Stocks were trading marginally higher after first-quarter GDP was revised to +1.4% from 1.3%, slightly better jobless claims and ahead of more inflation data. Investors are still hoping for weaker economic reports that are not “too much weaker” to preserve growth and to allow the Federal Reserve to begin its rate cuts. The cutting campaign just seems to keep being pushed further out.

Tactical Bulls is always looking for ideas and research that can benefit both short-term traders and long-term investors. This is where the daily analyst calls for upgrades, downgrades and initiations come into play. Many analyst calls are “tactical bull” calls by nature. After all, analysts often identify their picks of “stocks to buy” even when the stock market or a company’s sector are weak.

Other analyst calls covering their picks of stocks to buy may have very long-term outlooks. The latter “bullish” calls may seem more “permanent” to readers than they do “tactical.” Other analyst calls can also be quite negative as they feature various stocks to sell, which can be tactical or also a long-term negative view.

Investors should always consider that no analyst call should be the sole reason to buy or sell a stock. And daily analyst calls, and the impact from the calls, helps prove one of the Tactical Bulls mantras that the Efficient Market Hypothesis is not accurate in its assumptions.

These were Wall Street’s top analyst upgrades and analyst downgrades for Thursday, June 27, 2024.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) continues to see positive analyst calls trickle in after solid heart drug data has taken shares from under $160 to almost $250 in recent days. Stifel reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $295 from $215 after calling the news an outstanding outcome for the company.

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: A) was downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform from Wolfe Research. Agilent closed at $133.09 ahead of the call with a 52-week range of $96.80 to $155.35.

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE: BB) was last seen up over 10% at $2.45 as earnings beat estimates but revenue was down from last year. Canaccord Genuity (Hold) cut its price target to $2.70 from $3.25, and CIBC raised BlackBerry to Outperformer from Neutral with a $3.50 price target. TD Cowen maintained its Hold rating and trimmed its target down to $2.75 from $3.00.

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE: CRL) was started with an Equal Weight rating and $230 price target (versus $206.75 prior close) at Barclays.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) has now enacted its 50-for-1 split and some analysts have been adjusting their price targets. More calls will come in the next week. Robert W. Baird (Outperform) raised its target to $74 from $70. Bernstein (Outperform) raised its target to $80 from $68.

Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ: EXAS) was started with an Outperform rating and it was assigned a $70 price target at Scotiabank. Exact Sciences closed at $4.16 ahead of the call wans was indicated up around $45.00 in early trading Thursday.

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $520 from $485 at Keefe Bruyette & Woods. Goldman Sachs closed at $455.86 ahead of the call, and shares were indicated lower on Thursday despite the Fed saying it and major banks could all withstand a sharp downturn after the annual stress tests.

Hut 8 Corp. (NASDAQ: HUT) was reiterated as Buy at Canaccord Genuity, but the firm raised its target to $22 from $14 in the call. Hut 8 closed at $15.32 before the call and was indicated up over 4% at $15.95 after the call. Its 52-week range is $6.18 to $22.75.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE: LEVI) was last seen down over 15% at $19.40 after another earnings disappointment. BofA Securities reiterated its Neutral rating but actually raised its price objective to $22 from $19. JPMorgan maintained its Neutral rating on Levi and trimmed its target to $20 from $21

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) has seen multiple analysts chime in after the post-earnings sell-off had shares down more than 6% to $133.00 on last look. Piper Sandler (Overweight) raised its target to $150 from $130 and JPMorgan (Overweight) raised its target to $180 from $130. KeyBanc (Overweight) raised its target to $160 from $150. UBS maintained its Buy rating but trimmed its target down to $153 from $155. Goldman Sachs (Buy) raised its target to $158 from $138.

Nautilus Biotechnology Inc. (NASDAQ: NAUT) was started with a Buy rating and $6 price target (versus $2.23 prior close) at Guggenheim.

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) was reiterated as Buy and its target was raised to $84 from $69 (versus $73.37 prior close) at Citi. NextEra has a 52-week range of $47.15 to $80.47.

PagerDuty, Inc. (NYSE: PD) was started with a Neutral rating and it was assigned a $24 price target at JPMorgan. PagerDuty closed at $22.41 ahead of the call.

Rio Tinto Group (NYSE: RIO) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $74 price target at Berenberg. Rio Tinto ADSs closed at $66.80 ahead of the call and the shares were indicated down 1% after the call.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $43.50 price target at JPMorgan. Shares of U.S. Bancorp closed at $39.71 ahead of the call and shares were indicated down only about 0.2% at #39.60 after the JPMorgan call was made.

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) was reiterated as Outperform and its target was raised to $55 from $45 by Oppenheimer. Veeco closed at $45.83 ahead of the call and was indicated up about 1% at $46.25 after the call.