The futures were lower on Tuesday after we started the week with all three of the major indexes again printing fresh intra-day all-time highs. Almost 165 S&P 500 companies are due to report in this the biggest earnings week of the season, with most of the technology heavyweights ready to step up to the plate. Wall Street pundits are watching China’s regulatory crackdown, which has expanded to for-profit education and property management sectors. In addition, the bipartisan infrastructure deal appears to be on track to come together this week. Speaker Pelosi reiterated it will not get a House vote without progress on a pork-packed reconciliation bill focused on Democratic priorities

Many across Wall Street remain leery of the beginning of the tapering of the quantitative easing program after the clear building of inflationary pressures, despite the fact the Federal Reserve is vowing to keep interest rates contained. That could be one reason for the continued moves higher in the equity markets even after sell-offs. Also 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 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 27, 2021.

AbbVie Inc. (NASDAQ: ABBV): Truist Securities resumed coverage of the pharmaceutical giant’s stock with a Buy rating and a $118 price target. The consensus target is higher at $124.08. The final trade on Monday came in at $117.79 a share.

Advance Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP): Raymond James raised its Outperform rating on the popular retailer to Strong Buy and also lifted the price target to $250 from $215. The $218.60 consensus price objective is closer to Monday’s closing print of $214.09.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA): DZ Bank downgraded the Chinese mega-stock to Sell from Buy and has a $192 price target. The consensus price objective is much higher at $292.21. Monday’s final trade was reported at $191.76, which was down over 7% for the day. The shares retreated an additional 3% in Tuesday’s premarket.

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL): Susquehanna raised the carrier to Neutral from Negative, while Berenberg upgraded it to Hold from Sell and raised the price target to $19 from $16. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $10.63 to $26.09, and it has a consensus price target of $18.85. The shares popped over 4% on Monday to close at $22.08.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T): Argus downgraded the telecommunications giant to Hold from Buy. The stock has traded between $26.35 and $33.88 a share over the past 52 weeks, and it has a $30.87 consensus price objective. Monday’s last trade came in at $28.18.

AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO): Though Raymond James downgraded the stock to Outperform from Strong Buy, it also raised the price target to $1,750 from $1,700. The consensus target is just $1,637.12. Monday’s close was at $1,622.16.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY): Truist Securities resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $74 price target. The consensus target is $75.37, and Monday’s last trade came in at $67.69.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG): Guggenheim started coverage of the wildly popular restaurant chain with a Neutral rating and a $1,750 price target. The consensus price objective is $1,769.72. The closing share price on Monday was above both levels at $1,806.87.

Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI): The Vertical Research upgrade of the engine maker’s shares to Buy from Hold included a $280 price target. The consensus target is $292.17. Monday’s close was at $236.50 a share.

Datto Holding Corp. (NYSE: MSP): Berenberg started coverage with a Buy rating and a $34 price target. The consensus target is $31.56. Monday’s final trade came in at $26.28.

HollyFrontier Corp. (NYSE: HFC): Credit Suisse raised the refiner to Outperform from Neutral, but the firm also lowered the price target to $42 from $45. The consensus target is $39.18. Shares closed Monday at $29.03, after rising almost 4% for the day.

JD.com Inc. (NYSE: JD): DZ Bank downgraded the stock to Sell from Buy and has a $62 price target. The posted consensus target is much higher at $103.24. The stock tumbled almost 9% on Monday and closed at $66.08. The trend continued in the premarket, with the stock dropping another 4%.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB): Zacks selected this as its Bear of the Day stock. The analyst pointed out that it has missed earnings in each of the past two quarters and estimates are dropping. Shares last closed at $135.10, and the consensus price target is just $141.89.
PACCAR Inc. (NASDAQ: PCAR): Vertical Research raised its Hold rating to Buy. Its $100 price target is near the $100.56 consensus target. Monday’s last trade hit the tape at $86.91.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE): Trust Securities resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $43 price target. The consensus target is $43.32, and the shares closed at $41.81 on Monday.

Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC): Raymond James upgraded the stock to Market Perform from Underperform. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $5.93 to $17.47 and have a $15.35 consensus price objective. The last Monday trade came in at $15.99, which was up almost 5% for the day.

Southwestern Energy Co. (NYSE: SWN): Raymond James raised the stock to Outperform from Underperform and has a $6 price target. The consensus target is right in line at $6.08. The stock was last seen trading at $5.18 a share on Monday.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX): Guggenheim started coverage of the popular coffee retailer with a Neutral rating and a $125 price target. The posted consensus target is $124.99, and Monday’s closing share price was $126.06.

Vista Outdoor Inc. (NYSE: VSTO): This stock was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that this stock is beating earnings and it looks like shares could shoot higher. Shares most recently closed at $39.42 and have a consensus price target of $50.33.

Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY): The BofA Securities upgrade was from Neutral to Buy with a $41 price target. The consensus target is $40.17, and the last trade on Monday came in at $34.66 per share.

With bond yields remaining at generational lows and unlikely to head meaningfully higher in the near term, it makes sense for growth and income investors to consider top dividend-paying stocks. Chevron and Verizon are among five blue chip stocks that are not as crowded and as overbought as most of the market is.

See which seven stocks ARK Invest is dumping due to turmoil in the Chinese markets.

The analysts at Goldman Sachs have initiated coverage four stellar stocks with Buy ratings. These picks could offer some outstanding alpha potential for aggressive growth investors.

Monday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Analog Devices, Bilibili, Chewy, Dish Network, D.R. Horton, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Krispy Kreme, Lowe’s and Southwest Airlines. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Gap, Palo Alto Networks, Schlumberger, Spotify and more.

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