The futures were lower overall Thursday, after a very positive Wednesday in which investors and traders clawed some gains back after the big losses earlier this week. The very narrow breadth in the market is starting to weigh on strategists, and the continuing concerns hanging over the market remain the same: growth headwinds from the spread of the Delta variant hurting reopenings, supply chain and input price pressures that may hurt upcoming earnings, concerns over the fiscal cliff and the debt ceiling, strong and (in some cases) bipartisan pushback on additional fiscal stimulus, higher taxes in a reconciliation bill and a host of other additional items.

While traders initially welcomed the news that consumer prices cooled off in August, those prices still rose a staggering 5.3% from a year before as supplies and labor continued to drive them up. Those who have been touting the fact that the higher inflation trends are “transitory” will point to this print as some proof. The fact of the matter is that, across the board, prices have trended higher. Whether it is in the grocery store, at the gas pump or a host of other items, Americans are paying far more this year than last year.

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 16, 2021.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP): BofA Securities raised shares of the credit card and financial services giant to Neutral from Underperform and has a $169 price target. The consensus target is $183.52. The stock closed on Wednesday at $161.34 per share.

Anheuser-Busch InBev S.A./N.V. (NYSE: BUD): Deutsche Bank upgraded the “King of Beers” to Buy from Hold. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $51.45 to $79.67 and has a consensus price target of $75. The stock was last seen on Wednesday at $57.17 a share.

Avis Budget Group Inc. (NYSE: CAR): BofA Securities raised its Neutral rating on the rental car giant to Buy and boosted the price target to $125 from $90. The consensus target is $93.17. The final trade for Wednesday hit the tape at $90.00 per share.

Azul S.A. (NYSE: AZUL): Raymond James upgraded the shares of the South American airline from Market Perform to Outperform with a $25 price target. The consensus target is $24.19. The shares closed at $19.99 on Wednesday.

Beyond Meat Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND): Piper Sandler downgraded the plant-based meat company’s stock to Underweight from Neutral and reduced the price target from $120 to $95. The consensus target is $118.71. The stock closed trading on Wednesday at $110.81. Shares were almost 4% lower in Thursday’s premarket.

Celsius Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CELH): Jefferies started coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and a $115 price target. The posted consensus target is $96.75. The stock closed on Wednesday at $90.90.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO): Credit Suisse raised its Neutral rating on the legacy technology leader to Outperform. The firm also lifted its price target to $74 from $56. That compares with the $59.81 consensus target and Wednesday’s closing print of $57.56.

Dana Inc. (NYSE: DAN): Though BofA Securities upgraded it to Buy from Neutral, the firm also trimmed the target price by a dollar to $30. The consensus target is $31.38. The stock popped almost 4% on Wednesday to close at $22.61.

DoorDash Inc. (NYSE: DASH): The BofA Securities upgrade to Buy from Neutral comes with a $225 price target. The consensus target for the food delivery favorite is lower at $194.19. The stock closed trading on Wednesday at $209.85, which was up almost 4% on the day. The shares were up an additional 2.5% in premarket trading.

EZCORP Inc. (NASDAQ: EZPW): Oppenheimer started coverage of the pawn shop giant with an Outperform rating and a $12 price target. The consensus target is just $6.75, which matches the final share price on Wednesday of $6.75.

Fisker Inc. (NYSE: FSR): The BofA Securities downgrade to Neutral from Buy included a target price cut to $18 from $27. The consensus target is up at $23.22. The stock was last seen trading on Wednesday at $13.21.

Genmab A/S (NASDAQ: GMAB): Jefferies downgraded it to Hold from Buy but raised the target price to $48 from $45.50. The consensus price target is $44.79. The last trade for Wednesday came in at $42.86.

GXO Logistics Inc. (NYSE: GXO): JPMorgan started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $107 price target. The much lower consensus target is $84.30, and Wednesday’s closing print was $79.51. Shares were up over 3% in the premarket.

Humacyte Inc. (NASDAQ: HUMA): Piper Sandler began coverage with an Overweight rating and a $17 price target. The consensus price objective is $19. The stock closed on Wednesday at $13.97, after tumbling almost 11% on the day. The shares were trying to battle back in the premarket but were up only 4%.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS): JPMorgan downgraded the stock of the gaming giant from Overweight to Neutral with a $38 price target. The much higher consensus target is $63.92, and Wednesday’s closing print was $38.05. Like other gaming stocks, the worries over restrictions in Macau are weighing on the sector.
Lear Inc. (NYSE: LEA): BofA Securities downgraded it to Underperform from Neutral and lowered the price target to $160 from $200. The consensus target is $195.20. The final trade for Wednesday was reported at $160.61.

Okta Inc. (NASDAQ: OKTA): This is the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The analyst points out that this cybersecurity identity specialist may have hit trough earnings as investors focus on sales growth. Shares closed most recently at $253.58 apiece and have a consensus price target of $294.81.

Penumbra Inc. (NYSE: PEN): Truist Securities started coverage with a Buy rating and a $350 price target. The consensus target is $319.80. The stock closed on Wednesday at $288.88 a share.

Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE: SIG): Wells Fargo upgraded the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight and lifted the target price to $100 from $80. The consensus target is $86. The closing share price on Wednesday was $78.43.

Trade Desk Inc. (NASDAQ: TTD): Zacks has picked this stock as its Bull of the Day. The analyst said that the “CME of Advertising” has launched an ad-buyer platform that wins no matter what Google does. Shares most recently closed at $70.82 and have a consensus price target of $86.44.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN): JPMorgan downgraded the luxury casino operator to Neutral from Overweight. The firm also dropped the price target from $122 to $89. That is well below the $124.25 consensus target and much closer to the most recent close at $86.44. Shares retreated over 6% on Wednesday and were down an additional 3% in Thursday’s premarket. Again, the potential for increasing restrictions in Macau was cited as the reason for the weakness.

Four Jefferies top growth stock picks have outstanding upside potential and should hold up better into a brutal sell-off. The companies have posted solid results, have very strong business lines and have the ability to weather storms in the economy.

Meme stocks on the move Wednesday included Greenidge and IronNet. Boeing has a rosy forecast for the next decade, and JPMorgan’s sector shuffle on the oil patch includes a big downgrade for Chevron.

Wednesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Alcoa, Caesars Entertainment, Chevron, DraftKings, Lucid, Sarepta Therapeutics, SoFi Technologies and Wynn Resorts. More analyst calls were seen later in the day, including on Apple, Crocs, Las Vegas Sands and Square.

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