U.S. stocks were indicated higher on Thursday despite NVIDIA trading lower after earnings. With the Dow having hit all-time highs this week, and with the S&P 500 and NASDAQ having pulled back mildly, long-term investors and short-term traders alike are looking for new ideas ahead of the coming interest rate cuts. Oggonomics is continually on the hunt for some of those new ideas inside the daily flow of Wall Street research reports.
Every morning’s new analyst upgrades and downgrades can one of the sources for finding new ideas that might have otherwise been overlooked or missed. Long-term investors get a picture of new buy, sell and hold ratings. Traders get a glimpse of how the short-term moves are looking.
Oggonomics would remind its readers and all investors that no single analyst report should ever be used as the sole reason to buy or sell a stock. That decision to buy, sell or hold ultimately needs to be made by each investor along with their financial advisor.
These are some of the top analyst upgrades and downgrades seen on Thursday, August 29, 2024.
Affirm Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: AFRM) was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $42 from $36 (versus $31.58 prior close) at BofA Securities. Affirm was indicated up over 20% at $38.50 early on Thursday after a strong earnings report.
Bath & Body Works Inc. (NYSE: BBWI) was maintained as Outperform but its price target as cut to $45 from $54 at R.W. Baird. Barclays reiterated its Equal-Weight rating and cut its price target to $31 from $32. UBS maintained its Neutral rating while cutting its price target down to $38 from $52. Bath & Body Works shares had closed down 7% at $32.29 after earnings.
Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) close down 1.2% at $87.79 ahead of earnings but Thursday’s early post-earnings indication was up 7% at $94.00 in early trading. Best Buy had been reiterated as Underperform just before the report.
Bioventus Inc. (NYSE: BVS) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, with the firm already having a Strong Buy rating for its growth and consistent beat on earnings.
CAVA Group, Inc. (NYSE: CAVA) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight but its price target was raised to $110 from $90 at Morgan Stanley. CAVA Group shares closed at $118.44 ahead of the call.
Chewy, Inc. (NYSE: CHWY) was maintained as Underperform but its price target was raised to $24 from $20 at BofA Securities. Chewy had closed up 11% at $28.72 a day earlier after better than expected earnings.
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWD) closed down 2.1% at $264.20 ahead of earnings and was indicated down another 1.8% at $259.35 after the earnings report. UBS maintained its Buy rating but lowered its target to $310 from $330 in its call. R.W. Baird maintained its Outperform rating but cut its target down to $315 from $335. Needham & Co. maintained its Buy rating but trimmed its price target to $350 from $375 in the call. Rosenblatt maintained its Buy rating but cut its target down to $325 from $330.
Equinor ASA (NYSE: EQNR) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Eni SpA (NYSE: E) was raised to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley and its ADS price target was maintained as $39.60 for the Italian oil and gas leader.
Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KKS) was maintained as Outperform but its price target was cut to $25 from $27 at R.W. Baird. Kohl’s closed at $19.65 and was indicated down 2.7% at $19.12 on mixed revenue and earnings guidance.
Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: NBIX) had fallen almost 19% to $123.76 on Wednesday after mixed schizophrenia drug data. Neurocrine Biosciences was raised to Overweight and its price target was raised to $159 from $131 at Piper Sandler after the weakness was said to present a new buying opportunity in that analyst report. BMO Capital Markets maintained its Market Perform rating and lowered its price target to $128 from $142.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) closed down 2.1% at $125.61 ahead of earnings and was last seen trading down about 4% at $120.75 in the post-earnings reaction. BofA Securities reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price objective to $165 from $150. Needham & Co. reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $145 from $120. Raymond James reiterated its Strong Buy and raised its target to $140 from $120. Mizuho reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $140 from $132. Argus reiterated its Buy rating with a $150 price target on and said NVIDIA remains its Top Pick in semiconductors.
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Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ: OKTA) took a double-downgrade from BofA Securities with the rating cut to Underperform from Buy and its price objective was slashed to $75 from $135 as headwinds in guidance were called “too big to ignore” in the call. After closing at $96.54 ahead of earnings, Okta was indicated down 12% at $84.50 after the earnings reaction. UBS maintained its Buy rating but cut its target to $108 from $120. Wells Fargo maintained its Weight rating but lowered its target to $90 from $100. R.W. Baird maintained its Outperform rating but trimmed its target down to $105 from $108.
Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ: PDCO) saw its shares drop 12.5% to $22.48 on Wednesday’s post-earnings reaction. Evercore ISI maintained its In-Line rating but lowered its target price to $23 from $25 in the post-earnings report. Patterson was maintained as Neutral but its price target was cut to $28 from $30 at R.W. Baird. BofA Securities maintained its Buy rating but cut its price objective to $29 from $31.
Pool Corporation (NASDAQ: POOL) was named as the Bear of the Day at Zacks after it already had a Strong Sell rating. Zacks noted that the pool services leader is seeing estimates continue to drop even with the outlook for interest rates to fall.
Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE: PSTG) was maintained as Buy but its price target was cut to $62 from $80 (versus $59.76 prior close) at Needham & Co. Pure Storage was last seen down almost 14% at $51.50 in its post-earnings reaction. UBS reiterated its Sell rating and cut its price target to $45 from $47.
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) closed down 2% at $258.90 but the shares were indicated up 4.4% at $270.30 after strong earnings and after news of its CFO will be leaving the company after a successor is found. Salesforce was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $325 from $315 at BofA Securities. Morgan Stanley reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $330 from $320. UBS maintained its Neutral rating but raised its target to $275 from $250. Wells Fargo reiterated an Equal-Weight rating but raised its target to $275 from $250. R.W. Baird reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $315 from $295. Loop Capital maintained its Hold rating but raised its target to $270 from $240.
Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE: SPOT) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $460 from $420 (versus $337.56 prior close) at Evercore ISI.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was started with a Buy rating at William Blair, but no price target was seen in the call based on its energy storage business. Tesla closed down 1.6% at $205.75 on Wednesday and was indicated up almost 1% at $207.67 in Thursday’s early indications.
Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE: VEEV) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $230 from $225 (versus $199.35 prior close) at Piper Sandler. Veeva Systems was indicated up almost 5% at $209.25 on Thursday morning’s post-earnings reaction.
If you missed Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in Albermarle, Box, Illumina, MercadoLibre, Moderna, PDD, Ulta and over a dozen more stocks.
