The stock market may have sold off this week, but it was after weeks of gains with the S&P 500 up more than 20% since early April’s panic-selling lows. The fresh USA credit rating downgrade is a concern, as is additional deficit spending on tact cuts being extended on top of a massive $37 trillion mountain of debt. Many investors missed out on the rally in recent weeks, and some feel the market was very overbought. Is the “Sell in May and Go Away” strategy right or should investors be looking for new ideas?
Oggonomics reviews the daily flow of Wall Street research each morning to hunt for some of those overlooked items and hidden gems that would have otherwise been missed. The effort in finding those new ideas is also for short-term traders and long-term investors alike. Many of these analyst calls are targeted directly at strategic investors who rotate their assets more than buy-and-hold investors.
From March all the way into May, the primary theme in research reports was “downgrade lite” calls. This is where analysts maintain their formal ratings but slash their price targets to reflect lower share prices or a slower economy. While the market is still seeing many analyst price target cuts, it is also starting to see more formal analyst upgrades and higher price targets now that stocks posted a major recovery.
Investors need to always keep in mind that no single analyst report should ever be the sole basis to buy or sell a stock. Analysts can get their thesis wrong just like the rest of us. And sometimes the market or a company’s fundamentals can change in the blink of an eye. Please read the disclaimer at the end of this reporting to read about additional investing risks.
Thursday’s key Buy and Outperform ratings with stronger upside projections than the typical 8% to 10% analyst projections are below.
The Cooper Companies , Inc. (NYSE: COO) was reiterated as Buy with a $104 price target at Citigroup , but what stood out more than just the $79 share price at present time was Citi issuing a “90 Day Positive Catalyst Watch” into Q2-2025 earnings after the recent pullback. Citi believes it has more reasonable expectations now. Cooper Companies closed down 2.6% at $79.37 ahead of this call and its 52-week range is $69.81 to $112.38. It was a $95 stock in January.
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWD) has recouped all of its mid-2024 losses and then some and was last seen up 2% at $444.00. BTIG reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $520 from $431. Stifel reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $480 from $435. Both calls are pre-earnings endorsements for earnings due in two weeks citing strong demand and positive performance.
Inogen, Inc. (NASDAQ: INGN) has been forgotten by many investors, but now a call from Needham is predicting a double-your-money move as it upgraded Inogen to Buy from Hold and it issued a $12 price target (versus $5.96 close). Needham sees its new management showing significant progress in a turnaround that the market is not giving any credit with its stock price down so much as undervalued. One issue is that revenue growth is coming back and may accelerate into 2026, with progress being made on margins and targeting a wider market in respiratory devices to drive new growth ahead.
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Philip Morris International, Inc. (NYSE: PM) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $195 price target at Needham, versus $174.00 at the present time. The call endorses PM’s transformation towards a smoke-free company, but also said it has solidified its dominance in both heated tobacco and nicotine pouches and sees a range of roughly 8% to 12% sustainable earnings growth. The stock price is already above the consensus price target of $173 and it has a 3% dividend yield.
Snowflake Inc. (NYSE: SNOW) closed down 2% at $179.12 ahead of earnings, but its stock was up over 8% at $193.50 early on Thursday after earnings and guidance pleased investors. Multiple firms are raising their price targets:
- Barclays (Overweight) target to $219 from $203
- Bernstein (Market Perform) target to $191 from $171
- BofA (Neutral) target to $220 from $172
- Loop Capital (Buy) target to $220 from $215
- Morgan Stanley (Equal-Weight) target to $200 from $185
- Needham ((Buy) target to $230 from $215
- Piper Sandler (Overweight) target to $215 from $175
- Rosebnblatt (Buy) target to $210 from $205
- Truist (Buy) target to $235 from $210
- UBS (Neutral) target to $210 from $200
- Wells Fargo (Overweight) target to $225 from $200
United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI) is seeing a day-two upgrade after a similar upgrade the prior day on the heels of its Specialty analyst day. KeyBanc Capital Markets upgraded United Rentals to Overweight from Sector Weight and with a $865 price target. Its 52-week range is $525.91 to $896.98 and its consensus analyst price target is $763.71.
Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) was down 2.8% at $59.60 ahead of earnings, but the strong report had shares up 19% at $71.00 on Thursday morning. Multiple firms raised their targets:
- BofA (Buy) target to $80 from $70
- BMO (Market Perform) target to $76 from $58
- JPMorgan upgrade to Overweight from Neutral, target to $78 from $63
- Morgan Stanley (Overweight) target to $77 from $62
- Wells Fargo (Equal Weight) target to $70 from $55
Wednesday’s top analyst picks highlighted 11 stocks to buy for upsized implied upside, and Wall Street also lined up behind 7 Blue Chips to Buy this week as well.
PLEASE NOTE: All analyst ratings and their price targets mentioned above were issued by each firm named in this summary. Their ratings and targets may differ greatly from firm to firm on Wall Street. Oggonomics does not issue any formal ratings and does not maintain any price targets of its own on these stocks. No analyst report, even those with very strong conviction, ever comes with any guarantees of profits and they never contain money-back guarantees in case you lose money.
