The Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ managed to all hold their massive post-election gains from Wednesday on Thursday, but Friday’s index indications were mixed and no direction seemed set for the day early on. A new regime is coming and many investors and traders alike are trying to figure out how to position their portfolios for 2025. This is where Wall Street research can come into play.
There is a little dilemma here in looking for positioning. Stocks are at all-time highs, longer-dated bond yields have risen rather than come down, and now more rate cuts are looking muted. Perhaps Wall Street’s top market pundits have some insights to share.
Oggonomics searches the daily flow of analyst research reports covering the upgrades, downgrades and initiations from Wall Street looking for new ideas. These analyst calls tend to look a year out into the future and often have new ideas that might have otherwise been overlooked or missed.
Some analyst calls are just reactionary to earnings and other news, but some analyst calls are preemptive and can move stocks. Short-term traders get a glimpse of immediate price reactions to news and to the analyst calls. Long-term investors get a picture of new buy, sell and hold ratings with targets looking a year out.
Oggonomics always reminds investors and its readers that no single analyst report should ever be the sole basis to buy or sell a stock. That decision to buy or sell, or hold or short sell, is up to each investor and the decision should be made with a financial advisor. And there are of course no assurances that any of the price predictions and the scenarios that back the calls up will actually come to fruition.
Keep in mind that there has been a massive reaction in sectors since the election, but despite yesterday’s rate cut there may be bad news about the pace of rate cuts ahead.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from Friday, November 8, 2024.
ADTRAN Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTN) was reiterated as Buy by Needham and its price target was raised to $11 from $8. ADTRAN closed up over 19% at $7.55 on Thursday.
Alarm.Com Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALRM) was maintained as Neutral and its price target was raised to $67 from $64 (versus $57.14 prior close) at Goldman Sachs.
AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ: APP) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and its price target was raised to $280 from $80 at Daiwa. AppLovin closed up 46% at $246.53 in the post-earnings reaction.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its price target was raised to $54 from $46 at Citigroup. BofA closed down 1.4% at $44.77 on Thursday after profit taking from Wednesday post-election gain.
BioNTech SE (NASDAQ: BNTX) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its price target was raised to $137 from $90 (versus $107.88 prior close) at Goldman Sachs.
Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral and the price target was slashed to $98 from $150 at Piper Sandler. Celanese closed down 2.9% at $89.72 ahead of this call.
Cytokinetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CYTK) was started as Outperform with its price target at $80 (versus $55.84 prior close) at RBC Capital Markets.
Enlink Midstream, LLC (NYSE: ENLC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.
Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and its price target was slashed to $81 from $154 (versus $71.59 prior close) at HSBC.
Evolent Health, Inc. (NYSE: EVH) closed down 0.8% at $24.57 ahead of earnings and was last seen down 36% at $15.70 in the post-earnings reaction after missing expectations. Evolent Health was downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight with a $16 price target at Stephens.
Inhibikase Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: IKT) was initiated with a Buy rating and assigned an $8 price target (versus $2.77 prior close) at Jefferies.
Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. (NYSE: IIPR) was raised to Buy from Neutral Compass Point and given a $125 price target. Innovative Industrial Properties was raised to Buy from Neutral with an unchanged $125 price target at Compass Point.
Installed Building Products, Inc. (NYSE: IBP) was downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform and the price target was trimmed down to $197 from $203 at RBC Capital Markets.
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LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: LZ) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral and its price target was maintained at $8 (versus $9.22 prior close, after a 13% gain) at JPMorgan.
MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ: MELI) fell 16% to $1,774.05 after its earnings reaction knocked off about $17 billion from its market cap as its profit missed expectations. MercadoLibre was maintained as Buy but its target was cut to $2200 from $2250 at BTIG. Cantor Fitzgerald maintained its Buy rating but lowered its target to $2300 from $2530 on MercadoLibre.
