Tuesday morning futures were marginally higher after Friday’s huge miss following the August employment report. While markets could be opening at all-time highs to start out this truncated trading week, there are still some unanswered questions about the recovery of the economy and where do we go from here. Not to mention, how does this report affect Fed policy?

Analysts were targeting a “robust” 750,000 jobs coming back in August, according to Bloomberg, compared to the reported number to 235,000. Note that this is still an impressive number by prepandemic standards, but it does demonstrate a deceleration from July’s report, which saw 943,000 jobs added. Also, analysts were correct in predicting the unemployment rate to narrowing to 5.2% in August from July’s reported 5.4%.

While many expected the report to be a fairly positive one, it still reflected the surge in coronavirus cases that we saw across the United States over the past month. It goes without saying that the Federal Reserve also will be monitoring these numbers, per its dual mandate, and the report could influence the Fed’s monetary policy to come later this year. For now, the labor market appears to be improving and the Fed policy is favorable.

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 any market strength while repositioning portfolios for the balance 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, September 7, 2021.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN): Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight and cut the price target to $251 from $280. Shares last closed at $226.37, and the consensus price target is $252.96.

Azure Power Global Ltd. (NYSE: AZRE): HSBC Securities upgraded it to Buy from Hold and has a $27.50 price target. The shares have a $42.25 consensus target, and Friday’s close was at $21.77.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO): The Barclays upgrade was to Equal Weight from Underweight. That compares with an $85.95 consensus target and Friday’s close at $101.97.

Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS): Barclays upgraded it to Overweight from Equal Weight and raised the price target to $100 from $95. Shares last closed at $83.62, and the consensus price target is $105.42.

Hain Celestial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN): This is the Zacks Bear of the Day. The analyst points out that an earnings miss started a string of negative earnings estimate revisions for this stock. Shares closed most recently at $37.28 apiece and have a consensus price target of $44.91.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ): Morgan Stanley lowered its Overweight rating to Equal Weight with a $187 price target. The $189.61 consensus target is above Friday’s close at $175.04.

Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX): Exane BNP Paribas lowered its Outperform rating to Neutral with a $640 price target. Shares most recently closed at $610.71 and have a consensus price target of 742.52.

Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC): Morgan Stanley initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and a $75 price target. Shares last closed at $58.24, and the consensus target price is $69.43.

McAfee Corp. (NASDAQ: MCFE): UBS downgraded it to Neutral from Buy but raised the price target to $29 from $27. The shares last closed at $27.72, and the consensus price target is $29.43.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK): Morgan Stanley’s downgrade to Equal Weight from Overweight came with an $85 price target. Shares last closed at $77.26, but they have traded as high as $82.35 in the past year.

Overstock.com Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK): BofA Securities resumed coverage with a Buy rating and an $89 price target. Shares closed most recently at $69.51 apiece and have a consensus price target of $124.50.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX): Morgan Stanley started coverage with an Equal Weight rating and an $80 price target. The shares most recently closed at $69.62 and have a consensus price target of $91.36.

ScanSource Inc. (NASDAQ: SCSC): Zacks named this as its Bull of the Day stock. The analyst says that that earnings growth has been the key to this stock’s meteoric rise. Shares last closed at $37.56, and the consensus price target is $39.33.

Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE: SPOT): KeyBanc Capital Markets lifted its Sector Weight rating to Overweight and has a $340 price target. Shares last closed at $249.04, and the consensus price target is $261.59.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX): Morgan Stanley downgraded it to Underweight from Equal Weight and has a $202 price target. The shares most recently closed at $198.05 and have a consensus price target of $260.00.

Five top technology companies pay out solid and dependable dividends. They look like outstanding ideas for investors with a higher degree of risk tolerance and a long-term investment horizon, even in a massively overbought stock market.

Friday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Aurora Cannabis, Broadcom, Clorox, Cintas, DocuSign, NXP Semiconductors and Paycom. More analyst calls were seen later in the day, including on Baxter International, Ingersoll Rand and Walgreens Boots Alliance.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.