Always pay close attention to upgrades and downgrades.

While firms won’t always get it right, upgrades and downgrades are still worth paying attention to. Perhaps they’re seeing favorable industry trends that are impacting a covered stock. Maybe the financial health of a stock based on earnings or guidance is improving.

 Or, perhaps, they liked what they heard in a meeting with management. Whatever the case, it’s a good idea to look into the reasoning for a price upgrade.

At the same time, don’t blindly follow analysts into any ideas.

For one, there’s no such thing as a perfect analyst. Two, do your due diligence with technical and fundamental analysis. After all, the last thing you want to do is buy into a stock that’s become excessively overbought. Third, look at how other firms rate the same stock. 

Here are just a few of the most recent upgraded piquing our interest.

Dell (DELL)

Deutsche Bank just resumed its coverage of Dell with a buy rating and a price target of $144.

“The firm expects Dell’s sales growth to accelerate into the double-digits over the next several quarters, saying the company benefits from a “confluence of tailwinds across key segments,” where it is a share leader. This includes ongoing momentum in artificial intelligence servers alongside a recovery in traditional servers and storage,” noted TheFly.com.

Analysts at Mizuho also initiated an outperform rating on Dell with a $135 price target.

Even better, the tech company just declared a $0.445 per share dividend, which is payable on November 1 to shareholders of record as of October 22. 

Costco (COST)

Goldman Sachs just reiterated a buy rating on Costco with a price target of $995. The firm says it still has confidence in COST’s value proposition resonating with customers.

COST also just posted mixed earnings. EPS of $5.29 beat estimates by 23 cents. However, revenue, up 1% year over year, missed by $340 million.

Apple (AAPL)

Bank of America also reiterated a buy rating on Apple, noting “Apple Intelligence opening up new ways to monetize an attractive installed base of users,” as quoted by CNBC.

In addition, Evercore ISI analysts have an outperform rating on the stock with a price target of $250. “The firm’s analysis highlighted a mixed picture in the Chinese market, where smartphone shipments rose by 26.7% year-over-year in August, a deceleration from the 30.4% growth observed in the previous month. Apple, specifically, saw a 12.9% year-over-year decline in shipments, a reversal from growth in July and June,” added Investing.com.

“Despite the recent dip, Evercore ISI advises caution in interpreting these figures, citing past discrepancies between shipment data and Apple’s reported revenue.”