Stocks were looking for direction on Wednesday as earnings season begins to wind down and as investors await more inflation and retail sales data. The meme-stock craze raised its head again this week as well.

Tactical Bulls is always looking for new ideas and research that can benefit long-term investors and short-term traders alike. Wall Street’s flow of daily analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations are often a strong source for new ideas.

Some analyst calls are “tactical bull” calls by their nature as the “stocks to buy” may even occur when the stock market or a company’s sector are weak. Other analyst calls covering their picks of stocks to buy may have very long-term outlooks. The latter “bullish” calls may seem more permanent to investors than they do tactical. Some analyst calls may also be quite negative as they feature stocks to sell.

Investors should always keep in mind that no analyst call should be the sole catalyst to buy or sell a stock. These daily analyst calls and the impact from the calls should also help prove one of the Tactical Bulls mantras that the Efficient Market Hypothesis is not all that efficient.

These are the top analyst calls for Wednesday, May 15, 2024.

Accenture PLC (NYSE: ACN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) was maintained with a Buy rating but its price target was cut to $92 from $95 (versus $79.51 close, after a 6% drop) at Mizuho. Alibaba was maintained as Buy with a target cut to $122 from $124 at Citi, and Mizuho maintained its Buy rating while trimming its target to $92 from $95. Truist maintained its Buy rating on Alibaba but trimmed its target to $110 from $113.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ARQT) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $18 from $17 (versus $8.13 close) at Mizuho.

Boot Barn Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BOOT) was reiterated as Neutral and its target price was raised to $100 from $90 at Baird. Boot Barn closed at $107.07 ahead of earnings and was indicated down 6% at $100.50 after signaling weaker consumer and sales trends.

Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $90 from $85 (versus $73.49 prior close) at Mizuho.

Campbell Soup Company (NYSE: CPB) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Bernstein.

Cedar Fair LP (NYSE: FUN) was Maintained at Buy but its price target was cut to $55 from $56 (versus $44.75 prior close) at Mizuho.

Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) was reiterated as Overweight and its target price was raised to $152 from $128 at Morgan Stanley. Dell closed up 2.3% at $134.12 ahead of the call and its consensus analyst target price was $126.22.

DLocal Limited (NASDAQ: DLO) was last seen indicated down about 30% at $9.45 after earnings missed expectations. DLocal was mainta8ined as Buy at Goldman Sachs, but its price target was lowered to $16 from $18 in that call.

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Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) was maintained as Neutral but its price target was raised to $128 from $125 at Mizuho.

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Bernstein.

Insmed Inc. (NASDAQ: INSM) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $49 from $40 (versus $25.45 prior close) at Goldman Sachs.

Jack In The Box Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK) was maintained as Equal Weight but its price target was lowered to $70 from $75 at Morgan Stanley. Jack In The Box was maintained as Buy but its price objective was lowered to $83 from $87 at BofA Securities. Wedbush maintained its Outperform rating but lowered its target to $68 from $78. Jack in the Box closed at 53.07 ahead of earnings.

On Holding AG (NYSE: ONON) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $40 from $35 at Morgan Stanley. Needham & Co. reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $45 from $40. On Holding’s ADSs closed up 18% at $36.30 after earnings and noting record global demand.

Pixelworks, Inc. NASDAQ: PXLW) was indicated down 28% at $1.34 after its earnings report. Pixelworks was maintained as Buy but with a target price cut to $2.50 from $3.50 at Needham & Co.

Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: SIX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and its target price was lowered to $27 from $29 at Deutsche Bank.

Snowflake Inc. (NYSE: SNOW) was maintained as Neutral but the price objective was lowered to $200 from $212 at BofA Securities. Snowflake closed at $160.95 ahead of the call with a $218.88 consensus analyst price target.

SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWR) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Wolfe Research.

If you missed Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in CEMEX, Moderna, Roblox, Tencent, Ulta and more.

In case you missed Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of Cisco, Delta, NVIDIA, PENN, SolarEdge, Southwest, T.I., Visa and many more.