The futures were lower on Thursday after a very weak Wednesday on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrials and the S&P 500 managed to close with mild losses, while the Nasdaq and the Russell 2000 were absolutely hammered. The Nasdaq closed down over 2%. Much of the selling is end-of-quarter related, as there will be a massive pension rebalancing, where an estimated $61 billion in securities will be sold for month and quarter end.

Top strategists on Wall Street continue pointing to “bubble” metrics, like the massive “meme” retail stock and option trading by the WallStreetBets crowd, huge hedge fund leverage and IPOs that make no money as examples. Many of the Reddit stocks were the ones that were worked over on Wednesday.

With major Wall Street firms still warning of the potential for impending 5% to 10% correction across the board, which may very well have started, 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 Thursday, March 25, 2021.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Northland Capital, which raised the price target on the semiconductor leader to $96 from $84. The consensus target is higher at $102.86. The shares ended Wednesday trading at $76.48.

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE: AB) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup, which lowered the price target to $40. The consensus target for the money management firm is $40 as well. The last trade for Wednesday was reported at $40.00, which was down just over 2%.

Ameresco Inc. (NYSE: AMRC) was started with an Outperform rating and a $51 price target at Baird. The consensus target is $74.50, and the stock closed on Wednesday at $40.65.

Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: BW) was started with a Buy rating and a $10 price target at D.A. Davidson. The consensus target is set lower at $7.58, and the shares were last seen on Wednesday at $6.44.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, which raised the price target on the legacy technology giant to $50. The posted consensus target is $51.30. The stock closed Wednesday at $49.65.

Clearway Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: CWEN) was raised to Outperform from Peer Perform with a $33 price target at Wolfe Research. No consensus target was available, and the shares closed Wednesday at $25.88.

Curis Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS) was started with a Buy rating and a $19 price target at B. Riley Securities. The consensus price objective is $17.20, and Wednesday’s last trade came in at $10.31.

eHealth Inc. (NASDAQ: EHTH) was downgraded at Goldman Sachs from Buy to Neutral with a $63 price target. The consensus target is $70.36, and the stock was last seen on Wednesday at $67.10. As it is trading close to a 52-week high, this could be a valuation call.

First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: FR) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs, which raised the price target to $46. The consensus price objective is $46.64, and the stock closed on Wednesday at $45.67.

Freshpet Inc. (NASDAQ: FRPT) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that this high-growth, high-end pet food company took a stumble after releasing fourth-quarter earnings results. Shares last closed at $144.41 and have a consensus price target of $167.08.

Graphic Packaging Holding Co. (NYSE: GPK) was started at Wells Fargo with an Overweight rating and a $23 price target. The consensus target is $19.20, and Wednesday’s closing share price was $17.36.

Hercules Capital Inc. (NYSE: HTGC) was started with an Outperform rating and a $17 price target at RBC Capital Markets. The consensus target is $16.70, and the stock closed on Wednesday at $15.62.

iHeartMedia Inc. (NASDAQ: IHRT) was raised from Peer Perform to Outperform with a $24 price target at Wolfe Research. The consensus target for the broadcasting company is $15.33. The stock pulled back over 6% on Wednesday and closed at $16.05.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was raised to Buy from Hold at DZ Bank, which has a $76 price target for the venerable semiconductor giant. The consensus target is $65.04, and the shares ended Wednesday’s trading session at $62.04.

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE: IFF) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Berenberg, which also raised the price target to $160. That compares with a lower consensus target of $147.25 and Wednesday’s closing price of $136.43 a share.
Marker Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: MRKR) was started with an Overweight rating and a $6 price target at Piper Sandler. The consensus target is $6.67. The last trade for Wednesday was reported at $2.33.

Maxar Technologies Inc. (NYSE: MAXR) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan, though the firm lowered the price target to $47. The consensus target is much higher at $60.52. The stock closed Wednesday at $33.64, down over 8% on the day, but the shares were fighting back in the premarket.

Playtika Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: PLTK) was started with a Buy rating at MKM Partners. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $25.27 to $35.09 and have a consensus price target of $24.44. The stock was last seen at $25.45 on Wednesday.

Pulmonx Corp. (NASDAQ: LUNG) was started at Neutral with a $50 price target at Piper Sandler. The consensus price objective is up at $62.20, and the shares were last seen on Wednesday at $51.26.

ViacomCBS Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at MoffettNathanson, which lowered the price target on the broadcasting and programming giant to $55. The consensus target is $58. The stock closed Wednesday at $70.10, down a stunning 23% for the day on the heels of a giant secondary stock and convertible offering. The stock was down another 5% in premarket trading.

Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that the future looks bright for this home furnishings retailer despite tough year-over-year comparisons. Shares most recently closed at $165.83 but recently hit an all-time high of $184.32.

Five outstanding BofA Securities value stock picks should continue to do well as the strong rotation to value continues. Toss in the added bonus of healthy dividends and there is a strong case for very proactive total return potential with much lower volatility and risk.

Find out who is taking Tesla to task over privacy concerns, and why one key analyst now favors aluminum over copper. Also, which analyst thinks Apple is ready to make another run?

Wednesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Alcoa, Apple, Cloudflare, Continental Resources, Freeport-McMoRan, GameStop, Infosys and Zscaler. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on CME, Intel, Verizon and more.

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