Stocks had seen gains on Wednesday and were indicated higher on Thursday after TSM saved the chip stocks and as the European Central Bank lowered interest rates for the third time. 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 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 Thursday, October 17, 2024.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) was started as Market Perform with a $203 target price (versus $190.46 prior close) at Bernstein.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) was started as Outperform with a $380 price target at Bernstein. Amgen closed down 1% at $321.63 on Wednesday and was indicated down 0.5% at $420.00 on Thursday’s pre-market levels.

Alumis Inc. (NASDAQ: ALMS) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $30 price target at HC Wainwright. Alumis closed at $11.19 on Wednesday and its 52-week range is $9.54 to $13.53.

Avery Dennison Corporation (NYSE: AVY) was raised to Buy from Underperform in a double-upgrade at BofA Securities. The firm also raised its price objective to $250 from $207. AVY shares closed down 2.2% at $214.93 ahead of the call and its stock was indicated up 2% at $218.00.20 on Thursday in pre-market trading.

Clear Secure, Inc. (NYSE: YOU) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $45 from $40 (versus $37.35 prior close) at Needham & Co.

DiDi Global Inc. (OTC: DIDIY) closed up 8% at $4.82 on Wednesday. Daiwa maintained its Buy rating and $6.50 price target as it is poised for strong domestic growth in China while reducing overseas losses ahead.

DoorDash, Inc. (NASDAQ: DASH) was reiterated with a Buy rating and its target price was raised to $173 from $152 (versus $149.86 prior close) at Benchmark.

Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Guggenheim. Enphase was also maintained as Neutral and its price target was cut to $105 from $115 at Piper Sandler. Enphase closed up 1.2% at $93.13 ahead of the call and was indicated up 1.1% at $94.20 on Thursday’s pre-market trading.

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $68 price target. Fortinet closed down 0.6% at $82.12 and its shares were indicated down at $79.75 on Thursday morning.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) was started as Outperform with a $105 target price at Bernstein. Gilead shares closed up 1.1% at $86.75 on Wednesday and it was indicated down 0.4% at $86.37 on Thursday.

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $180 target price at HSBC. Illumina shares closed down 2.5% at $143.89 on Wednesday and it was indicated up 1% at $145.69 on Thursday.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: META) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target as raised to $650 from $600 at Mizuho. Meta shares were already in the most upgraded stocks ahead of earnings, and after closing down 1.6% at $576.79 on Wednesday it was indicated up 0.6% at $580.25 on Thursday.

Mural Oncology plc (NASDAQ: MURA) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $18 price target at HC Wainwright. Mural Oncology closed at $3.72 on Wednesday and was indicated up almost 3% at $3.83 on Thursday. Its 52-week range is $2.88 to $6.25 and its market cap is only $64 million.

Nokia Oyj (NYSE: NOK) was last seen down 5% at $4.23 on Thursday morning after third quarter profits rose but sales were down 8% as India lagged. UBS expects shares to underperform in the near-term after rising 30% YTD. JPMorgan maintained its neutral stance on Nokia. Tactical Bulls has Nokia still remains cautious for the long-term until major changes are seen despite the gains that have been seen since June.

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE: PLTR) was maintained with an Underperform rating at Mizuho, but the firm did raise its price target to $30 from $24 in the call. Palantir closed down 1.2% at $41.93 on Wednesday and was indicated to open flat on Thursday.
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) was started as Market Perform with a $32 target price at Bernstein.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK) was maintained as Neutral but its target price was raised to $270 from $245 (versus $274.24 prior close) at Mizuho.

ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE: NOW) was reiterated as Buy and its target was raised to $1,100 from $900 at Jefferies. ServiceNow was reiterated as Market Outperform and its target wad raised to $1,000 from $850 at JMP Securities; and it was reiterated as Outperform with a price hike to $980 from $850 at Mizuho.

SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEDG) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $10 price target (versus $18.57 prior close) at Guggenheim.

TopGolf Callaway Brands Corp. (NYSE: MODG) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and its target price was slashed down to $12 from $18 (versus $10.83 prior close) at B. Riley.

Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $84 price target at Daiwa, noting more long-term risks from robotaxi fleets. Uber closed down 1.5% at $81.90 on Wednesday and was trading down almost 4% at $78.75 on Thursday’s pre-market indications.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) was reiterated with an Outperform rating and its price target was raised to $330 from $320 (versus $287.52 close) at RW Baird.

In case you missed Wednesday’s top analyst calls, those included shares of Alphabet, ASML, BofA, Cisco, Citi, Netflix, Rio, Starbucks, Disney and many more. 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.