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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AGCO, Ambarella, BofA, Beyond Meat, Chipotle, Costco, CrowdStrike, Eli Lilly, JPMorgan, MongoDB, SmartSheet, Whiting and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: September 3, 2020 9:08 am

Last Updated: September 3, 2020 9:29 am

The S&P 500 has continued to surge to new all-time highs, but stocks were taking a bit of a breather on Thursday before the lower weekly jobless claims added some support to the market. 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 with a goal of finding new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls 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 Thursday, September 3, 2020.

AGCO Corp. (NYSE: AGCO) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $91 price objective (versus a $73.81 prior close) at BofA Securities.

Ambarella Inc. (NASDAQ: AMBA) was reiterated as Buy and Needham and its target was raised to $63 from $55. Rosenblatt also reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $62 from $60. The stock closed down 3.1% at $55.90 ahead of earnings, and it was indicated down almost 4% at $53.70 afterward.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was raised to Buy from Hold and its target was raised to $29 from $27 at Deutsche Bank. Shares closed up 1.2% at $26.02 on Wednesday, with a $28.53 consensus target price.

Beyond Meat Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND) was started as Outperform with a $160 target price (versus a $129.70 prior close) at Robert W. Baird.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $1,514 from $1,450 at Piper Sandler. The stock closed up 0.5% at $1,379.03 on Wednesday, but it is one of 13 additional stock splits that need to happen after Apple and Tesla.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) was reiterated as Outperform and its target was raised to $400 from $380 at Oppenheimer.

Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that share price and earnings estimates for this footwear retailer are heading in the right direction. Shares most recently closed at $41.17 and have a consensus price target of $45.44.

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWD) was down 1.1% at $142.07 ahead of earnings, but despite beating expectations, its stock price was down almost 11% at $126.51 after the report on profit-taking. Needham reiterated it as Buy and raised its target price to $170 from $120. Oppenheimer reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $140 from $110, and JMP Securities maintained it as Market Perform and raised its target to $160 from $130.

Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $176 target price (versus a $149.55 close) at Morgan Stanley.

eGain Corp. (NASDAQ: EGAN) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $16 from $11 (versus a $13.47 close) at Needham. Oppenheimer reiterated it as Outperform and raised its target price to $16 from $12. Shares closed down 4.1% at $13.47 ahead of earnings and were indicated down almost 9% at $12.29 on profit-taking ahead of Thursday’s open. The consensus target price was $12.80.

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $280 price target at Berenberg.

FirstCash Inc. (NASDAQ: FCFS) was raised to Outperform from Neutral but its price target was cut to $74 from $86 (versus a $60.81 close) at Credit Suisse.

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform and its target price was raised to $37 from $36 at RBC Capital Markets. The stock was up 3.1% at $29.14 on Wednesday, as utilities and defensives outperformed the darlings.

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that the coronavirus pandemic has dampened this medical stock’s earnings and outlook. Shares last closed at $364.53 and have a consensus price target of $347.86.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was raised to Buy from Hold and its target price was raised to $115 from $105 at Deutsche Bank. Shares closed up 1.5% at $101.65 on Wednesday, and the consensus target price was $115.04 ahead of this call.

MongoDB Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB) was down 4.4% at $239.53 ahead of earnings and was indicated up 2.3% at $245.00 ahead of Thursday’s opening bell. Needham reiterated it as Buy and raised its price target to $290 from $260. Oppenheimer reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target price to $275 from $240.

Smartsheet Inc. (NYSE: SMAR) was up 0.4% at $59.64 ahead of earnings but was last seen down 8% at $55.00 after the report. Oppenheimer reiterated it as Outperform and raised its price target to $65 from $56.

SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ: SIVB) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $297 from $260 (versus a $259.21 close) at Raymond James.

Whiting Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: WLL) is now trading as the post-bankruptcy Whiting, with old shareholders having roughly one share per 75 shares previously owned, and it closed at $17.45 on Wednesday. KeyBanc Capital Markets reinstated it as Overweight with a $25 price target.

Workhorse Group Inc. (NASDAQ: WKHS) was started as Outperform with a $23 price target at Oppenheimer. Shares closed down almost 6% at $18.94 on Wednesday and were down less than 0.5% on Thursday morning.

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Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included DraftKings, Lululemon Athletica, Nvidia, Peloton Interactive, Pinterest, Southwest Airlines and Zillow.