The futures were mixed on Tuesday as investors prepare for a huge week of first-quarter earnings, with more than a third of the S&P 500 expected to report. While the path of least resistance for the stock market seems to be higher, especially with the S&P 500 printing another all-time high Monday, many across Wall Street continue sounding concerns over the 43.4% capital gains tax and higher corporate taxes proposed by the Biden administration. In addition, the progressive calls for more unemployment spending are coming at a time when many companies are desperately trying to hire employees as the economy opens up.

The Federal Reserve pledges to keep interest rates contained could be among the reasons for the continued moves higher in the equity markets. It also should be noted that money markets continue to see massive inflows, which is another big plus.

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 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 Tuesday, April 27, 2021.

Airbnb Inc. (NASDAQ: ABNB): Needham started coverage with a Buy rating and $210 price target. The consensus target is just $188.26. The stock was last seen on Monday trading at $174.88.

Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA): Citigroup started coverage with a Buy rating and a $104 price target. The posted consensus target is $97.23, and the stock closed Monday’s trading at $68.75.

Bank of Princeton (NASDAQ: BPRN): Boenning & Scattergood upgraded the stock to Outperform from Neutral and have a $33 price target. The consensus target is $33.33, and the stock closed Monday at $27.71.

Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW): Credit Suisse upgraded the shares to Outperform from Neutral and raised the price target to $86. The consensus target for the legacy discount brokerage is $78.10. Monday’s last trade came in at $67.77.

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG): Needham started coverage with a Buy rating and an $81 price target. The consensus target for the online gambling company is $73.31, and the final trade on  Monday came in at $59.23.

GasLog Partners L.P. (NYSE: GLOP): Jefferies raised the stock to Buy from Hold and has a $4 target price. The consensus price objective is $3.80, and Monday’s last trade was posted at $2.52.

Generac Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: GNRC): Piper Sandler starts the home generator company with an Overweight rating and a $400 price target. The consensus price objective is $389.64. Monday’s last trade was posted at $330.82.

Genius Sports Ltd. (NYSE: GENI): Oppenheimer started coverage with a Buy rating and a $25 price target. No consensus target was available, and the shares closed Monday at $21.56.

Howard Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: HBMD): Stephens upgraded it to Overweight from Equal Weight and raised the target price to $19.50. The consensus price target is $18.17. Monday’s closing price was $16.33.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM): Atlantic Equities downgraded the stock from Overweight to Neutral with a $150 price target. The consensus target for the financial powerhouse is $165.74. The shares were last seen Monday at $150.56.

Karooooo Ltd. (NASDAQ: KARO): BofA Securities started the shares with a Buy rating and a $52 price target. The company had a recent initial public offering, and no consensus target has been set. The shares ended trading on Monday at $37.

Penn National Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN): Redburn initiated coverage with a Buy rating. The shares have traded in a wide 52-week range of $14.31 to $142 and have a consensus price target of $108.85. Monday’s closing price was reported at $90.28.
Shutterstock Inc. (NASDAQ: SSTK): Needham started coverage with a Buy rating and a $105 price target. The consensus target is $98.40, and Monday’s final trade was recorded at $97.20.

Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK): Morgan Stanley’s downgrade to Equal Weight from Overweight included the price target lowered to $160. The consensus price target for the big data tech giant is much higher at $193.45. Monday’s final print came in at $134.

Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA): When Cowen upgraded it to Outperform from Market Perform the firm also raised the price target to $176. The much lower consensus target is $138.33, and Monday’s final trade was at $139.52.

3D Systems Corp. (NYSE: DDD): Zacks named this its Bear of the Day stock. The firm asked whether the company was ready to print some results or we are going to see another paper jam. Shares last closed at $23.15 and have a consensus price target of $24.83.

TrueBlue Inc. (NYSE: TBI): Baird upgraded the shares to Outperform from Neutral and also raised the price target to $29. The compares with a lower $22.40 consensus price objective and a Monday closing print of $23.06.

Uber Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: UBER): Needham started the ride-sharing giant with a Buy rating and a $77 price target. The consensus target is $69.94, and the final Monday trade hit the tape at $57.61.

United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS): Berenberg upgraded the venerable delivery company to Neutral from Sell and raised the price target to $150. The consensus target is much higher at $177.87. Monday’s last trade was reported at $175.81.

Sometimes, stocks that are perceived as growth stocks slip into value metrics, and that can lead to some big gains for investors. Four quality stock picks from Jefferies have those characteristics now.

Note that, even with short interest at a multiyear low overall, short sellers are still piling on Tesla and other EV makers, as well as tech giants Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft.

Monday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Best Buy, Discover Financial, Dollar General, Etsy, HCA Healthcare, KeyCorp, Simon Property, ViacomCBS and Weyerhaeuser. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Activision Blizzard, Baker Hughes and more.

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