Stocks were mixed on Wednesday with the NASDAQ trying to rebound for a second day while the Dow and S&P were both marginally lower. Oggonomics is continually looking for new ideas and research for long-term investors and short-term traders alike. Wall Street’s daily flow of analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations can be a strong source for some of those new ideas.
Many analyst calls are “strategic bull” calls by nature. Other analyst calls may seem more permanent as analysts can maintain the same rating for years in many cases. Many analysts feature stocks to buy daily but some calls also offer ideas for stocks to sell or stocks to avoid.
Investors should always keep in mind that no analyst call should act as the sole reason to buy or sell a stock. These daily analyst calls and the impact from the calls also help to enforce one of the Oggonomics mantras that the so-called Efficient Market Hypothesis is not all that efficient in its assumptions.
Here are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations for Wednesday, June 26, 2024.
AGCO Corp. (NYSE: AGCO) was started as Neutral with a $108 price target at Citi.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was reiterated as Buy and the price objective was raised to $220 from $210 at BofA Securities. Amazon was also listed as a top pick among the large cap stocks with more efficiencies and higher margins ahead.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $260 from $196 at Rosenblatt. Apple is expected to have a much larger iPhone upgrade cycle in 2024/25 and shares closed at $209.07 ahead of the call.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $380 price target (versus $327.40 prior close) at Citi. Caterpillar’s 52-week range is $223.76 to $382.01 and it is among the top buyback stocks of 2024.
Couchbase, Inc. (NASDAQ: BASE) was started with a Buy rating and $22 price target at Needham & Co. Couchbase previously closed at $17.50 and it has a 52-week range of $13.97 to $32.00.
Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) was started as Neutral with a $395 price target at Citi.
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform and its price target was raised to $170 from $144 at BMO Capital Markets. On top of its strong balance sheet, the firm cited strong demand and rising prices helping to boost funds from operations for several years. Digital Realty closed at $146.44 ahead of the call.
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FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) was last seen surging by 14% to $293.00 after earnings and guidance have been followed by analyst upgrades and price target hikes. JPMorgan raised its rating to Overweight from Neutral and raised its price target to $359 from $296. Wells Fargo kept its Equal Weight rating but raised its target to $300 from $275. Morgan Stanley kept its Equal Weight rating but still raised its target to $215 from $210. TD Cowen reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $335 from $320, and Stifel reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $327 from $303.
The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral and its price target was raised to $395 from $352 at D.A. Davidson. This call is versus a $338.32 prior close, noting shares are down 19% from the 2021 high and down 15% from the 52-week high despite relative highs in the Dow and S&P500. More importantly, D.A. Davidson noted that industry trends and comparable sales are no longer deteriorating, and with a lower-rate environment as the next cycle comparable sales and margins have stabilized and can improve.
Repligen Corporation (NASDAQ: RGEN) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank, but the target was cut to $155 from $180.
Rivian Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: RIVN) was maintained as Hold at Truist Securities after VW’s huge investment and investor day, but the firm raised its price target to $13 from $10. Rivian shares were last seen up just over 30% at $16.00 after a prior $11.96 close, but the stock was up over 40% in the after-hours trading session after the news broke. Rivian’s 52-week range is $8.26 to $28.06.
Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOD) was raised to Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe Research, with a $29 price target. The call is after a CFO meeting makes the firm more optimistic for Robinhood’s earnings growth ahead. Shares of Robinhood were last seen up almost 3% at $22.75 with a 52-week range of $7.91 to $24.28.
Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citi.
Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE: TRGP) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $140 price target at Argus. Targa was last seen trading at $128.00 and its 52-week range is $72.35 to $130.23.
United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $745 price target at Citi. United Rentals closed at $640.45 ahead of the call with a 52-week range of $387.01 to $732.37.
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In case you missed Tuesday’s top analyst calls, they were in shares of Alnylam, Comcast, eBay, Gap, NVIDIA, Walt Disney, Zeta and many more stocks.
