Stocks closed higher on Tuesday’s reports of positive stimulus talks, but Wednesday’s early gains were small enough that no direction was clearly set. Though many investors missed out on the recovery since late March, many key leadership stocks have pulled back from their highs to more attractive entry points.

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 Wednesday, October 21, 2020.

Advance Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $175 target price (versus a $153.02 prior close) at Raymond James.

Akoustis Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that this little 5G upstart soon will have to compete against the big dogs like Broadcom and Qorvo. Shares last closed at $7.90 and have a consensus price target of $10.83.

Albemarle Corp. (NYSE: ALB) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $121 target price (versus a $93.56 prior close) at HSBC Securities.

Albertsons Companies Inc. (NYSE: ACI) was up almost 6% at $15.22 a share after earnings on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reiterated its Equal Weight rating and raised its target price to $16 from $15.

Avaya Holdings Corp. (NYSE: AVYA) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $22 from $18 (versus a $19.06 prior close) at Morgan Stanley.

Camden Property Trust (NYSE: CPT) was started as Overweight at Wells Fargo.

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: PLAY) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform and its target price was raised to $25 from $20 at Raymond James. The stock closed up over 8% at $18.79 a share on Tuesday and was indicated up another 3% at $19.35 ahead of Wednesday’s open.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) was reiterated as Market Perform and its target price was raised to $61 from $59 (versus a $54.20 prior close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Hexcel Corp. (NYSE: HXL) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) stock was down 1% at $525.42 a share ahead of earnings, but it was indicated down more than 5% at $497.75 after the company fell short of subscriber addition expectations. Morgan Stanley reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target price to $640 from $630. BMO Capital Markets reiterated Netflix as Outperform and boosted its target price from $625 to $700.

Oshkosh Corp. (NYSE: OSK) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.

Quidel Corp. (NASDAQ: QDEL) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said rapid COVID-19 tests that also screen influenza A+B have vaulted sales and profit growth by 200% to 400%. Shares most recently closed at $249.49 and have a consensus price target of $279.00.

Slack Technologies Inc. (NYSE: WORK) stock was down 4.47% at $30.81 a share on Tuesday and was indicated down almost 5.5% more at $29.15 on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley downgraded it from Equal Weight to Underweight with a $27 target price.

Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) stock closed down 0.7% at $28.45 a share ahead of earnings, but it traded up more than 20% at $34.28 after exceeding expectations. Rosenblatt reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target price to $50 from $30. Truist Securities raised it to Buy from Hold and set a target price of $43.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) stock closed up seven cents at $150.83 a share ahead of earnings, and its shares were indicated up marginally at $151.00 after beating expectations. Rosenblatt reiterated it as Buy and raised its target price to $175 from $160.

Goldman Sachs sees two top Permian stocks as potential takeover targets in the wake of the huge ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) purchase of Concho Resources Inc. (NYSE: CXO).

Thirteen stocks seriously ought to announce stock splits this earnings season.

Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included American Electric Power, Apache, AT&T, ConocoPhillips, Bluebird Bio, Fortinet, Intel, IBM, Kinder Morgan, New Residential Investment, Snap and Verizon.

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