Stocks were indicated to open marginally higher on Friday after a very slight recovery from this week’s selling. A weak report on Durable Goods did not move the needle much on Friday, although bond yields drifted a tad lower on the report. The election is less than two weeks away and many investors and traders are now looking for new ideas for how to be positioned ahead of 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.

Some calls are before earnings and some are adjustment-calls after the moves have been seen. 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 Friday, October 25, 2024.

AppFolio, Inc. (NASDAQ: APPF) was reiterated as Overweight but its price target was lowered down to $265 from $300 at Piper Sandler. AppFolio closed down over 1.7% at $192.07 on Thursday but the stock was indicated to open up 4.6% at $201.00 in Friday’s post-earnings reaction.

Baker Hughes Company (NYSE: BKR) was raised to Buy from Hold and was assigned a $43 price target at Argus. This was after positive post-earnings views from Barclays, Benchmark, RBC and Susquehanna a day earlier. Baker Hughes closed down 0.6% at $36.78 on Thursday.

Beyond, Inc. (NYSE: BYND) closed down 29.7% at $6.69 on Thursday and was indicated down another 3% at $6.48 on Friday. Beyond was maintained as Buy but its target was cut to $9 from $13 at Needham.

The Boston Beer Company (NYSE: SAM) was last seen trading down 5.1% at $286.35 in its earnings reaction. Boston Beer was downgraded to Hold from Buy and its target price was cut to $325 from $355 at Jefferies.

Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) was reiterated as Buy and its price target as raised to $105 (versus $85.10 prior close) at Argus.

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS) was maintained as Overweight but its price target was cut to $280 from $350 (versus $251.28 prior close) at Morgan Stanley, with this call being a pre-earnings view of slower China/foundries spending as a modest headwind for 2025 growth. Cadence Design was indicated up 0.7% at $253.00 on Friday.

Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) was reiterated as Neutral and its price target was raised to $150 from $145 at RW Baird. Capital One was indicated up 4% at $159.50 on Friday morning on a positive earnings reaction.

Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NYSE: DECK) closed at $152.04 ahead of earnings and was last seen trading up 14% at $173.40 in early trading indications on Friday. Deckers was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $195 from $180 at RW Baird.

ALSO READ: WHY RISING LONG-TERM YIELDS MAY BE SO TROUBLING 

Denny’s Corporation (NASDAQ: DENN) closed up 13.8% at $6.26 on Thursday after earnings and strategic plans include closing 150 more stores. Denny’s was also indicated up 5% at $6.57 on Friday. Denny’s was maintained as Buy but its target was cut to $10 from $15 at Benchmark.

DTE Energy Co. (NYSE: DTE) was reiterated as Buy and its price target as raised to $140 from $132, with the independent research firm highlighting its outperforming earnings and operating income.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) has already seen many price target hikes after a very positive reaction to earnings this week. General Motors was maintained as Market Perform but its price target was raised to $55 from $from $53 at Bernstein.

GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE: GEV) was reiterated as Buy with a $330 price target (versus $297.00 prior close) at Argus, noting top-line growth and margin improvement with impressive cash flow even if the actual earnings are a bit murky.

Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) closed down 5.1% at $209.10 on Thursday and was indicated down another 0.2% at $205.70 on Friday. Honeywell was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and its target was cut to $217 from $223 at RW Baird. Morgan Stanley maintained an Equal-Weight rating and $210 price target on Honeywell.

The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ: KHC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and its price target was cut to $38 from $40 at Stifel. Kraft Heinz closed down 1.35 at $35.03 on Thursday and its shares were indicated to open at $35.00 on Friday morning.

Plains All American Pipeline, LP (NYSE: PAA) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight and its target price was lowered down to $19 from $22 at Morgan Stanley. Plains All American closed up 0.2% at $17.10 on Thursday.

Plains GP Holdings, LP (NYSE: PAGP) was downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight and its target price was lowered down to 19 from $22 at Morgan Stanley. Plains GP closed up 0.17% at $18.20 on Thursday.

PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) was started with an Overweight rating and its price target was set at $37 (versus $32.87 prior close) at JPMorgan.

Teck Resources Limited (NYSE: TECK) closed down 5.5% at $46.81 on Thursday and was down another 0.8% at $46.45 in early trading on Friday. Teck Resources was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) closed up 5.7% at $233.56 after earnings on Thursday. T-Mobile US was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) closed down 0.4% at $66.32 on Thursday but Friday’s earnings reaction showed shares indicated 11% higher at $73.50. Western Digital was reiterated as Buy with a $115 price target at Rosenblatt.

WEX Inc. (WEX) was maintained as Equal-Weight and its price target was cut to $170 from $211 at Morgan Stanley. WEX closed down almost 15% at $181.13 after its earnings reaction on Thursday and shares were flat in early Friday indications.

Thursday’s top analyst calls were in shares of Alibaba, Boeing, ICON, IBM, NextEra, Sempra, Verizon and others.