Thursday morning’s futures slid lower, seemingly continuing the losing streak this week. This slide was precipitated by a less than favorable August employment report last Friday, which raised questions about the economic recovery and what the potential Federal Reserve policy might be going forward.
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.
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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 Thursday, September 9, 2021.
AppLovin Corp. (NASDAQ: APP | APP Price Prediction): Stifel upgraded the stock to a Buy rating from Hold and raised the price target to $90 from $65. Shares closed most recently at $68.00 apiece and have a consensus price target of $78.25.
Arvinas Inc. (NASDAQ: ARVN): BofA Securities started coverage with a Buy rating and a $110 price target. The shares most recently closed at $91.88 and have a consensus price target of $132.15.
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Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE: AXTA): Citigroup’s downgrade to Neutral from Buy came with a price target cut to $32 from $39. Shares last closed at $29.07, and the consensus price target is $38.06.
Baker Hughes Co. (NYSE: BKR): RBC Capital Markets resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $31 price target. Shares closed at $22.71, and the consensus price target is $28.25.
Blade Air Mobilty Inc. (NASDAQ: BLDE): JPMorgan initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and a $16 price target. The shares have a 52-week range of $6.41 to $19.88, which compares to Wednesday’s close at $8.79.
BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRN): upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and raised the price target to $96 from $86. That is less than the $110.28 consensus target but above Wednesday’s close at $76.70.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO): Morgan Stanley downgraded is to Equal Weight from Overweight and raised the price target to $59 from $57. Shares last closed at $58.68. The consensus price target is $59.52.
Haliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL): RBC Capital Markets resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $27 price target. Shares closed most recently at $19.35, and they have traded as high as $25.00 in the past year.
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Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM): Barclays resumed coverage with an Overweight rating and a $500 price target. The stock closed most recently at $413.50 a share and has a consensus price target of $487.22.
Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB): HSBC Securities initiated coverage with a Hold rating and a $131 price target. The $139.69 consensus target is below Wednesday’s close at $141.49.
Leslie’s Inc. (NASDAQ: LESL): Stifel started it with a Buy rating and a $28 price target. Shares most recently closed at $24.25, and they have a consensus price target of $32.64.
Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M): Cowen raised its Market Perform rating to Outperform, and it also hiked the price target to $27 from $23. Shares last closed at $21.23, and the consensus target price is $22.46.
Myovant Sciences Ltd. (NYSE: MYOV): SVB Leerink initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating and a $24 price target. The shares closed at $25.81, and the consensus price target is $33.25.
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE: NBR): RBC Capital Markets resumed coverage with a Sector Perform rating and a $100 price target. Shares closed most recently at $82.40 and have a consensus price target at $93.00.
NOV Inc. (NYSE: NOV): RBC Capital Markets resumed coverage with a Sector Perform rating and a $15 price target. Shares closed at $12.67, and the consensus price target is $17.61.
Oxford Industries Inc. (NYSE: OXM): This apparel maker was selected as the Zacks Bull of the Day stock. The analyst points out that Lilly Pulitzer and Tommy Bahama are roaring back. Shares closed most recently at $89.40 apiece and have a consensus price target all the way up at $123.40.
Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB): RBC Capital Markets resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $37 price target. That compares with a $36.89 consensus target and Wednesday’s close at $26.66.
Sherwin-Williams Co. (NYSE: SHW): Citigroup downgraded it from Buy to Neutral and cut the price target from $331 to $309. The shares have a 52-week range of $218.06 to $310.43, and Wednesday’s close was at $296.69 a share.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX): Stifel’s downgrade to Hold from Buy included a price target cut to $213 from $244. Shares last closed at $191.37, and the consensus price target is $260.00.
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Five outstanding BofA Securities stock picks all pay solid and dependable dividends that can soften the blow if we see a big market correction in the next six weeks.
Wednesday’s meme stock movers included Clover Health and Vinco Ventures, but GameStop was the center of attention early Thursday. And check out these magic stocks.
Wednesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Crane, Intel, Kohl’s, Lightspeed Commerce, New Gold, Paramount, Vodafone, Wix.com and XPO Logistics. More analyst calls were seen later in the day, including on ChargePoint, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Regions Financial.
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