Stocks were indicated to open lower on Tuesday with the S&P 500, Dow and NASDAQ all indicated in the red. The port strike has begun, and investors have the Fed cutting rates and Chinese bank stimulus as counterbalances. Now is a time when 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 Tuesday, October 1, 2024.

Alcoa Corporation (NYSE: AA) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price objective was raised to $52 from $43 (versus $38.58 prior close) at BofA Securities, noting that the largest third-party producer should benefit from stronger alumina prices.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $215 price target at Pivotal Research. Alphabet closed up 1.16% at $165.85 on Monday and was indicated up about 1.4% at $168.15 on Tuesday.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) was in the news with an announcement to sell its 70% stake in DTV to TPG for $7.6 billion. AT&T was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $24 from $20 at BofA Securities.

AudioEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: AEYE) was reiterated with a Buy rating and its price target as raised to $28 from $23 (versus $22.85 prior close) at HC Wainwright.

Boot Barn Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BOOT) was maintained as Neutral but its price target was raised to $167 from $140 (versus $167.28 prior close) at RW Baird.

Cameco Corporation (NYSE: CCJ) was named as remaining its top pick in uranium at BofA Securities, with the firm reiterating its Buy rating its $63 price objective (versus $47.76 prior close).

Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) was started with an Overweight rating and was assigned a $315 price target (versus $278.02 prior close) at Stephens.

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) was raised to Buy from Hold and its price target was raised to $13 from $12 at Goldman Sachs, noting that the more profitable commercial business and its software and services businesses can drive margins. Ford closed down 2% at $10.56 on Monday’s post-Stellantis warning reaction. Ford was trading up 2.2% at $10.79 on Tuesday in early pre-market trading.

Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE: FNV) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and its price objective was trimmed to $139 from $142 at BofA Securities, largely on valuation.

Freeport-McMoRan, Inc. (NYSE: FCX) was named as the top pick in copper at BofA Securities, with the firm reiterating its Buy rating and raising its price objective to $67 from $59 (versus $49.92 prior close).

Integer Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: ITGR) closed up 3.2% at $130.00 on news it is divesting its non-medical Electrochem business (applications in energy, military and environment sectors) for $50 million in cash. BofA Securities reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price objective to $145 from $135 in the call.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was maintained as Overweight but its price target was cut to $314 from $326 at Morgan Stanley. Lululemon closed down 3.1% at $271.35 on Monday and was indicated down less than 0.2% at $270.90 on Tuesday morning.

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE: MMC) is making a $7.7+ billion acquisition of McGriff Insurance Services as the retail operations of Truist Insurance Holdings. BofA Securities reiterated its Neutral rating on MMC but raised its price objective to $248 from $235 in the call.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: META) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $780 price target at Pivotal Research.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $760 from $735 at KeyBanc Capital Markets,

OneMain Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: OMF) was maintained as Buy but its price objective was lowered down to $52 from $56 (versus $47.07 prior close0 at BofA Securities as it takes a weaker and higher-for-longer reserve rate.

Perspective Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CATX) was started with an Outperform rating and was assigned a $25 price target (versus $13.35 close) at Wedbush Securities.

Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) was reiterated with a Buy rating and its price target was raised to $135 from $118 (versus $121.40 prior close) at Deutsche Banks.

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price objective was raised to $155 from $140 (versus $126.08 prior close) at BofA Securities, noting that it should benefit from higher steel prices.

The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTD) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $125 from $115 (versus $109.65 prior close) at Needham.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) was started with an Overweight rating and was assigned a $680 price target (versus $618.57 prior close) at Stephens.

TTEC Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTEC) surged 45% to $5.87 on Monday on news of a potential take-private offer by CEO Ken Tuchman, who owns 58% of its shares, at $6.85 per share. BofA Securities had a Neutral rating on the stock and has moved to “No Rating” as the firm now views the stock as “no longer trading on fundamentals.”

If you missed Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of Duke, Hess, IBM, JPMorgan, Meta, Oracle, Walmart, Zeta and many more stocks.