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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Crocs, Gap, GW Pharma, Lowe's, Merck, Nio, Palo Alto, Phillips 66, Starbucks, Vital Farms and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: August 25, 2020 9:06 am

Last Updated: August 25, 2020 9:22 am

Stocks surged on Monday with the S&P 500 hitting another all-time high. The indexes were trading higher on Tuesday, with average gains of about 0.5% in Dow Jones industrials and S&P 500 futures. The S&P 500 is now up well over 50% from the March panic selling lows, but with earnings season winding down many investors feel as though they may have missed out on the recovery rally. This is a time when investors should be considering new ideas for how to be positioned in the rest of 2020 and ahead of the election.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week in an effort to find new ideas for long-term investors and short-term traders alike. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

Remember that no single analyst call should ever be used as a basis to buy or sell a stock. Consensus analyst target data is from Refinitiv.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from Tuesday, August 25, 2020.

Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACAD) was started with an Outperform rating and a $65 target price (versus a $38.00 prior close) at Raymond James.

arGEN-X S.E. (NASDAQ: ARGX) was started as Outperform with a $257 target price (versus a $232.77 close) at Raymond James.

Builders FirstSource Inc. (NASDAQ: BLDR) was reiterated as Buy and its target was raised to $33 from $27 (versus a $28.62 close) at Truist Securities.

Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its target price was raised to $46 from $35 (versus a $39.34 close) at B. Riley FBR.

Forte Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: FBRX) was started as Buy and a $70 target price (versus a $24.70 close) at Truist Securities.

Galapagos N.V. (NASDAQ: GLPG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its target price was raised to $24 from $12 (versus a $15.50 close) at Citigroup.

Global Blood Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: GBT) was started as Outperform and its price target was set at $115 (versus a $62.61 close) at Raymond James.

GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ: GWPH) was started with a Market Perform rating at Raymond James.

L Brands Inc. (NYSE: LB) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $40 target price (versus a $29.63 close) at MKM Partners.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $190 from $160 (versus a $165.63 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) was reiterated as Outperform and its target price was raised to $100 from $95 (versus an $85.42 close) at SVB Leerink.

Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTA) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at H.C. Wainwright.

NeoPhotonics Corp. (NASDAQ: NPTN) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.

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Nio Ltd. (NYSE: NIO) was raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS. Shares closed up 6% at $14.97 on Monday, with a $12.24 consensus price target.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) was started as Overweight with a $145 target price at Wells Fargo.

Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. (NASDAQ: ODFL) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Stifel.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) closed down almost 1% at $267.07 ahead of earnings and traded down 2.3% at $261.00 ahead of Tuesday’s opening bell. Wedbush Securities reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target price to $300 from $270.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) was reiterated as Outperform but its price target was lowered to $75 from $90 at Raymond James.

Portland General Electric Co. (NYSE: POR) was last seen trading down 9.5% at $38.00 on Tuesday, after having lowered its full-year guidance after the close on Monday. BofA Securities downgraded it to Neutral from Buy.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that airline travel never stopped and people have slowly returned to the skies, but the cruise outlook remains bleak. Shares last closed at $64.43 and have a consensus price target of $30.50.

Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT) was started with an Outperform rating and a $200 target price (versus a $141.20 close) at Raymond James.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $90 target price at Stifel.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that shares have jumped 25% in the past month as Wall Street gushes over its recent blowout quarter. Shares most recently closed at $153.24 and have a consensus price target of $158.73.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) was reiterated as Outperform but its target price was lowered to $63 from $69 (versus a $54.99 close) at Raymond James.

Vital Farms Inc. (NASDAQ: VITL) has seen its quiet period end and its shares closed up 6.5% at $39.38 on Monday. Jefferies started as Buy with a $47 target, Stifel started it as Buy with a $43 target, Morgan Stanley started it as Equal Weight with a $37 target, BMO Capital markets started it as Market Perform with a $40 price target. Goldman Sachs started it as Neutral with a $37 target, and Credit Suisse started it as Neutral with a $35 target.

Zogenix Inc. (NASDAQ: ZGNX) was started with a Market Perform rating at Raymond James. Shares closed at $22.93 and had a $48.36 consensus price target.

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When looking for value, we screened all the S&P 500 stocks that were down and identified 40 that are still 30% to 50% lower so far in 2020 that could be turnaround candidates for 2021. None of them is in oil, real estate investment trusts, retail or travel, to avoid those that cannot recover if there is no treatment or vaccine for COVID-19.

Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Advanced Micro Devices, Apple, Ballard Power Systems, Best Buy, Deere, Dell Technologies, Facebook, Pinterest, Snap and  Zoom Video Communications.