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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, Baidu, Boeing, Delta, Disney, L3Harris, Moderna, Raytheon, Roku and More

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The S&P 500 had been setting new all-time highs, but last week brought a major interruption to those gains. Tuesday’s futures indications were positive in the very early hours, but more pressure was seen and the indexes were indicated to open down over 1%, with a drag on tech being seen the most. Many investors missed the recovery as the recession forced them out of the market, and those all-time highs remain puzzling to much of Main Street. 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 Tuesday, September 8, 2020.

Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK) was started as Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) was started as Buy and a $170 target price at Citigroup. Shares closed down 1.9% at $122.83 on Friday, with a $166 consensus target price.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Outperform with a $150 price target (versus a $120.96 prior close) at Wedbush Securities. The firm’s call comes after channel checks offer further confidence into the coming iPhone supercycle thesis with pent up demand. Apple was indicated down over 5% at $114.10 a share on Tuesday, with a $114.82 consensus target price.

AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $1,425 price target at Atlantic Equities.

Avis Budget Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CAR) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that the near-term outlook remains rough and the company might face a bumpy road ahead. Shares last closed at $34.87 and have a consensus price target of $39.00.

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight and its price target was lowered to $130 from $140 at Morgan Stanley.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was started as Underweight with a $181 target price at Morgan Stanley. Boeing closed up 1.3% at $171.05 on Friday and was indicated down 2.7% at $166.37 on Tuesday. Its consensus target price was $174.64.

Camping World Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CWH) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and its target price was raised to $40 from $30 at JPMorgan. Shares closed down 1.4% at $30.47 on Friday, with a $38.00 consensus target price.

Carrier Global Corp. (NYSE: CARR) was started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

CureVac N.V. (NASDAQ: CVAC) was started as Hold with a $58 price target (versus a $63.45 close) at Jefferies.


Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: PLAY) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $28 target price (versus an $18.85 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) was started as Overweight with a $50 price target at Morgan Stanley.

General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) was started as Underweight and a $163 price target at Morgan Stanley.

JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) was started as Overweight with a $16 price target (versus a $12.13 close) at Morgan Stanley.

L3Harris Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LHX) was started as Overweight with a $248 price target (versus a $181.73 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform and its target price was cut to $41 from $58 at SVB Leerink. The stock closed down 3.45% at $62.60 and was indicated down another 7.8% at $57.70 on Tuesday morning.

Molecular Templates Inc. (NASDAQ: MTEM) was started with a Buy rating and a $21 target price (versus a $10.07 prior close) at Jefferies.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) was downgraded to Market Perform from Strong Buy at Raymond James.

PagSeguro Digital Ltd. (NASDAQ: PAGS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and its target price was lowered to $42 from $47 (versus a $39.12 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Raytheon Technologies Corp. (NYSE: RTX) was started as Overweight with an $89 price target (versus a $61.17 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Roku Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) was started with an Overweight rating with a $215 price target (versus a $159.91 close) at Wells Fargo.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) was started as Overweight with a $54 price target (versus a $39.39 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) was started as Overweight with a $45 price target (versus a $39.94 close) at Morgan Stanley.

United Airlines Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL) was started as Underweight and was given a $37 target price (versus a $38.21 close) at Morgan Stanley

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank, mostly based on the addition of the global streaming entertainment aspects of its business.

Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that it was expanding well before the pandemic that highlighted the utility of its offerings. Shares closed most recently at $369.89 and have a consensus price target of $401.71.


Goldman Sachs has 10 reasons the bull market can continue to run higher, although perhaps not in a straight line.

Friday’s top analyst calls included Akebia Therapeutics, Broadcom, DocuSign, Lululemon Athletica, NextEra Energy, Overstock.com, Shopify and Wayfair.

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