The S&P 500 has continued to surge to new all-time highs this week, and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has said he will keep interest rates incredibly low for a long period to promote higher inflation at or above the Fed’s 2% target. The Dow Jones industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were all higher on Friday. 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 Friday, August 28, 2020.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that the pandemic may have put the nails in the coffin for this seemingly dying movie theater giant. Shares last closed at $6.52 and have a consensus price target of $3.50.

American Water Works Co. Inc. (NYSE: AWK) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $142 price target at HSBC. Shares closed up 0.3% at $141.37 on Thursday, with a $144 consensus price target.

Bill.com Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BILL) was up almost 35 at $106.06 ahead of earnings but was indicated down over 3% at $102.60 afterward. KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated it as Overweight and raised the price target to $110 from $90. Piper Sandler reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $112 from $85, and Needham reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $120 from $110.

Brinker International Inc. (NYSE: EAT) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight with a $39 target price at Morgan Stanley. Shares closed up 2.8% at $40.30 on Thursday and have a $38.62 consensus target price.

Builders FirstSource Inc. (NASDAQ: BLDR) is merging with BMC Stock Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BMCH). On Thursday, we saw a 22% gain in BMC and an 8% gain in Builders FirstSource. Wedbush Securities reiterated Builders FirstSource as Outperform with a $36 price target. Deutsche Bank raised it to Buy from Hold with a $37 price target, and Barclays raised its rating to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $36 target price.

Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) closed up 0.5% at $62.43 ahead of earnings and was last seen up almost 3% at $64.25 afterward. RBC Capital Markets upgraded it to Outperform from Sector Perform and raised its price target to $80 from $48. Raymond James reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $69 from $54.

Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) was down 1.3% at $201.34 on Thursday, and shares were indicated up 0.6% at $202.75 on Friday. Morgan Stanley reiterated it as Overweight and raised its price target to $240 from $222, and Raymond James reiterated it as Strong Buy and the target was raised to $235 from $225.

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley, with the firm noting that much of the increased value in online gambling is valid but also that the stock has more than doubled this year and investor optimism may be too high. Shares closed at $39.06 apiece on Thursday and were indicated down 2.5% at $38.10 on Friday. The consensus target price was $46.45.

Dropbox Inc. (NASDAQ: DBX) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks yet again, which said that analysts have been driving up their estimates following excellent second-quarter results. Shares most recently closed at $20.31 and have a consensus price target of $28.11.

Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE: FRT) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral with an $84 price target (versus an $81.41 prior close) at JPMorgan.

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) rose 2% to $17.38 ahead of earnings, but it was up almost 4% at $18.05 in the after-hours trading session after reporting that its sales fell by less than expected. BofA Securities raised it to Neutral from Underperform with an $18 price objective.

HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) closed up 2% at $18.70 ahead of earnings, and it was indicated up 3.2% at $19.30 after the report. Morgan Stanley reiterated it as Equal Weight but raised the target to $20 from $17.

Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K) was started with a Buy rating and a $79 price target at Citigroup. Shares closed up 0.1% at $70.46 on Thursday, and they had a $71.39 consensus target price.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform with a $31 price target (versus a $35.91 close) at Cowen. Morgan Stanley reiterated it as Equal Weight and raised its target to $37 from $36, while Rosenblatt reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $50 from $42. Shares closed up over 0.8% at $35.91 ahead of earnings and were indicated up 1.1% at $36.30 afterward.

Maxeon Solar Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: MAXN) was started with a Neutral rating and an $18 target price (versus a $19.00 close) at Goldman Sachs.

NeoGenomics Inc. (NASDAQ: NEO) was started with a Buy rating and a $46 price target at Guggenheim. The stock closed down almost 3% at $37.72 on Thursday, with a $40.93 consensus target price.

Okta Inc. (NASDAQ: OKTA) was down 2.5% at $218.44 ahead of earnings, and its shares initially went down nearly another 4% to $210.00 in the after-hours. Goldman Sachs reiterated it as Buy and raised its target to $240 from $230, and Guggenheim reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $230 from $200. Mizuho maintained it as Neutral but still raised its target to $215 from $200.

ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $33 price target (versus a $27.04 close) at Seaport Global.

Penn National Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley, with the firm noting that much of the increased value in online gambling is valid but also that the stock has more than doubled this year and investor optimism may be too high. Shares closed at $55.14 on Thursday and were indicated down 2% at $53.99 on Friday. The consensus target price was $48.50.

Shutterstock Inc. (NYSE: SSTK) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $60 price target (versus a $48.29 close) at Truist Securities.

Surface Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ: SURF) was started with an Outperform rating and a $12 price target (versus a $5.31 close) at Wedbush.

Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ: ULTA) rose over 1% to $223.95 a share ahead of earnings, but the shares were up as much as 20% at $269.00 after earnings and revenues held up better than analysts had modeled in after such extended store closures. Oppenheimer reiterated it as Outperform and raised its target to $280 from $270, and Goldman Sachs reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $272 from $257. UBS reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target from $260 to $280.

Workday Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY) continued the trend of strong moves in enterprise cloud applications. The stock was up 1.4% at $216.63 ahead of earnings, and the after-hours reaction had it up over 11% at $242.00. Needham reiterated it as Buy and raised its price target to $260 from $200. Piper Sandler reiterated its Neutral rating but still raised its target to $248 from $181.

With the mega-cap tech giants going higher and higher, it may make sense now to take some profit and rotate to other tech stocks. Raymond James has four from its Analyst Favorites list that look like solid ideas now,

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Apache, Abbott Labs, Box, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Lululemon Athletica, NetApp, PayPal, Square, ViacomCBS and Visa.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.