The futures traded higher across the board on Friday after Thursday’s massive snapback rally that came on the heels of the S&P 500 having traded lower on six of the previous eight trading sessions. All the major indexes except the transportation index closed higher on solid volume and interest rates moved lower after Treasury securities were bought across the curve. Bitcoin traded higher after the recent massive selling, and technology stocks were also bid higher on the day after some recent serious selling.

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 Friday, May 21, 2021.

Allakos Inc. (NASDAQ: ALLK): Zacks named this the Bear of the Day stock, pointing out that missing the estimates in each of the last four quarters is never something you want to see in a stock, even a biotech like this. Shares last closed at $101.00, and the consensus price target is $148.67.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T): UBS upgraded shares of the venerable communication company to Buy from Neutral and also raised the price target to $35 from $32. The consensus target for the company that just made a massive move by merging WarnerMedia with Discovery is $30.21, and the stock closed Thursday trading at $29.64, which was up almost 3% for the day.

Asana Inc. (NYSE: ASAN): KeyBanc Capital Markets its Sector Weight rating to Overweight and has a $40 price objective. That compares with the $38.20 consensus target and Thursday’s close at $33.05 per share.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO): DZ Bank downgraded the venerable silicon valley tech giant to Hold from Buy and has a $51 price target. The consensus target is up at $55.32. The stock closed Thursday at $52.85.

Commscope Holding Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: COMM): Evercore ISI upgraded the shares to Outperform from Inline and also raised the target price to $24 from $19. The consensus target is $20.86, and the stock was last seen on Thursday at $18.41.

Datadog Inc. (NASDAQ: DDOG): Morgan Stanley upgraded it from Equal Weight to Overweight with a $111 price target. The$108.93 consensus target also compares with Thursday’s closing print of $88.12, which was up over 5% for the day.

Diamondback Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FANG): Scotiabank upgraded the Permian Basin leader to Sector Outperform from Sector Perform. It also raised the price target to $95 from $86. The last trade on Thursday hit the tape at $76.53.

Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH): Benchmark started coverage with a Buy rating and a $62 price target. The consensus price objective is much lower at $47.63, and the last Thursday trade came in at $44.05.

Energy Transfer L.P. (NYSE: ET): Citigroup resumed coverage of the pipeline giant with a Buy rating and a $14 price target. The consensus target is $12.69, and the shares closed on Thursday at $10.02.

KAR Auction Inc. (NYSE: KAR): BofA Securities upgraded the stock to Buy from Underperform and also raised the target price to $26 from $15. The consensus target is $17.60, and the stock closed Thursday at $17.76.

Lithia Motors Inc. (NYSE: LAD): BofA Securities upgraded the electric vehicle stock to Buy from Neutral and also raised the price target to $460 from $420. The posted consensus target is $450.10, and the shares ended Thursday at $338.74.

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LPLA): Credit Suisse lowered its Outperform rating to Neutral with a $166 price target. The consensus price objective is up at $185.09, and the last Thursday trade came in at $148.76.

Nielsen Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: NLSN): Though Citigroup downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy, it also raised the target price to $29 from $27. The consensus target is $29.45. The stock ended trading at $27.22 on Thursday.
Pioneer Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: PXD): Scotiabank raised the energy leader to Sector Outperform from Sector Perform. The firm also lifted the target price to $185 from $175. The consensus target is up at $193.91. The final trade for Thursday came in at $150.65 a share.

Pure Storage Inc. (NASDAQ: PSTG): Stifel raised the stock to Buy from Hold and has a $25 price target. The consensus target is $28.33, and the final Thursday trade was reported at $18.35. Shares were up almost 4% in Friday’s premarket.

Silicon Motion Technology Corp. (NASDAQ: SIMO): Zacks named this as the Bull of the Day. The firm said that a recent downgrade offers a great chance to buy the dip. Shares most recently closed at $63.05 and have a consensus price target of $83.40.

Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK): UBS upgraded the shares to Neutral from Sell but lowered the price target on the big data firm to $125 from $140. The much higher consensus target is $184.54, and Thursday’s last trade was at $116.26 a share.

UniQure N.V. (NASDAQ: QURE): UBS started coverage with a Neutral rating and a $40 price target. The consensus target is much higher at $70.22. The stock closed Thursday at $34.70, which was up almost 6% for the day. The shares added almost 4% more in the premarket trading.

Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SPCE): UBS’s upgrade from Neutral to Buy came with the price target lowered to $36 from $40. The consensus target is just $30.20, and the stock was last seen on Thursday at $19.81, after a pop of almost 15% for the day. The stock added on another 4% in the premarket.

Wintrust Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: WTFC): Truist Securities upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and hiked the price target to $92 from $67. The consensus target is $84.67, and the last trade on Thursday was at $76.58 a share.

Is now is the time to start buying some of the top semiconductor capital equipment stocks? These analysts are bullish, and aggressive investors may want to consider nibbling at these five top stock picks now.

See which analyst believes Chipotle stock is heating up and which one recommends selling HollyFrontier shares.

Thursday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Advanced Micro Devices, Analog Devices, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Coinbase Global, Intel, SolarEdge Technologies, Stamps.com and ViacomCBS. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Merck, Micron Technologies, Nvidia, Target and more.

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