Stocks took a breather on Tuesday and were then mixed on Wednesday after the semiconductor sector was rocked hard by ASML’s key revenue warnings for 2025. Still, the Dow and S&P 500 are extremely close to all-time highs seen in recent days. Many investors and traders are now looking for new ideas to be positioned for the coming months and into 2025. That is where the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations can be come into play.

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 investors and its readers that no single analyst report should ever be the sole basis to buy or sell a stock. That decision to buy or sell, or hold or short sell, is up to each investor and the decision should be made with a financial advisor.

These are some of the top analyst upgrades and downgrades seen on Wednesday, October 16, 2024.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was reiterated with a Buy rating and its price target was raised to $200 from $185 at Truist Securities. The parent of Google closed at $165.46 on Tuesday and trading lower by 0.6% at $164.35 on Wednesday.

ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ: ASML) fell over 16% to $730.43 on Tuesday’s bad revenue warning for 2025 and its stock was indicated lower by 3% at $708.00 on Wednesday morning. While not many downgrades have been seen, negative and cautious commentary was seen from Citi, Stifel, and others.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was up almost 1% at $42.14 on Tuesday after earnings and the stock was indicated to open up 0.2% higher on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley (Overweight) raised its target to $48 from $47 and KBW (Outperform) raised its target to $50 from $48.

The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) rose to $71.96 from $67.92 after earnings on Tuesday and the stock was indicated up another 1% on Wednesday’s follow-on reaction to analyst reports. JMP Securities (Outperform) raised its target to $84 from $82 and KBW (Outperform) raised its target to $81 from $76. Goldman Sachs (Neutral) raised its target to $74 from $67.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its price target as raised to $62 from $52 (versus $54.08 prior close) at Citigroup. Cisco was trading up over 2% at $55.25 on Wednesday and its stock is within 1% of a 52-week high.

Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) fell over $3.00 to $62.64 after earnings on Tuesday but its stock was up over 1.5% at $63.65 after seeing analyst follow-on calls. BofA (Buy) raised its price objective to $78 from $77. Two cuts from more bullish analysts were seen as well — Oppenheimer (Outperform) cut its target to $91 from $92 and Morgan Stanley ((Overweight) cut its target $82 from $86.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) was basically flat after earnings on Tuesday, but was indicated up over 1% at $529.00 on Wednesday based on follow-on analyst reports. KBW (Outperform) raised its target to $570 from $555. Goldman Sachs was reiterated as Overweight and its target was raised to $570 from $560 at Morgan Stanley. BofA Securities reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price objective to $575 from $563.

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was already among the most upgraded stocks ahead of earnings season. Now Netflix was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $800 from $750 at Loop Capital.

Piedmont Lithium Inc. (NASDAQ: PLL) was downgraded to Underperform from an already cautious Neutral rating and its target was put at $7.80 by Macquarie. Piedmont Lithium closed at $13.30 ahead of the call and was indicated down 2.4% at $12.98 after the call.

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Rio Tinto Group (NYSE: RIO) closed down 1.8% at $66.47 ahead of earnings and was indicated marginally lower after the report. Citi maintained its Neutral rating calling the report a disappointment after overpaying an unnecessary price for Arcadium Lithium.

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) was reiterated with an Overweight rating and its price target was raised to $115 from $98 (versus $95.04 prior close) at Morgan Stanley.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) was down 8.1% to $556.29 after earnings on Tuesday and indicated up less than 0.5% on Wednesday as analysts maintained their ratings with lower price targets. Morgan Stanley (overweight) cut its target to $610 from $615; RBC (Outperform) cut its target to $595 from $615; KeyBanc (Overweight) cut its target to $650 from $575. BofA (Buy) cut its price objective to $650 from $675.

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ: VCYT) was started as Buy with a $43 target price at UBS. Veracyte closed at $34.07 ahead of the call and was indicated up 1% at $34.40 after the call.

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) was started as Neutral with a $95 price target at Piper Sandler. Walt Disney closed down 0.8% at $94.22 ahead of the call and was indicate down about 0.2% after the call.

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at TD Cowen. Yum! closed at $133.22 ahead of the call and was indicated down another 0.6% at $132.40 after the call.

Tuesday’s list of top analyst upgrades and downgrades included nearly 30 companies: Altria, AIG, Coca-Cola, Enphase, Etsy, Ericsson, JD.com, Mobileye, Viasat and many more.