Stocks have been sliding this week, and Wednesday’s 943-point drop in the Dow Jones industrials was based on rising coronavirus cases, unrest and weak earnings reactions. Thursday’s futures indications had been positive overnight, but the indexes were indicated to open lower by 0.2% or so despite lower jobless claims and despite a 33.1% rise in third-quarter gross domestic product. Ahead of the election, many investors are looking for new ideas about how to be positioned heading into 2021.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls 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 seen on Thursday, October 29, 2020.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) was reiterated as Overweight and its price target was raised to $275 from $273 at Morgan Stanley. BofA Securities reiterated it as Buy but cut its price objective to $265 from $275. SVB Leerink reiterated its Market Perform rating and cut its target to $243 from $261. The stock closed down 3.17% at $216.38 a share ahead of earnings and was indicated down 1.1% at $214.00 after the report.

Blackstone Group Inc. (NYSE: BX) was raised to Outperform from Perform with a $58 price target at Oppenheimer. The stock closed down 3.05% at $50.29 per share and has a $61.63 consensus target price.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was maintained as Underweight and its target price was cut to $165 from $181 at Morgan Stanley. Boeing closed down 4.57% at $148.14 per share on Wednesday and was indicated to open flat on Thursday.

Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) was down 5.5% at $34.07 on Wednesday after earnings. Morgan Stanley cut its target price to $41 from $48 but maintained its Overweight rating.

Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY) was down 4.2% at $139.64 on Wednesday and was indicated down 1.37% at $137.73 ahead of Thursday’s open after earnings. Morgan Stanley reiterated it as Underweight but raised its price target to $74 from $68. Wedbush Securities reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $165 from $155, and Needham reiterated it as Buy and raised its price target from $150 to $155. KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $160 from $150, while Canaccord Genuity reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $170 from $160.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) was down 0.56% at $53.25 per share ahead of earnings, and the stock was indicated down another 4.2% at $51.00 after the report. Morgan Stanley maintained it as Equal Weight and cut its target price to $57 from $62. BofA Securities reiterated it as Neutral and raised its price objective from $62 to $64, and Wedbush reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $65 from $64.