U.S. stocks were trading marginally higher on Friday following Thursday’s sell-off. The markets are awaiting Jerome Powell’s speech in Jackson Hole to get more confirmation to support rate cut hopes for September. Earnings season is mostly over by now but investors are digesting lots of weak guidance and high valuations at a time when many are fearing the recession risks are higher. Tactical Bulls continually hunts for new ideas that traders and long-term investors alike can use in their investing plans. 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 in order to achieve their long-term plans. Short-term traders only care about the ideas which are moving stocks now. These daily analyst calls can be one of the sources to help investors and traders in their decisions to buy, sell or hold.

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 Friday, August 23, 2024.

Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) was started as Overweight with a $170 price target at Piper Sandler.

Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NYSE: DECK) was started as Neutral with a $1,000 price target at Piper Sandler.

DexCom, Inc. (NASDAQ: DXCM) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $100 from $90 at Stifel.

Etsy, Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY) was started as Neutral with a $56 price target at Piper Sandler.

Foot Locker (NYSE: FL) was started as Neutral with a $30 price target at Piper Sandler.

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $795 from $690 at Stifel. BMO Capital Markets reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $760 from $700. JPMorgan reiterated its Neutral rating but raised its target to $600 from $585.

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Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and its price target was slashed to $49 from $70 (versus $41.07 prior close) at UBS.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was started as Neutral with a $250 price target at Piper Sandler.

NIKE Inc. (NYSE: NKE) was started as Neutral with a $80 price target at Piper Sandler.

Peloton Interactive, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTON) was last seen trading down 2% a $4.45 after surging 35% on Thursday’s turnaround plan reaction. Peloton was maintained as Neutral with a $2.50 price target at Macquarie. The larger call was a downgrade to Neutral from Overweight and a price target cut to $5 from $7 by JPMorgan. TD Cowen maintained its Hold rating on Peloton but did raise its price target to $4 from $3 in its call.

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ: ULTA) was maintained as Outperform but its price target was cut to $485 from $525 (versus $374.26 prior close) at Robert W. Baird.

Warby Parker Inc. (NYSE: WRBY) was last seen up 6% at $14.70 after two upside calls. JMP Securities reiterated its Market Outperform rating with a $20 price target. Piper Sandler issued a new Overweight rating and assigned a $18 price target.

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Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY) was last seen up 12% at $259.00 after guidance included a strong margin outlook. Many analysts maintained their ratings and here are some of the price target hikes seen so far on Friday: Stifel (Hold) to $270 from $250; Deutsche Bank (Hold) to $270 from $260; BofA (Buy) to $310 from $265; Piper Sandler (Overweight) to $285 from $262. Morgan Stanley maintained its Overweight rating on Workday but trimmed its price target to $315 from $325 in its call.

If you missed Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades they were in Ciena, Dell, Lululemon, Snowflake, Target, Zoom and many more stocks.