Bulls usually win over bears in the long-term. Can long-term value win over growth?

Stocks were indicated higher on Thursday after Micron’s “beat and raise” is offering support for the entire semiconductor sector. Now that the U.S. Federal Reserve has cut rates and China has thrown stimulus into the market, investors and traders alike are looking for new ideas to be positioned for the coming months and into 2025.

Tactical Bulls searches the daily flow of analyst calls covering the upgrades and downgrades from Wall Street looking for new ideas in Wall Street research reports. These analyst calls can be a reliable source for finding some of those new ideas that might have otherwise been overlooked or missed.

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 all investors that no single analyst report should ever be used as the sole reason to buy or sell a stock. The decision to buy, sell or hold needs to be made by each investor along with their financial advisor.

These are some of the top analyst upgrades and downgrades seen on Thursday, September 26, 2024.

CBOE Global Markets, Inc. (CBOE) was started with a Hold rating and was assigned a $205 price target (versus $203.10 prior close) at TD Cowen.

CME Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) was started with a Hold rating and was assigned a $221 price target (versus $217.52 prior close) at TD Cowen.

Concentrix Corporation (NASDAQ: CNXC) closed down 0.3% at $63.62 ahead of earnings and was last seen down over 11% at $56.25 after earnings. BofA Securities reiterated its Neutral rating but cut its price objective to $70 from $85 in the call after adjusting to a lower multiple based on its near-term negative impact to margins from investments.

Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) was reiterated with an Overweight rating and its price target was raised to $155 from $149 (versus $143.04 prior close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets in a catch-up target call after roughly a 50% YTD gain.

GE HealthCare Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GEHC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS, and the firm also cut the price target down to $74 from $84 in the call. GEHC shares closed up 0.87% at $93.01 ahead of the call and it was indicated down 1.3% at $91.79 on Thursday’s early indications. This downside call is after a 22% gain YTD

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $182 price target (versus $159.45 prior close) at TD Cowen.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: JEF) closed down 0.8% to $61.97 ahead of earnings and was last down 3% at $59.91 on Thursday morning’s post-earnings reaction. Morgan Stanley reiterated its Equal Weight rating but lifted its price target to $67 from $64 in the call after pointing out that Jefferies’ core businesses are delivering strong results and gaining share with an optimistic 2025 outlook.

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) was reiterated with an Outperform rating and its price target was raised to $320 from $280 (versus $300.47 prior close) at R.W. Baird.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: META) was reiterated as Overweight with a $575 price target (versus $568.31 prior close) at Morgan Stanley after the Meta Connect showed off coming AI/AR capabilities. Meta was reiterated as Market Outperform and its price target was raised to $635 from $550 at JMP Securities. Meta was also reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $605 from $530 at R.W. Baird.

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) closed up 1.88% at $95.77 ahead of earnings, but the “beat and raise” quarter had shares last seen trading up about 15% at $109.75 in Thursday’s pre-market trading. Micron was reiterated with a Buy rating with a $140 price target at Needham. Micron was reiterated as Equal-Weight but the price target was raised to $114 from $100 at Morgan Stanley. BofA Securities reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price objective to $125 from $110 as the earnings report was able to overcome rising macro headwinds of weaker phone and PC demand.

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) was started with a Hold rating and was assigned a $83 price target (versus $73.04 prior close) at TD Cowen.

Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE: JWN) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Nordstrom closed down 2.5% at $22.64 on Wednesday and was indicated down about 0.5% on Thursday morning.

On Holding AG (NYSE: ONON) was reiterated with an Overweight rating and its price target was raised to $60 from $47 (versus $50.20 prior close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets in a target catch-up call after close to a 60% YTD gain.

ResMed Inc. (NYSE: RMD) was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $270 from $240 (versus $240.74 prior close) at BofA Securities. The catch-up call is just a few days before its investor day presentation expected to outline plans for the next five years.

Sonos Inc. (NASDAQ: SONO) was given a double-downgrade at Morgan Stanley, down to Underweight from Overweight and with a price target slashed down to $11 from $25. The Morgan Stanley call points out that the top-line and bottom-line impact of its app redesign is likely greater than the market currently perceived after significant backlash from existing users (accounting for 44% of annual new product registrations). Sonos closed down 2% at $12.59 ahead of the call and the initial reaction was down another 5% at $11.90 after the call.

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and its price target was raised to $115 from $92 (versus $95.62 prior close) at Bernstein.

Talen Energy Corporation (NASDAQ: TLN) was started with an Outperform rating and was assigned a $233 price target (versus $190.02 prior close) at RBC Capital Markets. Talen Energy shares were indicated up almost 3% at $195.25 in early Thursday indications.

Tradeweb Markets Inc. (NASDAQ: TW) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $139 price target (versus $121.43 prior close) at TD Cowen.

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) was reiterated as Buy with the same $110 price target at Needham. Disney shares closed at $93.92 ahead of the call.

If you missed Wednesday’s top analyst calls, they were in shares of Alphabet, CleanSpark, DoorDash, Expedia, Ford, GM, KLA, Okta, SLM and many more stocks.