The futures were up across the board on Tuesday after a wild Monday that saw all of the indexes open up big, before the Nasdaq and the Russell 2000 turned negative and then rebounded in the afternoon, with only the Nasdaq closing lower. While some pointed to the “buy the dip” trend after last week’s selling, many additional items were clouding the future. They include the tapering of quantitative easing, the very difficult path for additional fiscal stimulus and the slowdown of the reopening momentum as a result of the spread of the Delta variant. Analysts also pointed to ongoing supply chain issues and inflation pressures on both corporate sales and profit margins.

Despite worries and the potential for a “taper tantrum” like we saw in 2013, the Federal Reserve is vowing to keep interest rates contained. With that in mind, Fed officials have strongly hinted that the $120 billion per month quantitative easing purchases will start to be cut back as early as November, and all the massive bond buying could be completed by the end of 2022.

With major Wall Street firms still warning of the potential for impending 5% to 10% correction across the board, which may have begun last week, it makes sense for investors to continue building some cash reserves into any 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, September 14, 2021.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT): Susquehanna downgraded the stock to Neutral from Positive and lowered the price target to $160 from $170. The consensus price target for the semiconductor capital equipment giant is $162.47. The stock closed Monday at $139.44 a share.

Casey’s General Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: CASY): Northcoast raised the stock to Buy from Neutral and has a $247 price objective. The consensus target is $225.36. The last trade for Monday came in at $194.60.

CME Group Inc. (NYSE: CME): Atlantic Equities upgraded the shares from Neutral to Overweight with a $230 price target. The consensus price objective is $221.47. The final Monday trade came in at $189.23.

Crown Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CCK): Truist Securities started coverage with a Buy rating and a $138 price target. The consensus target is $131.46. The stock was last seen on Monday at $104.99.

Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR): Because Wall Street dumped the stock after the discount retailer warned about supply-chain setbacks and rising costs possibly impacting its profits, Zacks has named it the Bear of the Day. Shares closed most recently at $89.26 apiece and have a consensus price target of $108.05.

Dow Inc. (NYSE: DOW): Piper Sandler started the chemical giant with an Overweight rating and has a $78 price target. The consensus target is lower at $67.86. The stock ended Monday’s trading at $60.72.

DXC Technology Co. (NYSE: DXC): BofA Securities raised its Hold rating to Buy with a $45 price target. The consensus target is $45 as well. The stock ended Monday at $35.98, up almost 5% on the day, and shares were up an additional 2% in premarket trading.

Eaton Corp. PLC (NYSE: ETN): HSBC Securities downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy and has a $153 price target. The consensus target is $177.53, and Monday’s closing print was $158.27.

Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC): Mizuho’s upgrade to Buy from Neutral included a target price hike to $53 from $47.50. The consensus target is $53.30. The stock ended Monday’s session at $50.56.

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN): Zacks has selected this as its Bull of the Day stock. The analyst says that the navigation and wearable technology firm is poised to keep growing as it benefits from expansion within multiple areas. Shares last closed at $171.25, but the consensus price target is just $163.29.

KLA Corp. (NASDAQ: KLAC): Susquehanna upgraded the stock to Positive from Neutral and boosted the target price to $475 from $380. This compares with the lower consensus target price of $387.53 and Monday’s closing print of $355.60.

Leslie’s Inc. (NASDAQ: LESL): Berenberg raised the pool supply leader to Buy from Hold and has a $30 price target. The consensus target is $32.25. The stock closed Monday at $22.32, down almost 10% after the company announced a secondary offering of shares.

Lucid Group Inc. (NASDAQ: LCID): Morgan Stanley started coverage of the high-end electric car maker with an Underweight rating and a $12 price target. No consensus target was available. The stock closed Monday at $20.06.
Methanex Corp. (NASDAQ: MEOH): Piper Sandler began coverage with a Neutral rating and a $44 price target. That compares with the consensus price objective of $45.69 and Monday’s closing print of $39.79.

Sealed Air Corp. (NYSE: SEE): Truist Securities began coverage with a Buy rating and a $72 price target. The consensus target is $65.38, and the stock closed Monday at $57.82.

Stride Inc. (NYSE: LRN): Citigroup started coverage with a Buy rating and a $65 price target. The consensus target is just $42.94. The shares were last seen Monday at $33.29.

Stryker Corp. (NYSE: SYK): Raymond James resumed coverage with a Market Perform rating. Over the past 52 weeks, the shares have traded between $196.09 and $281.16, and they have a $287.67 consensus target price. Monday’s final trade was reported at $270.83 a share.

Taboola.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: TBLA): Credit Suisse started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $14 price target. The consensus target is up at $16.40, but the shares closed Monday at $8.84.

Vizio Holding Corp. (NYSE: VZIO): Stephens started coverage of the fast-growing electronics manufacturer with an Overweight rating and a $27 price target. The consensus target is $21.33. The last trade for Monday hit the tape at $18.61.

Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZBH): Raymond James resumed coverage of the medical devices giant with a Market Perform rating. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $129.15 and $180.36, and it has a $188.62 consensus price objective. The shares closed on Monday at $141.00.

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Monday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Airbnb, Amazon.com, Analog Devices, Anheuser-Busch InBev, AutoZone, CrowdStrike, EOG Resources, Facebook, General Mills, MGM Resorts and Nike. More analyst calls were seen later in the day, including on Alphabet, Netflix, Pinterest, Snap and Twitter.

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