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Top Analyst Calls: Altria, Boyd, GitLab, Live Nation, OneStream, PagerDuty, Zscaler & More

Bulls usually win over bears in the long-term. Can long-term value win over growth?

U.S. stocks fell sharply on Tuesday and showed that 2% drops in a day can actually happen again. Stocks were down mildly on Wednesday with the S&P 500 indicated down 0.4% and the NASDAQ indicated down 0.7%. Long-term investors and short-term traders alike are looking for new ideas ahead of the expected Federal Reserve interest rate cuts this month. Tactical Bulls is continually on the hunt for some of those new ideas inside the daily flow of Wall Street research reports.

Every morning’s new analyst upgrades and downgrades can be one of the potential sources for finding new ideas that might have otherwise been overlooked or missed. Long-term investors get a picture of new buy, sell and hold ratings. Traders get a glimpse of short-term reactions to news and to the analyst calls.

Tactical Bulls always reminds its readers and all investors that no single analyst report should ever be used as the sole reason to buy or sell a stock. The decision to buy, sell or hold needs to be made by each investor along with their financial advisor.

These are some of the top analyst upgrades and downgrades seen on Wednesday, September 4, 2024.

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO) was reiterated as Neutral but its price objective was raised to $57 from $52 (versus $54.07 prior close) at BofA Securities.

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE: AMH) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $48 price target at Goldman Sachs. American Homes 4 Rent closed at $39.59 ahead of the call.

Asana, Inc. (NYSE: ASAN) was maintained as Neutral but its target was cut to $13 from $20 at R.W. Baird. Asana had closed down 5.5% at $13.29 on Tuesday ahead of reporting a loss and a new CFO, and the stock was indicated down another 12.5% at $11.63 on Wednesday’s reaction.

Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALAB) was down over 9% at $39.11 on Tuesday but was indicated up 2.3% at $40.00 on Wednesday. Astera Labs was raised to Overweight from Equal-Weight in a “buy the dip” call at Morgan Stanley with the same $55 price target.

Ball Corporation (NYSE: BALL) was raised to Overweight from Equal-Weight and its price target was raised to $78 from $69 (versus $63.90 prior close) at Morgan Stanley.

Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE: BYD) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and its price target was raised to $74 from $66 (versus $59.38 prior close) at Morgan Stanley.

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Camden Property Trust (NYSE: CPT) was started with a Neutral rating and was assigned a $139 price target (versus $126.60 prior close) at Goldman Sachs.

Core Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ: CORZ) was started as Buy with a $16 price target (versus $9.40 prior close) at Needham & Co.

GitLab Inc. (NASDAQ: GTLB) closed down 5.7% at $44.68 on Tuesday but the stock’s post-earnings reaction was last seen up 12.5% at $50.30 on Wednesday. GitLab was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $68 from $66 at BofA Securities. GitLab was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $62 from $59 at R.W. Baird.

Invitation Homes Inc. (NYSE: INVH) was started as Buy and was assigned a $46 price target (versus $37.27 prior close) at Goldman Sachs.

Larimar Therapeutic, Inc. (NASDAQ: LRMR) closed down 12.5% at $6.92 on Tuesday. Larimar Therapeutics was started as Outperform with a $16 target price at R. W. Baird.

Liberty Latin America Ltd. (NASDAQ: LILAK) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and its price target raised to $10.50 from $9.30 (versus $9.41 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: LYV) was started as Buy and was assigned a $125 price objective (versus $95.34 prior close) at BofA Securities.

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE: MAA) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $187 price target (versus $163.57 prior close) at Goldman Sachs.

nVent Electric plc (NYSE: NVT) was down 6.77% to $63.36 on Tuesday’s sell-off, but KeyBanc Capital Markets raised its rating to Overweight from Sector Weight with a $80 price target after the drop.

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OneStream, Inc. (NASDAQ: OS) was reiterated as Overweight and its target was raised to $34 from $32 at Piper Sandler. OneStream was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $35 from $33 at Needham & Co. OneStream was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $35 from $32 at R.W. Baird.

PagerDuty, Inc. (NYSE: PD) was down 7.5% at $18.29 on Tuesday but its shares were down almost 14% more to $15.75 on Wednesday after the earnings report was digested. PagerDuty was reiterated as Neutral and its price target was lowered to $18 from $22 at R.W. Baird. BofA Securities maintained its Buy rating but cut its price objective to $23 from $28, and Morgan Stanley maintained its Equal-Weight rating and cut its target to $19 from $24.

Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $139 from $125 (versus $125.71 prior close) at BofA Securities.

PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTCT) was started as Outperform with a $44 price target (versus $33.41 close) at R.W. Baird.

ResMed Inc. (NYSE: RMD) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham & Co.

Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE: SG) was raised to Buy from Hold and its price target was raised to $43 from $31 (versus $29.27 prior close) at TD Cowen.

TeraWulf Inc. (NASDAQ: WULF) was started as Buy with a $6 price target (versus $3.82 prior close, after a 12.4% drop) at Needham & Co.

The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTD) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $135 price objective at BofA Securities. Trade Desk shares closed down 3.4% at $100.97 on Tuesday.

UDR, Inc. (NYSE: UDR) was started with a Sell rating and was assigned a $42 price target (versus $44.92 prior close) at Goldman Sachs.

Universal Health Services, inc. (NYSE: UHS) was reiterated as Outperform and its target was raised to $274 from $236 (versus $236.47 prior close) at R.W. Baird.

Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZS) was down 3.4% at $193.19 on Tuesday but the shares were last seen down another 16% at $162.00 on Wednesday morning after its annual guidance was weaker. Loop Capital maintained its Hold rating but lowered its price target to $170 from $200. Zscaler was maintained as Outperform but its price target as cut to $225 from $262 at R.W. Baird. Needham & Co. maintained its Strong Buy rating but cut its price target to $235 from $290.

In case you missed Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of Alphabet, Boeing, BofA, CME, Southwest, Verizon, Wells Fargo and many others.