Stocks were indicated to open lower again on Wednesday with major equity indexes indicated down 0.3% to 0.5% in early indications. The election is now less than two weeks away and 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 23, 2024.

Alcoa Corporation (NYSE: AA) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $48 price target (versus $42.02 prior close) at Argus, with the firm noting that while the near-term environment has had challenges it sees aluminum prices normalizing and then continuing to rise in the coming quarters.

A.O. Smith Corporation (NYSE: AOS) was raised to Neutral from Sell and its price target as raised to $80 from $75 (versus $78.21 prior close) at UBS. A.O. Smith was also maintained as Neutral and its target was trimmed down to $81 from $82 at RW Baird.

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE: CRL) closed down 4.6% at $185.94 on Tuesday but is still yet to report earnings. The firm CLSA (CITIC Securities overseas) started Charles River Labs as Underperform and assigned a $167 price target.

Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) closed down 1.4% at $210.72 on Tuesday and was indicated down another 2.5% at $205.50 on Wednesday. Coinbase was started with a Neutral rating and was assigned a $185 price target at B. Riley.

Core Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ: CORZ) was reiterated with a Buy rating and its price target was raised to $17 from $16 at Needham & Co. Canaccord Genuity also reiterated its Buy rating and its price target was raised to $17 from $16. Core Scientific closed up 6.94% at $13.72 on Tuesday.

Corteva, Inc. (NYSE: CTVA) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $68 price target (versus $59.12 prior close) at Citigroup.

Disc Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ: IRON) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $89 price target (versus $50.92 prior close) at Jefferies.

Enphase Energy, inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) was last seen as one of Wednesday’s top losers with a 14.9% drop to $78.50 after earnings and revenues disappointed investors. Enphase was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Janney.

Fiserv Inc. (NYSE: FI) was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $223 from $187 (versus $199.67 prior close) at Argus, with the firm raising its 2024/25 earnings estimates with strong guidance from management and winning from strong tech spending from its bank/credit customers.

FMC Corporation (NYSE: FMC) was started with a Neutral rating and was assigned a $67 price target (versus $62.38 prior close) at Citigroup.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) closed up 9.8% at $53.73 on Tuesday after beating earnings expectations and increasing the range on annual guidance. GM was reiterated as Underweight and its price target was raised ti $46 from $42 at Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target to $67 from $61. Barclays maintained its Overweight rating and raised its target to $70 from $64. Wells Fargo reiterated its Underweight rating and raised its target to $38 from $33 on GM.

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) has seen its shares fall nearly 7% to $292.94 on Wednesday morning after a Tuesday news report that an E. coli breakout linked to its Quarter-Pounder hamburgers in Colorado has killed one person and made many more ill. Wedbush Securities has maintained its $295 price target initially. RW Baird downgraded McDonald’s to Neutral from Outperform and cut its price target to $290 from $320.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and its price target was raised to $182 from $157 (versus $157.47 prior close) at RW Baird.

Smurfit Westrock plc (NYSE: SW) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $57 price target (versus $44.54 prior close) at Citigroup.

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) was last seen trading about 4.7% lower at $92.25 after earnings showed weaker North American same-store sales and soft international sales. The firm suspended issuing guidance for now but did raise its dividend. TD Cowen reiterated its Buy rating and maintained its $110 price target. Stifel maintained its Buy rating but trimmed its target to $105 from $110. Guggenheim maintained its Neutral rating but raised its target to $93 from $78. Deutsche Bank reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $120 from $118.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) was last seen trading up 2.6% at $199.10 after beating earnings and showing slightly softer guidance. Shares initially fell marginally after the news before recovering. RW Baird maintained its Neutral rating and cut its target to $175 from $200. Rosenblatt maintained its Buy rating and $250 target, and Benchmark maintained its Buy rating and $230 target. Morgan Stanley maintained its Underweight rating but raised its target to $167 from $154.

Goldman Sachs is starting to issue 2025 commodities price targets, albeit early and preliminary year-end targets that are likely to change. The firm is calling for Brent Crude to average $76.00 per barrel next year. It is around $75.00 at present time and the firm is expecting a moderate supply surplus, a large spare capacity from OPEC producers (~6 million barrels/day spare capacity currently), culminating into medium-term risks to its prior $70 to $85 per barrel having risks skewed to the lower end. The report might not be a hammer on the head to oil stocks but doesn’t lend much expectation for major oil and oil services stock upgrades from Goldman Sachs either.