Stocks closed up on Wednesday to end the third quarter, but September was still a down month. Stocks were indicated to open higher by about 0.8% on the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 as the fourth quarter starts. Many investors missed out on the recovery from late in March. Now many of the key leadership stocks are down significantly from their highs. With a tense election and a slowing recovery, this is the time for investors to be looking at new ideas in a period of zero interest rates.

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 seen on Thursday, October 1, 2020.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) was reiterated as Overweight and its target was raised to $330 from $295 at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Needham reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target from $275 to $330. The stock closed up 6% at $293.98 on Wednesday, and it has a $307.06 consensus target price.

Azul S.A. (NYSE: AZUL) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.

BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Catabasis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CATB) was started with a Buy rating and a $24 price target (versus a $6.19 prior close) at H.C. Wainwright. The stock was indicated up 8% at $6.70 on Thursday morning, and its market cap was only $118 million based on the most recent closing price.

Copa Holdings S.A. (NYSE: CPA) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) was upgraded to Buy from Hold and its price target was raised to $16 from $14 (versus a $9.57 close) at Truist Securities. The firm that the post-merger company is expected to have one of the most consistent future shareholder return plans in the sector.

Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) was started with a Sector Weight rating at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG) was started as a Buy with a $70 price target (versus a $58.84 close) at Needham.

Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) closed up 7.5% at $88.56 a share on Wednesday after news that NextEra had approached it about a potential merger. ScotiaBank downgraded Duke Energy to Sector Perform from Outperform.

Eaton Vance Corp. (NYSE: EV) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) was started with a Buy rating and a $93 price objective (versus an $82.59 close) at BofA Securities.

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. (NYSE: GOL) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Northcoast Research.

L3Harris Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LHX) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Meritage Homes Corp. (NYSE: MTH) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which ponders whether this is a golden era for the homebuilders. Shares most recently closed at $110.39 and have a consensus price target of $118.43.

Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Papa John’s International Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) was started with an Overweight rating and a $94 target price (versus an $82.28 close) at KeyBanc Capital markets.

SailPoint Technologies Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SAIL) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $50 target price (versus a $39.57 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Selecta Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: SELB) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair. Mizuho also downgraded the shares, from Buy to Neutral. The stock traded down over 40% at $1.45 after the company said it missed its primary endpoint in a gout study.

Snowflake Inc. (NYSE: SNOW) was started with a Hold rating and a $250 price target (versus a $251.00 close) at Jefferies.

Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral and its target price was cut to $37 from $48 (versus a $43.32 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Wanda Sports Group Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: WSG) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and its target price was cut to $2.50 from $5.50 (versus $2.32 prior close) at Citigroup.

Workday Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its price target was raised to $265 from $218 (versus a $215.13 close) at Citigroup.

Zillow Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ZG) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $115 from $108 (versus a $101.54 close) at Truist Securities. The stock closed up 0.1% at $101.54 a share ahead of the call and was indicated up another 1% at $102.55 on Thursday morning. The consensus price target was $91.80 ahead of the call.

As the COVID-19 pandemic changes the health care landscape, three real estate investment trusts appear to have limited downside and huge distribution yields.

Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Delta Air Lines, Hasbro, Illumina, Lululemon Athletica, Micron Technologies, Nike, Penn National, Shopify, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks and Zynga.

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