The futures were mixed this Wednesday, St. Patrick’s Day, as we saw the Nasdaq catch a bid Tuesday before backing up, and the S&P 500 hit an all-time intraday high before closing lower. The Dow Jones industrials finally saw a string of four days in a row where the venerable index hit all-time highs come to an end. With stimulus checks showing up in bank accounts, spring break upon us and the economy looking for a strong rebound, Wall Street strategists are becoming increasingly bullish on the potential for very strong economic growth this quarter and for the entire year.

Despite the strong gains, top strategists 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 the current volatility may be here for some time.

Wall Street analysts have been examining earnings results and also 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 across the board, it makes sense for investors to continue building some cash reserves into the market strength, while repositioning portfolios for the start of the second quarter and 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 Wednesday, March 17, 2021.

Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank, which has a $36 price target on the aluminum giant. The Wall Street consensus target is just $25.41. The stock closed trading on Tuesday at $29.52.

Altice USA Inc. (NYSE: ATUS) was started at Wells Fargo with an Equal Weight rating and a $33 price target. The consensus target is higher at $41.19, and the stock was last seen on Tuesday at $34.85.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was added to the Fresh Picks list at Baird. Shares of the retail and technology giant have traded in a 52-week range of $1,745 to $3,552.25 and have a $3,999.36 consensus price target. The stock was last seen on Tuesday trading at $3,091.86.

Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) was started with an Overweight rating at Wells Fargo, which has a massive $763 price target for the cable and communications heavyweight. That compares with a lower $713.03 consensus target and the final Tuesday trade at $639.65, after almost a 3% gain for the day.

Credit Suisse Group A.G. (NYSE: CS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Kepler. Shares of the European banking and brokerage giant have traded in a 52-week range of $6.47 to $14.95 and have a consensus price target of $15.08. The closing share price on Tuesday was $12.90.

Funko Inc. (NASDAQ: FNKO) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at BMO Capital Markets, which also raised the price target to $16. The consensus target is $15.04. The shares ended trading Tuesday at $17.96, down almost 5% on the day. They rallied over 2% in premarket trading.

Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Sandler, which raised the price target on the chocolate giant to $175. The consensus target is $161.88. Tuesday’s last trade was reported at $153.49.

JELD-WEN Holding Inc. (NASDAQ: JELD) was started with an Outperform rating and a $33 price target at Wolfe Research. The consensus target is $30, and the stock closed on Tuesday at $28.38.

Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT) saw its price target raised to $85 from $72 at Wedbush, which added the stock to its Best Ideas list. The consensus price target for the ride-sharing company is $65.40, and the shares closed Tuesday at $64.69, down over 4% on the day.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank, which has a $244 price target on the fast-food behemoth. That compares with the consensus target of $241.81 and Tuesday’s final trade of $219.86.

Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ: MERC) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse. Yet, the firm raised the price target to $18. The posted consensus price objective is $16.40. The stock closed trading at $15.17 on Tuesday.
Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Truist Securities. The shares have traded in a wide 52-week range of $2.70 to $75.49 and have a consensus price target of $63.83. The stock retreated over 8% on Tuesday and closed at $42.68. The shares were hammered in premarket action, down an additional 19%. The company announced a restatement of financials to go along with accounting errors.

Roper Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ROP) was raised at Oppenheimer from Perform to Outperform with a $460 price target. The consensus target is $451.22. The stock closed on Tuesday at $387.98.

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen, which also raised the target price on the hard disk drive maker to $95 from $66. That compares with the $75.95 consensus price objective and Tuesday’s closing print of $75.48.

Smartsheet Inc. (NASDAQ: SMAR) was raised at JPMorgan from Neutral to Overweight with an $83 price target. The consensus target is $78.60 and Tuesday’s close was at $68.62 a share.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) saw its $108 price target at Telsey Advisory raised to $120. The firm also lifted estimates on the coffee retailing giant. The consensus target is $110.17. The shares were closed Tuesday trading at $111.34 apiece.

Qualtrics International Inc. (NYSE: XM) was started with a Hold rating and a $40 price target at HSBC Securities. The consensus price objective is higher at $48. The stock was last seen on Tuesday at $36.01, after pulling back almost 3% on the day.

Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SPCE) was started with a Buy rating and a $50 price target at Truist Securities. The consensus target is down at $38.50. Tuesday’s last trade was reported at $32.51, which was almost 7% lower for the day.

With the first quarter soon coming to an end, now is the time to move from momentum to strong growth stocks, and four Goldman Sachs tech and biotech stock picks could offer extra strength in a pricey stock market.

See what Goldman Sachs expects from the biggest U.S. airlines and what Stifel has to say about Roblox during its quiet period. Plus, the SEC comes down hard on a trader’s misleading tweets, and Volkswagen is making things tough for Apple.

Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Adobe, Altria, AstraZeneca, CrowdStrike, Microsoft, Roblox, Starbucks, Ulta Beauty and Zoom Video Communications. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Autodesk, Darden, Nike, Oracle and more.

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