Orthofix Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: OFIX) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $24 from $18 at Stifel. Orthofix closed down 1% at $18.22 ahead of the call.
Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE: PINS) was last seen down 12.6% at $29.65 after earnings and revenue growth were met with high spending projections for the holiday quarter. Pinterest was maintained as Outperform at RW Baird but the firm trimmed its price target down to $36 from $41 in the call. Piper Sandler maintained its Overweight rating but cut its Pinterest target down to $41 from $45 in the call. Pinterest was maintained as Neutral but its target was cut down to $35 from $38 at JPMorgan.
Planet Fitness, Inc. (NYSE: PLNT) was reiterated with an Outperform rating and its price target raised to $110 from $92 at R.W. Baird. Planet Fitness was also downgraded to Neutral from Outperform but with its price target raised to $99 from $91 at Macquarie. After rising 11.2% to $94.17 on Thursday it was indicated down 1% at $93.20 on Friday.
Pyxis Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYXS) was started with an Overweight rating at Stephens and it was assigned $13 target in the call. Pyxis Oncology closed down 1.99% at $3.94 ahead of the call.
Rivian Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: RIVN) was maintained as Outperform and its target was cut to $18 from $20 a RW Baird, and Needham maintained its Buy rating while cutting its target to $14 from $18. Piper Sandler maintained its Overweight rating but trimmed its target down to $19 from $21. BofA Securities downgraded Rivian to Neutral from Buy and lowered its price objective to $13 from $20. Rivian closed up 3.5% at $10.05 on Thursday and was indicated up a cent at $10.06 early on Friday.
Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK) was reiterated as Outperform and its target was raised to $290 from $280 (versus a $277.09 prior close) at RW Baird.
Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE: SG) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $40 price target at Goldman Sachs. Sweetgreen closed up 1.3% at $42.20 on Thursday ahead of earnings but its shares were indicated down 16% at $35.40 after missing expectations.
Tapestry, Inc. (NYSE: TPR) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $58 from $53 (versus $51.55 prior close) at RW Goldman Sachs.
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The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTD) had risen more than 10% in just two days ahead of the earnings report, but lofty valuations took shares down about 10% to $119.50 in the after-hours reaction as “otherwise solid” results failed to meet high expectations. RW Baird reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $140 from $130. Piper Sandler reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $140 from $110. Wedbush Securities reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $135 from $115 on Trade Desk. UBS reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $150 from $140.
Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UAA) was reiterates with a Neutral rating at RW Baird but it saw its price target raised to $10 from $8 in the call. Under Armour closed up 27% at $11.13 on Thursday’s raised guidance and turnaround plan. Under Armour was maintained as Underweight and its $4 price target was unchanged at Morgan Stanley.
Unity Software Inc. (NYSE: U) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $26 from $23 (versus $22.10 prior close) at Needham.
Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: UPST) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and its price target was raised all the way up to $85 from $31 at Piper Sandler. Upstart closed up 2.7% at $55.47 on Thursday but Friday’s post-earnings reaction was up 17.8% at $65.35.
Warby Parker Inc. (NYSE: WRBY) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $23 from $18 (versus $19.31 prior close) at RW Baird.
Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING) was raised to Buy from Neutral but its price target was cut to $377 from $458 (versus $331.89 prior close) at Goldman Sachs. Wedbush Securities maintained its Outperform rating and $390 price target.
Zacks has its analyst calls out as well. The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) was named the Bear of the Day at Zacks, noting that it could be best to avoid Hershey’s based on weaker snacking demand and high cocoa prices adding dual pressure points. Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) was named the Bull of the Day at Zacks, with the firm noting that the retail giant is making significant progress in addressing inventory concerns and that its stock appears to be at a positive inflection point for long-term investors.
In case you missed Thursday’s top analyst calls, they were in shares of AppLovin, Crocs, Devon, Ford, KeyCorp, Palantir; and it shows just how many solar stocks were gutted by Wall Street.
