The futures traded lower on Monday as investors return after a furious end of the week rally that saw all of the major indexes close higher along with the transportation index. The across-the-board strength and the continued talking down of the inflation scenario helped to feed the buying, as investors risk appetite returned. Note though that despite the strong two-day rally, all the indexes ended lower for the week. With most first-quarter earnings reports released, investors are starting to factor in the potential for a sideways trading market for the summer as volume slows while travel returns.

Despite the concerns across Wall Street for tapering of the quantitative easing program and clear building inflationary pressures, the Federal Reserve is vowing to keep interest rates contained, which could be one reason for the continued moves higher in the equity markets, even after sell-offs. Note 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 balance 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 Monday, May 17, 2021.

Aligos Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGS): Piper Sandler resumed coverage of the stock with an Overweight rating and a $47 price target. The consensus target is much lower at $35, and the stock closed Friday at $21.19, which was down almost 7% for the day.

American Assets Trust Inc. (NYSE: AAT): KeyBanc Capital Markets raised Sector Weight rating to Overweight and has a $42 price target. The consensus target is lower at $32.13. The stock was last seen Friday trading at $34.97 a share.
BRF S.A. (NYSE: BRFS): Barclays downgraded it to Underweight from Equal Weight. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $2.85 to $4.84 and has a $5.36 consensus price target. The shares closed Friday at $3.99.

Decker’s Outdoors Corp. (NASDAQ: DECK): Telsey Advisory raised the price target on the shares to $375 from $355, after the company posted impressive fiscal third-quarter results. The consensus price objective is up at $390.75, and Friday’s final trade was reported at $335.75, after almost a 4% gain for the day.

DoubleVerify Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DV): This company had a recent initial public offering, and Goldman Sachs started coverage with a Buy rating and a $47 price target. JPMorgan has an Outperform rating with a $40 target. Needham checks in with a Buy rating and a $41 price objective, and Canaccord Genuity’s Buy rating comes with a $40 target. The stock closed trading on Friday at $30.86.

Foot Locker Inc. (NYSE: FL): Telsey Advisory raised its $56 price target on the popular shoe retailer to $60. The consensus target is $59.17, but the stock closed above both levels at $64.60 on Friday.

Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: HALO): SVB Leerink started coverage at Outperform with a $56 price target. That compares with the lower consensus target of $49.40 and Friday’s closing print of $43.03.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB): Zacks selected this as its Bear of the Day, suggesting that the pandemic boost looks to be over for this consumer staples giant. Shares last closed at $ 134.18, and the consensus price target is $141.81.

KnowBe4 Inc. (NASDAQ: KNBE): This is another company that had a recent initial public offering. Goldman Sachs started the shares with a Buy rating and a $25 price target. Canaccord Genuity has a Buy rating with a $26 target, while UBS and Citigroup both started coverage with a Neutral rating and a $21 price target. The last trade on Friday came in at $18.69, which was up 6.5% on the day. The shares followed through in the premarket with an additional 4% gain.

Lion Electric Co. (NYSE: LEV): National Bank Financial started covering the stock with an Outperform rating and a $20 price target. No consensus target was available, and the shares popped almost 8% in Friday’s session to close at $15.09.

Mirati Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: MRTX): Oppenheimer’s downgrade was to Perform from Outperform. The stock has traded in a wide 52-week range of $91.90 to $249.42, and it has a consensus price objective of $237.22. The last trade for Friday came in at $156.62.

NeuroPace Inc. (NASDAQ: NPCE): SVB Leerink started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $25 price target. No consensus price objective was available. The stock closed on Friday at $20.91.
Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY): Societe Generale’s upgrade of the energy giant to Buy from Hold included a $30 price target. The $30.09 consensus target was in line, and Friday’s final print of $25.10 came after an almost 6% rise for the day.

Opendoor Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN) Goldman Sachs started coverage with a Neutral rating and a $17 price target. The posted consensus target is much higher at $34.80. Friday’s $15.12 per share close came after an almost 7% gain on the day.

Skywater Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: SKYT): Cowen started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $26 price target. The consensus target was not available, as the company had a recent initial public offering. The shares closed on Friday at $19.67.

Texas Roadhouse Inc. (NASDAQ: TXRH): This was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that a thriving to-go and meal-kit business helped reignite growth for this restaurant chain. Also, Deutsche Bank raised the popular casual dining restaurant to Buy from Hold and has a $116 price target. Shares most recently closed at $98.55 and have a consensus price target of $111.00.

Trip.com Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: TCOM): Morgan Stanley has a $50 price target and raised its Equal Weight rating to Overweight. The consensus price objective is $43.90. The last trade for Friday hit the tape at $37.51, which was up over 4% on the day.

Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB): Argus raised it to Buy from Hold and has a $30 price target. That compares with the $27.43 consensus target and Friday’s last print of $25.89.

Zions Bancorp. N.A. (NASDAQ: ZION): Baird downgraded it to Underperform from Neutral, and the firm has a $49 price target. The consensus price objective is higher at $60.67, and the last Friday trade came in at $60.20. As it is trading right at a 52-week high, this could be a valuation call.

24/7 Wall St. screened the BofA Securities cybersecurity software research universe looking for the top stocks that are rated Buy and found four that offer big upside to current price levels and solid growth prospects going forward.

Friday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included AMC Networks, Aurora Cannabis, Dropbox, General Electric, Kimberly-Clark, Live Nation, Petrobras and Snowflake. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Airbnb, DoorDash, MongoDB, SolarWinds and more.

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