The S&P 500 has continued to surge to new all-time highs. Stocks were on pause and looking for direction on Wednesday as the indexes are starting to see some overbought readings now that all of the March panic-selling losses have been recovered (and then some). Many investors missed the recovery as the recession forced them out of the market. Investors also have been looking for new ideas for how to be positioned in the rest 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.
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 Wednesday, August 26, 2020.
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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $600 from $515 at Wedbush Securities.
Bridgestone Corp. (traded over the counter) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that some stocks recovered from the March lows but this stock was not one of them. Shares last closed at $15.57 and have a consensus price target of $37.14
Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSEARCA: LNG) was maintained as Buy but its price target was lowered to $74 from $80 (versus a $52.65 prior close) at Citigroup.
Children’s Place Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE) saw its shares fall 18.8% to $18.92 after earnings on Tuesday. Citigroup maintained its Neutral rating but slashed its price target to $20 from $46.
Discovery Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $28 from $27 (versus a $22.86 close) at Citigroup.
Envision Solar International Inc. (NASDAQ: EVSI) was started as Buy with a $25 price target (versus a $10.98 close) at BTIG. It had a $13 consensus price target before this call, and the prior street-high target price was $17.
International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE: IFF) was started as Outperform and a $150 price target (versus a $122.88 close) at Robert W. Baird.
Livent Corp. (NYSE: LTHM) was started with a Strong Buy rating and a $9 price target (versus a $7.63 close) at Raymond James. It had a $7.31 consensus price target ahead of the call.
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Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT) was reiterated as Buy but its target price was trimmed to $49 from $50 at Citigroup. Shares closed at $29.10 on Tuesday and have a $40.71 consensus target price.
Medtronic PLC (NYSE: MDT) was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $120 from $108 (versus a $102.59 close) at Citigroup.
Nikola Corp. (NASDAQ: NKLA) was started with a Neutral rating and a $45 target price (versus a $39.18 close) at Wedbush Securities.
Nio Ltd. (NYSE: NIO) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and its target price was raised to $20.50 from $12.00 (versus a $17.84 close) at Morgan Stanley.
Roku Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) was started as Buy with a $180 price target at Citigroup. The stock closed down 0.55% at $147.77, and it had a $163.90 consensus target price ahead of this call.
Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) saw its shares surge 15% to $247.00 after earnings. Wedbush Securities reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $300 from $250, and Raymond James reiterated its Strong Buy rating and raised its target to $255 from $230. Citigroup reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $300 from $195. Truist Securities reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $287 from $210.
Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP) was started with an Overweight rating at Atlantic Equities. The stock closed up 3.8% at $1,037.19, and it had a $1,094.83 consensus price target ahead of the call.
Target Inc. (NYSE: TGT) was again named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that shares have jumped 25% in the past month as Wall Street gushes over its recent blowout quarter. Shares most recently closed at $152.85 and have a consensus price target of $158.73.
Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) was maintained as Buy but its price target was trimmed to $40 from $41 (versus a $31.19 close) at Citigroup.
Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) was maintained as Neutral and its price target was raised to $24 from $20 at Citigroup, and Loop Capital Raised its rating from Sell to Hold with a $24 target price.
Vroom Inc. (NASDAQ: VRM) was started as Overweight with an $82 target price (versus $65.36 prior close) at Piper Sandler.
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In addition, note that five very contrarian stock picks have huge potential upside in 2021.
And note that the two most shorted Dow stocks are about to drop out of the index.
Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Crocs, Gap, GW Pharmaceuticals, Lowe’s Companies, Merck, Nio, Palo Alto Networks, Phillips 66, Starbucks and Vital Farms.
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