The futures were higher across the board on Thursday, the first trading day for the second quarter. Both the S&P 500, which closed at an all-time high, and the Nasdaq posted strong gains Wednesday, while the Dow Jones industrials closed lower. All eyes on Wall Street are now focused on Friday and the nonfarm payroll numbers for March. While there has been a spike in COVID-19 cases that temporarily may slow the reopening of the economy, strategists are very positive on the potential for big economic growth in the second quarter and the rest of the year.

While top strategists on Wall Street continue pointing to “bubble” metrics, like the massive “meme” retail stock and option trading by the WallStreetBets and Robinhood crowd, some say that volume is starting to wane. However, additional huge hedge fund leverage similar to Archegos Capital, (which blew up late last week) and initial public offerings that don’t make money continue to show elevated risk tolerance.

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 Thursday, April 1, 2021.

Acuity Brands Inc. (NYSE: AYI) saw its target price raised to $181 from $133 at Cowen. That compares with a much lower consensus target of $140.71. The shares were last seen on Wednesday at $165, a more than 13% gain after the industrial technology company reported better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter earnings, mainly driven by gross margin expansion.

Carnival Corp. & PLC (NYSE: CCL) was started at Citigroup with a Buy rating and a $30 price target. The consensus target for the cruise line operator is $23.26, and the stock closed Wednesday at $26.54.

Dow Inc. (NYSE: DOW) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that increasing margins and improving demand leave upside for this stock. Shares most recently closed at $63.94 but have a consensus price target of $60.59.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS, though the analyst raised the price target on the financial and Wall Street leader to $340 from $320. The consensus target is $352.69, and the stock ended trading on Wednesday at $327.

ICON PLC (NASDAQ: ICLR) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Wells Fargo, which raised the price target to $235 from $200. The consensus target is $224.15, and the stock ended Wednesday’s trading session at $196.37.

Insulet Corp. (NASDAQ: PODD) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at SVB Leerink, which raised the price target to $320 from $275. The consensus target is much lower at $282.19. The last trade for Wednesday came in at $260.92. Shares were up over 10% in Thursday’s premarket.

Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) was started at Citigroup with a Buy rating and an $862 price target. The consensus target for the robotics surgery giant is $781.27. The final trade for Wednesday came in at $738.94 a share.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) saw its price target raised to $105 from $100 at Cowen. The consensus target for the memory and storage products leader is up at $110.32. The stock closed Wednesday at $88.21, and shares were up over 4% in the premarket after the company reported earnings that topped estimates.

Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO) was raised from Market Perform to Outperform with a $337 price target at Raymond James. The consensus target is $323.25, and the last trade Wednesday was reported at $298.61.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was started with an Outperform rating and a $605 price target at Piper Sandler. The consensus target for the streaming and programming leader is up at $619.43. The stock closed at $521.66 on Wednesday.

Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) was resumed in coverage at Wedbush with a Neutral rating and a $54 price target. The consensus objective for the venerable tech giant is much higher at $72.24. The shares closed Wednesday at $70.17.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Sandler, though the firm raised the price target on the energy giant to $85 from $80. The higher consensus target is $91.44, and Wednesday’s closing print was $81.54.
Rackspace Technology Inc. (NYSE: RXT) was started with an Outperform rating at William Blair. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $15.25 to $25.76 and has a $26.88 consensus price objective. Wednesday’s final trade came in at $23.78.

S&P Global Inc. (NASDAQ: SPGI) was raised from Market Perform to Outperform with a $402 price target at Raymond James. The consensus price objective is $401.38. Wednesday’s closing share price was $352.87.

Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) was started with an Outperform rating and a $65 price target at Wolfe Research. The consensus target for the social media star is $75.12, and the stock closed Wednesday at $52.29, which was up over 5% for the day.

Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE: SPOT) was started at Peer Perform with a $260 price target at Wolfe Research. That compares with the much higher $311.11 consensus and Wednesday’s last trade of $267.95, following a 4% gain for the day.

uniQure N.V. (NYSE: QURE) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Mizuho, where the analyst has set a $52 price target. The consensus objective is $67.65, and the last Wednesday trade was reported at $33.69.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was started at Wolfe Research with a Peer Perform rating and a $65 price target. The posted consensus target for the social media giant is $69.72, and the stock closed on Wednesday at $63.63 per share.

Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT) was raised at Raymond James from Outperform to Strong Buy with a $67 price target. The higher $72.06 consensus target is also well above Wednesday’s closing print of $48.07.

Despite a sell-off, Goldman Sachs feels many top software stocks are still trading with reasonable valuation. Five of them have very solid upside potential to the firm’s price targets and may make sense for aggressive growth investors looking to add software exposure.

See which analyst is growing more bullish about Apple and what has pot stocks jumping.

Wednesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Apple, Applied Materials, BP, Bumble, Carrier, Harley-Davidson, Hess, Illumina, Johnson Controls and Lennar. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on BlackBerry, Lam Research, Shopify, Square and more.

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