The futures were mixed on Tuesday morning as investors and traders return from the long holiday weekend. Typically the first two weeks of July are among the best in the year, and after a blazing start to the third quarter, and Friday’s better than expected June jobs report, views are mixed on whether the strength will continue or the market is poised for a rest.

Despite the concerns across Wall Street about tapering of the quantitative easing program and a clear building of inflationary pressures, the Federal Reserve is vowing to keep interest rates contained. That could be among the reasons for the continued moves higher in the equity markets even after sell-offs. 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 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, July 6, 2021.

ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB): Deutsche Bank raised the stock to Hold from Sell. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $24 to $35.28 and has a $36.94 consensus price objective. The shares closed on Friday at $34.52.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP): Goldman Sachs raised the shares of the financial leader to Buy from Neutral and has a $225 price target. The consensus target price is much lower at $156.68. The shares were last seen on Friday at $168.50. The stock was up almost 3% in premarket trading.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE: AJG): Atlantic Equities initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and a $175 price target. The lower $155 consensus price objective is closer to Friday’s final trade at $140.30.

Axcella Health Inc. (NASDAQ: AXLA): H.C. Wainwright started coverage with a Buy rating and a $14 price target. The consensus target is $15.29. While the stock closed Friday at $3.97, the shares were up a stunning 27% in Tuesday’s premarket. Last week the company announced that it has activated initial clinical sites and patient screening for its global Phase 2 clinical trial of AXA1665, the company’s multi-targeted oral product candidate for the reduction in risk of recurrent overt hepatic encephalopathy.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: BFAM): BMO Capital Markets upgraded the stock to Outperform from Market Perform and also raised the price target to $173 from $158. The consensus target is $168.88, and the stock ended Friday’s trading session at $148.79.

CyrusOne Inc. (NASDAQ: CONE): BMO Capital Markets upgraded the shares to Outperform from Market Perform and has an $81 price target. That compares with a consensus target of $80.20 and Friday’s closing print of $71.20.

Dominion Energy Inc. (NYSE: D): Scotiabank raised its Sector Perform rating to Sector Outperform and boosted the price target on the utility to $92 from $88. The consensus target is $85.09. The last trade to hit the tape on Friday was reported at $74.21.

DTE Energy Co. (NYSE: DTE): UBS upgraded the Michigan-based utility to Buy from Neutral but lowered the price target to $127 from $144. The consensus target is $136.09. The shares were last seen at $111.74 on Friday.

DuPont de Nemours Inc. (NYSE: DD): Credit Suisse resumed coverage on the chemical conglomerate with a Neutral rating and an $83 price target. The consensus target is up at $90.58. Friday’s last trade was posted at $78.79.

FleetCor Technologies Inc. (NYSE: FLT): Credit Suisse resumed coverage with a Neutral rating and a $270 price target. The consensus target is higher at $313.06, and Friday’s final trade was reported at $259.20.

Frontier Communications Parent Inc. (NASDAQ: FYBR): Goldman Sachs started coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and a $42 price target. The consensus target is just $35.50. The firm’s positive outlook on Frontier reflects a view that the telco has an opportunity to create material value as it deploys and drives penetration of its fiber network. The stock closed last Friday at $28.00, which was up over 4% on the day.

Hologic Inc. (NASDAQ: HOLX): Evercore ISI raised the stock to Outperform from In Line and has a $78 price target. The consensus target is $82.92, and the stock closed trading Friday at $67.71. The shares were trading almost 2% higher in Tuesday’s premarket.
Ingersoll Rand Inc. (NYSE: IR): Goldman Sachs upgraded the industrial giant to Buy from Neutral and has a $59 price target. That compares with the $55.71 consensus target. The stock ended last week at $48.59, but the shares were up almost 2% in premarket action.

Limelight Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: LLNW): Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to Sell from Neutral and lowered the price target to $2.50 from $3.00. The consensus target is $3.93. The stock closed Friday at $3.10 but was down over 5% in premarket action.

Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LITE): This was named as the Bear of the Day at Zacks, which said that a growth hiccup in 5G optical product sales for China has analysts slashing estimates several quarters ahead. Shares most recently closed at $83.47, and the consensus price target is $89.56.

Medical Properties Trust Inc. (NYSE: MPW): BofA Securities downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy and has a $21.50 price target. The posted consensus target is $23.92. The shares closed Friday at $20.60 apiece.

MKS Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: MKSI): Deutsche Bank resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $225 price target. The consensus target is higher at $238.13. The shares were last seen on Friday at $168.52.

Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA): This tech company was selected as Bull of the Day at Zacks. The analyst makes the case that as this king of AI creates exascale supercomputers for Tesla, a path to $50 billion in revenues opens. Shares last closed at $819.48 but have a consensus price target of only $743.41.

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM): Though Credit Suisse downgraded the industrial leader to Neutral from Outperform, the firm raised the price target to $212 from $210. The consensus target is $196.35. Friday’s last trade hit the tape at $199.89.

TaskUs Inc. (NASDAQ: TASK): Goldman Sachs started coverage with a Buy rating and a massive $61 price target. The stock had a recent initial public offering, so no consensus was available. Since going public, the shares have traded between $27.06 and $35.62. The stock closed at $32.39 a share on Friday.

Three Jefferies top growth stock picks look like outstanding growth ideas for most investors now. The companies are dominant in their respective business silos and poised not only to post solid second-quarter results, but each has very promising runaways for the rest of 2021 and beyond.

Also see the six biggest losers in Warren Buffett’s portfolio in the second quarter.

Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Bloom Energy, Camping World, ContextLogic, National Storage, PNC Financial and Winnebago.

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