, and it had a $39.39 consensus price target.

Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: GO) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that investors smell a bargain as this company starts to grow. Shares most recently closed at $42.88 and have a consensus price target of $47.92.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) was started as Neutral with a $290 price target (versus a $281.66 close) at D.A. Davidson. It had a $274.28 consensus target price.

Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR) was raised to Buy from Hold and its target price was raised to $125 from $88 (versus a $96.50 close) at Jefferies.

PetIQ Inc. (NASDAQ: PETQ) was reiterated as Outperform but its target price was lowered to $43 from $44 (versus a $29.57 close) at Raymond James.

Sunoco L.P. (NYSE: SUN) was reiterated as Outperform and its target price was raised to $32 from $29 (versus a $25.68 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) was reiterated as Strong Buy and its target price was raised to $160 from $150 at Raymond James. Target closed at $134.81 a share ahead of this call, and it had a $132.84 consensus target price.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) closed up over 4% at $1,621.00 on Thursday, and its shares were up about 3% at $1,669.00 on Friday after two bearish analysts capitulated and gave up on their Sell-equivalent ratings. BofA Securities upgraded Tesla to Neutral from Underperform and raised the target price all the way up to $1,750 from $800. Morgan Stanley upgraded it to Equal Weight from Underweight and raised its price target to $1,350 from $1,050.

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was started as Buy with a $148 target price at D.A. Davidson. Walmart closed up 0.4% at $131.85, and it had a $138.71 consensus price target ahead of the call.

Wix.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: WIX) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that it is time for investors to take profits before reality sets in. Shares last closed at $278.47 and have a consensus price target of $331.28.

Goldman Sachs made a surprising energy addition to its Conviction List.

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Charter Communications, Cisco Systems, Deere, FedEx, Lyft, Micron Technology, Nvidia, Occidental Petroleum, Ping Identity and Voya Financial.

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