Stocks were indicated to open higher on Monday, as the S&P 500 is close to its all-time highs again. Many investors feel as though they missed the ride higher, as the recession forced many out of the market, whether they wanted to stay in or not. Investors also 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, daily analyst calls have basically normalized, with fewer extreme target changes. 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 Monday, August 17, 2020.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $242 from $240 (versus a $253.95 prior close) at Truist Securities. The firm noted that sales data suggests online sales growth of physical goods year over year has accelerated through June.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $75 from $62 (versus a $67.62 close) at Citigroup.

Angi Homeservices Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that this is a well-positioned company for the new normal with its leading online services offerings. Shares most closed at $13.13 and have a consensus price target of $16.32.

aTyr Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: ATYR) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $13 target (versus a $3.81 close) at H.C. Wainwright.

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was reiterated as Equal Weight but its target price was lowered to $130 from $136 at Barclays. KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated it as Overweight and raised its price target to $155 from $145.

BP PLC (NYSE: BP) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and its price target was raised to $31 from $28 at Piper Sandler.

Brinker International (NYSE: EAT) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $46 target price at Deutsche Bank.

Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and its target price was raised to $41 from $37 (versus a $33.64 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods. The consensus price target was $40.91.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: CHRW) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Sandler.

Children’s Place Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that this is yet another product of the quickly escalating retail apocalypse. Shares last closed at $27.78 and have a consensus price target of $41.30.

CNX Resources Corp. (NYSE: CNX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at MKM Partners.

Cogent Communications Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CCOI) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Moffett Nathanson.

j2 Global Inc. (NASDAQ: JCOM) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its target was raised to $90 from $87 (versus a $70.20 close) at Citigroup.

Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. (NASDAQ: MGIC) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its price target was raised to $17 from $8.50 (versus a $14.68 close) at H.C. Wainwright.

Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR) was reiterated as Overweight and its target price was raised to $108 from $105 (versus a $96.01 close) at Barclays. The consensus target price is $99.57.

Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $510 from $430 at Wells Fargo. Susquehanna reiterated its Positive rating and raised its target from $450 to $540, a new street-high from the sell-side research firms.

Overstock.com Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK) was started as Overweight with a $140 target price (versus a $93.36 close) at Piper Sandler. It had a $103 consensus target price, and its 52-week trading range is $2.53 to $112.62.

Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $130 from $118 (versus a $110.73 close) at Citigroup.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was maintained as Neutral but its price target was raised to $1,900 from $1,800 (versus a $1,650.71 close) at Wedbush Securities.

Teladoc Health Inc. (NYSE: TDOC) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and its target price was raised to $249 from $225 (versus a $187.50 close) at Credit Suisse.

TripAdvisor Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) was maintained as Equal Weight but its price target was raised to $24 from $22 (versus a $22.29 close) at Wells Fargo.

Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $220 price target (versus a $191.92 close) at Robert W. Baird.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) was maintained as Hold but its target price was raised to $25 from $22 (versus a $23.07 close) at Truist.

YETI Holdings Inc. (NYSE: YETI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $48 target price (versus a $49.38 close) at Berenberg.

Warren Buffett’s team just made big banking stock changes and his team bought a big stake in a major gold mining outfit, and Credit Suisse sees four gold miners heading much higher along with gold prices.

Jefferies has six stocks poised to win along with the economic recovery.

Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included AES, Applied Materials, Bloom Energy, Chimera Investment, Co-Diagnostics, FirstEnergy, Home Depot, Marriott, Target, Tesla and Walmart.

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