A Good Day for Bears (Teddy Bears, That Is) — BBW Smashes Earnings + 3 Strong Buy Stocks

Happy Friday! It was a good day for bears (teddy bears, that is); things were a bit murkier for stock market superstar NVDA. Below, our writers Jessie Moore and Dan Simms break down what's hot, what's not, plus offer up three Strong Buy stocks from top-rated analysts.

🔥 HOT: Shares of Build-A-Bear Workshop (NYSE: BBW) gained 15.6% on Thursday after an unexpectedly upbeat earnings report. The company reported EPS of $0.64—a year-over-year growth of 12.3%—and revenue of $111.8 million—a year-over-year growth of 2.4%. The company is now up an even 40% YTD.

🥶 NOT: Shares of Dollar General (NYSE: DG) were down on Thursday after the company reported lower-than-expected earnings per share and revenue numbers. The company also announced that it was lowering its full-year guidance due to declining sales. DG is now down 38.6% on the year.

🔥 HOT: Cardiac device manufacturer The Cooper Companies (NASDAQ: COO) gained 11.9% on Thursday after reporting better-than-expected revenue and earnings for the second quarter. The company's EPS was 5.38% higher than the consensus prediction and its revenue was also slightly better than expected—$5.5 million above estimates. As a result of the positive earnings report, Wells Fargo and Baird both raised their price targets for the company.

🥶 NOT: Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) reported earnings on Thursday and, despite beating both its revenue and earnings estimates by about 5%, lost 6.4%. The company’s outlook for the current quarter was not as impressive as investors hoped, causing some people to take profits while the share price is still relatively high. Thursday’s loss hardly put a dent in the company’s impressive 138.8% YTD gain, but time will tell whether or not it can continue to beat the market.

📈 Want more? Check out the biggest winners and biggest losers on WSZ. 

Strong Buys: Top Picks from Top Wall Street Analysts 

Friends don’t let friends settle for ho-hum stock recommendations. With WallStreetZen's Top Analysts, you can see every analyst’s track record and average return, allowing you to put more or less “stock” in what they have to say. It’s a premium feature on our site, but we’ve unlocked a FREE sampling below: 

1- Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) 

Analyst/Firm: Atif Malik / Citigroup

Analyst ranking: Top 1% / average return +33.06% / win rate 71% 

Yesterday’s market close: $229.79

Price target: $255.00 

• Citigroup's Atif Malik just maintained their Strong Buy rating and $255 price target on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). Here’s why: 
• On 8/26, Apple announced that Luca Maestri, who became the company's CFO in 2014, will be resigning effective January 2025, and Kevin Parekh, who has been with the company for 11 years and is now the VP of Financial Planning and Analysis, will succeed him. Apple also announced that Mr. Maestri will stay with the company for another role.
• Overall, Malik said they see the transition as a "bit negative" for Apple, citing Maestri's contribution to Apple's 7% gross margin growth and the investor community's high respect for him, but maintains a Strong Buy rating with no change to the 1-year price target at this point. 

1-year chart for AAPL, courtesy TradingView

2- Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ: ULTA) 

Analyst/Firm: Susan Anderson / Canaccord Genuity

Analyst ranking: Top 6% / average return +20.82% / win rate 41% 

Yesterday’s market close: $367.58

Price target: $500.00 

• Despite lowering their price target from $522 to $500, Canaccord Genuity's Susan Anderson maintains a Strong Buy rating on Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ: ULTA). Here’s the story:
• Anderson said the catalyst for their price target move was Canaccord Genuity's decision to cut its estimates to account for "continued normalization in US beauty demand."
• The analyst added that another factor in their decision was an expectation that promotions are trending higher on a sequential basis in spite of healthy demand, which Anderson blamed on "slowing beauty demand and increased competition between Ulta Beauty and (privately held) Sephora."
• Forecasts stretch as high as $690 (+88%) for ULTA. Find out more.

1-year chart for ULTA, courtesy TradingView

3- Coterra Energy Inc. (NYSE: CTRA)

Analyst/Firm: Leo Mariani / Roth MKM

Analyst ranking: Top 1% / average return +54.85% / win rate 76% 

Yesterday’s market close: $24.43

Price target: $29.00 

• Roth MKM's Leo Mariani upgraded their rating on Coterra Energy (NYSE: CTRA) from Hold to Strong Buy on 8/27, and raised their price target by 16% from $25 to $29.
• Mariani attributed their upgrade and price target move to Coterra Energy's "relatively high natural gas exposure, which is expected to recover nicely in 2025, its solid balance sheet, high returns of capital to investors, and its strong execution on the oil production side.
• The analyst predicted that Coterra Energy will provide investors with "nice cash flow upside" in FY 2025 if natural gas prices recover meaningfully because it is lightly hedged.
• The current max 1-year forecast for CTRA suggests 70%+ growth. Learn more.

1-year chart for CTRA, courtesy TradingView

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