Stocks were indicated marginally lower again on Thursday. With earnings season looking mixed and a rise in jobless claims, investors are again caught in the crosshairs of wanting slower economic data and lower inflation data so that the Federal Reserve can begin its rate cuts.

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 are Wall Street’s top analyst upgrades and analyst downgrades for Thursday, May 9, 2024.

Affirm Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: AFRM) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and its price target was raised to $43 from $41 at JPMorgan. Affirm closed down 9.5% at $31.58 on Wednesday after earnings, but the stock had initially opened higher at $35.60 (up about 2%) after earnings.

AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: AMC) was reiterated with a Neutral rating but its price target was cut to $3.50 from $4.00 at Wedbush.

Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) was started with a Buy rating at Deutsche Bank.

Beyond Meat, Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND) was reiterated with a Sell rating and its price target was cut to $3.50 from $.00 in the call. Beyond Meat previously closed at $8.21 but Thursday’s post-earnings drop was more than 14% to $7.02 in early trading.

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Bumble Inc. (NASDAQ: BMBL) was maintained as Buy but its target price was cut to $15 from $18 at Goldman Sachs. Evercore ISI reiterated its Outperform rating on Bumble and raised its target to $18 from $17. Its post-earnings reaction had shares up almost 14% at $11.70 in early trading.

Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ: EDIT) was maintained as Equal Weight but its target price was cut to $9 from $11 at Barclays. Editas had closed down 11% at $5.03 in the prior day’s post-earnings reaction.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) was reiterated as Sell and its price target was lowered to $30 from $34 at Goldman Sachs. Intel was down less than 0.5% at $29.90 in early trading.

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT) was maintained with a Neutral rating but its price target was raised to $19 from $16 at Goldman Sachs. Lyft was trading down 3% at $17.20 in early trading.

Match Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: MTCH) was maintained with a Buy rating but its price target was cut to $37 from $47 at Goldman Sachs.

Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOD) was last seen up over 6% at $18.98 after earnings. Barclays maintained an Underweight rating but raised its price target to $18 from $16. JMP Securities reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $30 from $28.

Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE: LYG) was started with a Buy rating at Deutsche Bank.

NatWest Group PLC (NYSE: NWG) was started with a Buy rating at Deutsche Bank.

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Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP) was gutted after weaker than expected guidance and the stock fell more than 18% to $62.73. Baird maintained its Outperform rating but cut its target to $77 from $87. Mizuho maintained Neutral rating and cut its target to $65 from $75. Citigroup maintained its Buy rating but cut its price target to $95 from $105. JMP Securities actually raised Shopify to Outperform from Market Perform with an $80 price target.

TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) was maintained as Neutral but its price target was cut to $21 from $23 at Mizuho. JPMorgan reiterated its Underweight rating and cut its price target to $17 from $25.

Select Water Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: WTTR) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $13 price target at Citigroup. Its stock was indicated up 3% at $9.50 in early trading.

Wednesday’s Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades included Datadog, Dutch Bros, EA, Reddit, Rivian, UBS and many more companies.