Stocks were mixed with no real direction on Monday despite more telegraphed stimulus coming out of China. Investors are now grappling with stocks at new records almost each week. The election is over, policy changes are coming, tariffs are being modeled into companies and sectors, and government spending cuts look likely. Investors need to be planning for how to be best positioned for 2025 as strategists have all raised their S&P 500 targets for 2025.

Tactical Bulls searches the daily flow of analyst research reports covering the upgrades, downgrades and initiations from Wall Street looking for new ideas that might have otherwise been overlooked or missed. These analyst reports generally try to look out a year out into the future with ratings and target prices.

Some analyst calls are just reactionary to earnings and other news. Other 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.

Tactical Bulls always reminds its readers and investors 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.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from brokerage firms and independent research firms on Monday, December 9, 2024.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and its price objective was cut to $155 from $180 (versus $138.59 close) at BofA Securities.

Amer Sports, Inc. (NYSE: AS) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $30 from $24 (versus $25.01 close) at Baird.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) was downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight but its price target was raised to $45 from $38 at Morgan Stanley.

Bentley Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BSY) was initiated as Neutral at JPMorgan.

BioAge Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIOA) was last seen trading down 71% at $5.70 after stopping its obesity trial on safety concerns. BioAge was cut to Hold from Buy with price target cut to $7 from $42 at Jefferies.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) was cut to Hold from Buy and its price target was cut to $180 from $250 (versus $157.78 close) at Jefferies.

Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA Securities.

Carvana Co. (NYSE: CVNA) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $330 from $300 (versus $251.21 close) at Needham.

Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (CBOE: CBOE) was downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight with a price target cut to $220 from $230 (versus $203.99 close) at Barclays.

The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) was raised to Overweight from Equal-Weight and it price target raised to $95 from $74 (versus $81.47 close) at Barclays.

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Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) was reiterated at Buy and its price target was raised to $420 from $375 (versus $343.62 close) at Needham.

Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) was raised to Neutral from Underweight with a price target hike to $420 from $355 (versus $379.60 close) at JPMorgan.

Hut 8 Corporation (NASDAQ: HUT) was initiated as Overweight with a $35 target price (versus $30.24 close) at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Jack in the Box, Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK) was called out as the Bear of the Day at Zacks as its stock is down 40% and estimates are coming down as sector woes continue in fast food.

JD.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: JD) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and its price target was raised to $46 from $43 (versus $37,.18 close) at Bernstein.

Kodiak Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: KOD) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $20 price target (versus $7.83 prior close) at Jefferies.

McCormick & Company (NYSE: MKC) was raised to Buy from Hold with a price target raise to $91 from $85 (versus $77.50 close) at Jefferies.

Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target cut to $21 from $30 (versus $15.13 close) at Leerink Partners.

Nokia Oyj (NYSE: NOK) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and its price target was raised to $6.35 from $4.35 at JP Morgan. Nokia closed down 1.6% at $4.24 ahead of the call and was indicated up 3% at $4.39 on Monday morning.

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a price target hike to $103 from $86 (versus $89.88 close) at BofA Securities.

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Payoneer Global Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYO) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $12 target (versus $10.95 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOD) was raised to Overweight from Equal-Weight and its price target was raised to $49 from $26 (versus $41.67 close) at Barclays. Needham reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $52 from $40.

SLM Corp. (NYSE: SLM) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform but its price target was raised to $30 from $27 (versus $26.57 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE: SMG) was initiated as Hold by Jefferies.

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE: FOUR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

SoFi Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFI) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $12 price objective maintained (versus $16.02 close) at BofA Securities.

STMicroelectronics N.V. (NYSE: STM) was cut to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and its price target was raised to $72 from $59 (versus $67.92 close) at JPMorgan.

TaskUs, Inc. (NASDAQ: TASK) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $18 price objective (versus $15.22 close) at BofA Securities.

Tenaris S.A. (NYSE: TS) was raised to Buy from Hold and its price target was raised to $47 from $35 (versus $37.77 close) at Jefferies.

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VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $250 from $200 (versus $191.14 close) at Baird.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) was raised to Buy from Hold an its price target was raised to $550 from $500 (versus $462.10 close) at Jefferies.

Victoria’s Secret & Co. (NYSE: VSCO) was raised to Neutral from Underweight and its price target was raised to $45 from $29 (versus $48.02 close) at JPMorgan.

YPF SA (NYSE: YPF) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its price objective was raised to $55 from $31 (versus $38.87 close) at B of A Securities.

Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ: ZBRA) was named the Bull of the Day at Zacks, noting it has doubled the S&P 500 for the last 10 years and beaten its industrial products sector despite being 30% under its top.