Stocks were indicated lower on Thursday as Microsoft and Meta were both moving lower after their earnings reports. The markets are all still close to all-time highs and the election is now just a few days away. Many investors and traders are looking for new ideas to be positioned ahead of 2025. This 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 the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from Thursday, October 31, 2024.

Alumis Inc. (NASDAQ: ALMS) was started with a Outperform rating and was assigned a $25 price target at RW Baird. Alumis closed down over 7% at $11.23 ahead of the call. This aggressive price target is several weeks after Alumis released its 28-week data on its treatment for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis had a high response rate.

ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARM) closed down 1.7% at $154.40 on Wednesday and was indicated down 4.6% at $147.25 on Thursday. ARM was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform with a $100 price target at Bernstein.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) was downgraded to Equal-Weight from Overweight and its price target was cut to $204 from $285 at Morgan Stanley. Needham maintained its Buy rating with a $270 price target.

Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLKB) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and its price target was cut to$80 from $92 at RW Baird. Blackbaud had closed down 15.1% at $74.29 on Wednesday’s earnings reaction to earnings revenues missing expectations.

Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE: EAT) was up almost 7.7% at $104.25 on Wednesday’s post-earnings reaction but was indicated down 1.5% at $102.70 on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets downgraded it to Market Perform from Outperform while raising its target to $105 from $80. JPMorgan raised its price target to $100 from $67 but downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight.

GSK PLC (NYSE: GSK) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Guggenheim. GSK’s ADSs closed down 4% at $37.01 on Wednesday and the ADS indications were down another 2% at $36.25 on Thursday morning.

KLA corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) was raised to Outperform from Perform and its price target was raised to $850 from $750 (versus $691.80 prior close) at Oppenheimer. Deutsch Bank maintained its Buy rating on KLA but cut its price target to $750 from $890.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ: KHC) was reiterated with a Sell rating and its price target was cut to $32 from $34 at Goldman Sachs. Deutsche Bank also downgraded Kraft Heinz to Hold from Buy and cut its price target to $35 from $39.

L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: LHX) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its price objective was raised to $300 from $240 at BofA Securities.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: META) closed down 0.25% at $591.80 ahead of earnings but shares were down 2.5% at $576.50 in the early Thursday indications based on higher expenses and capital investment around AI for 2025. Meta was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $800 from $780 at Pivotal Research. BofA reiterated its Buy rating and $630 price objective in the call. Citigroup maintained its Buy rating and $645 price target. JPMorgan reiterated its Overweight rating and $660 price target.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) was up 0.1% at $432.53 ahead of earnings but the stock’s after-hours reaction swung from positive to negative and the shares were down about 3.8% at $416.00 on Thursday morning. Microsoft was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $548 from $506 at Morgan Stanley. Piper Sandler reiterated its Overweight rating and kept its $470 price target. BMO Capital markets maintained its Outperform rating but trimmed its price target down to $495 from $500 in its call. JPMorgan reiterated its Overweight rating and its $465 price target. TD Cowen reiterated its Buy rating and $475 price target.

Omnicell, Inc. (NASDAQ: OMCL) surged higher by 32% to $53.05 on Wednesday after beating earnings handily and raising 2024 guidance. BofA Securities downgraded it to Neutral from Buy but still handily raised its price objective to $57 from $44 in its call.

ORIC Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ORIC) was started with an Overweight rating and was assigned a $20 price target at Wells Fargo. ORIC closed up 4.67% at $9.42 on Wednesday and was indicated up over 16% at $11.00 at $11.00 on Thursday.

Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and its price target was raised to $28 from $27 at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI) closed down over 32% at $33.07 on Wednesday after Ernst & Young resigned as its auditor and said it would not stand by the company’s financials. CFRA (S&P) maintained its Hold rating and cut its target to $31 from $43, suggesting that investors limit their exposure until governance concerns are adequately addressed. Argus downgraded SMCI to Hold from Buy based on the new data. The view of Tactical Bulls comes with no ratings nor price targets, but it’s a lot worse now in general and in the outlook even from a month ago.

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING) was maintained with a Buy rating and its price target was cut to $365 from $450 at TD Cowen. BTIG raised its rating to Buy from Neutral with a $370 price target. Stephens maintained its Overweight rating but cut its price target to $468 from $490. Wingstop closed down 21.4% at $289.99 on Wednesday’s post-earnings reaction to profits missing expectations.

If you missed Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of AMD, Alphabet, Boeing, Chipotle, NANO Nuclear, Reddit, SoFi and many more stocks.

Please note that there will be no analyst calls published on Friday, November 1, 2024.