U.S. stocks were trading marginally higher on Thursday as markets continue to expect the first rate cut by the Federal Reserve to occur in September. Most companies have now reported their earnings and investors are digesting mixed to lighter guidance and high valuations. Tactical Bulls is always on the hunt for new ideas for traders and long-term investors alike. The daily research flow from Wall Street’s analyst upgrades and downgrades can be a source for many of those new ideas.

Investors with a long-term horizon have to keep investing during good markets and bad markets if they are going achieve their long-term plans. Short-term traders only care about ideas moving stocks now. These daily analyst calls can be a source to help investors in their ultimate buy, sell and hold decisions.

Tactical Bulls always reminds 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 or sell (or hold!) ultimately needs to be made by each investor and their financial advisor.

These are some of the top analyst upgrades and downgrades seen on Thursday, August 22, 2024.

Alcon Inc. (NYSE: ALC) was reiterated with a Buy rating and its price target was raised to $107 from $101 at Needham & Co. Alcon was also reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $110 from $104 at Robert W. Baird. Alcon closed down almost 2% at $94.62 ahead of the calls.

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE: AIZ) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight but its price target was kept at $200 (versus $189.83 prior close) at Piper Sandler.

Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $65 from $60 at Needham & Co. Ciena closed up 0.37% at $54.80 ahead of the call.

Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) was maintained with a Buy rating but its price objective was cut to $150 from $180 at BofA Securities. Dell closed up 0.9% at $111.70 ahead of the call.

The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and its target price was raised to $114 from $95 at Piper Sandler. Estee Lauder shares closed at $91.51 ahead of the call and the stock was indicated up almost 2% at $93.31 on Thursday morning.

Flutter Entertainment plc (NYSE: FLUT) was started with an Overweight rating and was assigned a $247 price target at Morgan Stanley. Flutter Entertainment’s ADSs closed up 2.6% at $210.13 on Wednesday and Thursday’s indication was up another 1.4% at $213.10.

Hims & Hers Health, Inc. (NYSE: HIMS) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $24 price target at Needham & Co. The report from Needham says that Hims & Hers is benefitting from the GLP-1 addition on top of accessible and affordable health targeting sexual health, dermatology and mental health. It also sees it expected to grow by more than 40% at over $1 billion in the trailing 12-month revenues with multiple drivers for higher margins. Hims & Hers closed up 0.2% at $16.57 ahead of the call and the stock was indicated up 2% at $16.90 on Thursday.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was maintained with a Buy rating but its price target as cut to $370 from $416 at Stifel. Citigroup reiterated its Neutral rating on Lululemon and lowered its price target to $270 from $300. Lululemon closed up almost 2% at $265.63 on Wednesday and was indicated up 0.7% at $267.50 ahead of Thursday’s opening bell. Its 52-week range is $226.01 to $516.39.

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Snowflake Inc. (NYSE: SNOW) closed up 2.4% at $135.06 ahead of earnings but the underwhelming guidance had shares down 10% at $121.50 on Thursday morning. Snowflake was maintained as Buy but its price target was lowered down to $160 from $210 at Needham & Co. JMP Securities maintained its Market Outperform rating but cut its target down to $190 from $235. Barclays maintained its Equal-Weight rating on Snowflake but lowered its target $142 from $146 in its call. DA Davidson maintained its Buy rating but lowered its price target on Snowflake to $175 from $230.

Sprout Social, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPT) was downgraded to Underweight from Sector Weight with a $28 price target at KeyBanc Capital Markets. The KeyBanc report noted that Sprout Social is likely facing weaker bookings than the slower reported numbers imply, perhaps even declining on an organic basis. Sprout Social shares closed down 0.2% at $33.92 ahead of the call and the stock was indicated down 4.5% at $32.40 after this equivalent of a “sell” rating was issued.

Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. (NASDAQ: TNDM) was started as Equal-Weight with a $45 price target at Morgan Stanley. The stock closed up 1.9% at $42.74 ahead of the call.

Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) closed up 11.2% at $159.25 in Wednesday’s post-earnings reaction. Target was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $195 from $190 at BofA Securities. BMO Capital Markets reiterated its Market Perform rating on Target and raised its target price to $160 from $155. RBC Capital Markets reiterated its Outperform rating on Target and raised the price target to $177 from $174.

The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TJX) closed up 6.1% at $120.23 on Wednesday’s post-earnings reaction. TJX was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $135 from $115 at BofA Securities. TJX was also reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $128 from $113 Robert W. Baird. BMO Capital Markets reiterated its Outperform rating on TJX and raised its target price to $133 from $116 in the call. Citigroup downgraded TJX to Neutral from Buy but raised its price target to $128 from $110.

Urban Outfitters, inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) was maintained as Equal-Weight and its price target was cut to $38 from $40 (versus $41.48 prior close) at Morgan Stanley. BofA Securities maintained its Buy rating but lowered its price objective down to $46 from $52 in the call. Urban Outfitters was maintained as Overweight at Barclays but the firm lowered its target to $43 from $52. Jefferies reiterated its Underperform rating on Urban Outfitters and lowered its price target to $34 from $35. Telsey Advisory downgraded Urban Outfitters to Market Perform from Outperform with a $44 price target. Urban Outfitters was indicated down almost 13% at $36.20 after its sales guidance was deemed to be disappointing.

Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) was maintained as Buy but its price objective was cut to $75 from $78 at BofA Securities. Robert W. Baird maintained its Outperform rating on Zoom but cut its target down to $77 from $84. Zoom Video was reiterated as Underweight at Wells Fargo but the firm did raise its price target to $60 from $55 in the call.

In case you missed Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included shares of AmEx, Corning, Gap, Lowe’s, MicroStrategy, Palo Alto, Starbucks and many more stocks.