The futures traded higher on Thursday morning after a strong day Wednesday in which the Dow Jones industrials closed at an all-time high, while the S&P 500 closed higher and the Nasdaq slightly lower. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the massive $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, which will head to the president to sign. Some feel that the $1,400 stimulus checks could start going out as early as next week.

Despite the big follow-through Wednesday, top analysts on Wall Street continue pointing to “bubble” metrics, like the massive “meme” retail stock and option trading, huge hedge fund leverage and IPOs that don’t make money as examples, so last week’s volatility may stick around.

With the fourth-quarter earnings season all but over, Wall Street analysts have been examining the final results and looking to see what guidance for the balance of the first quarter and the rest of 2021 looks like. With major Wall Street firms still warning of the potential for impending 5% to 10% correction, it makes sense for investors to start building some cash reserves while repositioning portfolios for the rest of 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, March 11, 2021.

Accolade Inc. (NASDAQ: ACCD) was resumed in coverage with a Buy rating at Goldman Sachs. The shares have traded in a wide 52-week range of $0.55 to $65.25 and have a $58.56 consensus price objective. Wednesday’s last trade came in at $43.13.

ADT Inc. (NYSE: ADT) was raised at Deutsche Bank from Hold to Buy with a $10 price target. That compares with a consensus for the home security giant of $10.28 and Wednesday’s close at $7.93 a share.

APA Corp. (NYSE: APA) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley, which raised the price target to $25. The consensus target is $21.22, and the shares were last seen on Wednesday at $21.63.

Antero Resources Corp. (NYSE: AR) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley, which raised the price target to $11. The consensus target is $10.50, and the stock closed Wednesday at $10.34, up almost 12% on the day.

Camping World Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CWH) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets. The firm also raised the price target to $50 from $35. The consensus target is $41.50. The stock was last seen at $37.95, up over 3% on Wednesday, and shares were an additional 4% higher in Thursday’s premarket.

Cerence Inc. (NASDAQ: CRNC) was raised from Hold to Buy with a $117 price target at Berenberg. The consensus target is higher at $128.80. Wednesday’s last trade was reported at $101.67, after almost a 7% rise for the day.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was raised from Hold to Buy with a $124 target price at DZ Bank. The consensus target for the energy behemoth is $111.41. The stock closed on Wednesday at $111.37 a share.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo, which also raised the price target to $370 from $340. The consensus target is $377.53. The stock closed on Wednesday at $323.83 a share.

D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI) was raised at JPMorgan from Neutral to Overweight with a $105 price target. The consensus target for the homebuilder is just $95.47 and the last trade for Wednesday was reported at $82.09, almost 3% higher for the day. Shares were up another 2% in the premarket.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer. The industrial giant’s stock has traded in a 52-week range of $5.48 to $14.42 and has a $12.90 consensus price objective. Wednesday’s close was at $13.25, after a pullback of almost 6% for the day.

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE: KNX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS, though it raised the price target to $49. The consensus target is $51.59. Shares closed Wednesday trading at $44.56 apiece.

MercadoLibre Inc. (NASDAQ: MELI) was raised from Neutral to Buy with a $1,720 price target at BTIG Research. That compares with the higher $1,926.72 consensus target and Wednesday’s final print of $1,435.57.

Nio Ltd. (NYSE: NIO) was started with a Buy rating and a $60 price target at Mizuho. The consensus target for the electric vehicle company is $57.46. Wednesday’s last trade was posted at $41.32.

Noodles & Co. (NASDAQ: NDLS) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Sandler, where the price target was raised to $14. The consensus target is $12.40. The stock closed at $10.97 on Wednesday. Shares were up almost 13% in premarket trading.
Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) was raised to Peer Perform from Underperform at Wolfe Research, which raised the price target on the energy giant to $30. The consensus target is $25.20. The shares closed Wednesday at $29.36, up almost 3% for the day.

Plains All American Pipeline L.P. (NYSE: PAA) was downgraded to Peer Perform from Outperform at Wolfe Research, which has a $10 price target. The consensus target is higher at $11.56, and the stock was last seen trading at $9.76 on Wednesday.

Qorvo Inc. (NASDAQ: QRVO) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays, which also raised the price target to $200. The consensus target is $190.50. The final trade for Wednesday came in at $165.37.

Regis Corp. (NYSE: RGS) was named the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that the pandemic is beginning to subside but that does not mean business as usual for everyone. Shares last closed at $12.47, but the consensus price target is $11.00.

Vir Biotechnology Inc. (NASDAQ: VIR) saw its price target raised to $66 from $59 at Goldman Sachs, which has a Buy rating on the shares. The consensus target is up at $82.20. The stock closed Wednesday at $46.82, up over 4% on the day, and the shares rocketed higher in the premarket after the company said its experimental COVID-19 treatment, being developed with GlaxoSmithKline, significantly reduced hospitalization and death in high-risk adults.

Note that the analysts at BofA Securities have made some big changes to the firm’s US 1 List of top stock recommendations.

In addition, Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest just bought half a million shares of Roblox Corp. (NYSE: RBLX). Short sellers have shied away from both Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) and traditional carmakers. And see why General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) has announced a big reverse stock split.

Wednesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Airbnb, Apple, Chevron, Fortinet, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Old Dominion Freight Line and Stratasys. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on DraftKings, H&R Block, Novartis and more.

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