The futures were down big across the board on Monday, as traders and investors return to action with guarded optimism at best. After two straight losing weeks, and with many of the top strategists across Wall Street talking about the potential for big corrections, either in the short term or by the end of the year, much of the bullish sheen is starting to wear off. Later this week we will see the first release of continuing unemployment claims since the Pandemic Unemployment Act expiration. There is an expectation that there will be an initial surge of workers back into the labor force, which could apply pressure to wage inflation.

While the consumer price index and retail sales last week tempered some of the inflation and growth worries, mounting stagflation concerns continued to pick up amid the ongoing supply chain and input pressures, as well as recovery headwinds from spread of the Delta variant. Many across Wall Street think that the Federal Reserve talking heads will offer very tangible tapering hints at this week’s meeting, but strategists also expect monetary policy to remain extremely accommodative.

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 Monday September 20, 2021.

Acadia Healthcare Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHC): Credit Suisse upgraded the shares to Outperform from Neutral and has a $68 price target. The consensus target is $73.62. The final trade on Friday was reported at $61.22, which was up over 3% for the day.

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE): Wells Fargo started the technology giant with an Overweight rating and a $700 price target. The consensus target is $648.31, and the stock closed trading on Friday at $654.48.

Analog Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI): JPMorgan upgraded the stock to Overweight from Neutral and boosted the target price on the chipmaker to $215 from $119. The consensus target is $190.48, and Friday’s closing print was $171.52.

Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG): Zacks selected this as its Bear of the Day, suggesting that inflation and supply chain headwinds are weighing on this discount retailer. Shares last closed at $47.68, and the consensus price target is $55.44.

BorgWarner Inc. (NYSE: BWA): Jefferies downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy and also dropped the target price to $47 from $65. The consensus target is $54.06. The stock closed Friday at $42.92 and was down close to 4% in Monday’s premarket.

Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL): Deutsche Bank raised its Hold rating on the consumer staples giant to Buy, and it also lifted the target price to $86 from $84. The consensus target is $86.60. The stock closed trading on Friday at $76.23.

Crown Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CCK): Barclays resumed coverage with an Overweight rating and a $140 price target. The $131.46 consensus target is closer to Friday’s closing share price of $105.85, which was down 2% on the day.

Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors LLC (NYSE: FTAI): Barclays resumed coverage with an Overweight rating and a $31 price target. The consensus target is up at $39.56. Friday’s final trade was reported at $25.14.

Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA): The Jefferies downgrade to Hold from Buy included a target price cut to $171 from $200. The consensus price target is $195.20. The final trade on Friday was reported at $153.05.

Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS): Deutsche Bank downgraded the European pharmaceutical giant to Sell from Hold. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $77.04 and $98.52, and it has a $103.33 consensus price target. The stock closed at $83.48 on Friday.

Oatly Group AB (NASDAQ: OTLY): Citigroup started coverage with a Buy rating and a $21 price target. The consensus target is much higher at $28. The last trade for Friday was reported at $16.27.

ONE Group Hospitality Inc. (NASDAQ: STKS): Piper Sandler raised its Neutral rating to Overweight and lifted the price target to $17 from $12. The consensus target is $14.50. The stock closed Friday at $10.37.

PAE Inc. (NYSE: PAE): BofA Securities started coverage with a Buy rating and an $8 price target. The consensus target is up at $12.10. Friday’s closing print was $5.90 a share.
RH (NYSE: RH): This luxury furniture retailer was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which points out that the company just crushed earnings expectations once again. Its shares most recently closed at $672.15 apiece and have a consensus price target of $764.79.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc. (NYSE: RBA): RBC Capital Markets started coverage with a Sector Perform rating and a $65 price target. The consensus target price is $62.67. Friday’s last trade came in at $61.57.

Ruth’s Hospitality Group Inc. (NASDAQ: RUTH): Piper Sandler raised the popular high-end steakhouse’s stock to Overweight from Neutral and nudged the price target up to $29 from $25. The consensus target is $25.90. The last trade for Friday was at $20.23.

Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM): Wells Fargo started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $325 price target. The consensus target is just $297.74. The stock closed on Friday at $260.53.

Teradata Corp. (NYSE: TDC): Morgan Stanley’s upgrade to Overweight from Equal Weight included a target price boost to $66 from $55. The consensus price target is $57.18, and the shares were last seen on Friday at $50.61.

Visteon Corp. (NASDAQ: VC): Though Jefferies upgraded it to Buy from Hold, the firm lowered the target price to $116 from $122. The consensus target is $127.86. The last trade on Friday hit the tape at $85.46.

Workday Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY): Wells Fargo started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $320 price target. That compares with the lower consensus target of $301.70, as well as Friday’s $268.51 closing share price.

With the stock market is still overbought, expensive and long due for a breather, there are very few alternatives now for investors who need some growth and consistent income. Five stocks supply both and look like outstanding total return ideas, and they all are positioned well for the rest of 2021 and beyond.

Bank of America’s moonshot investments include synthetic biology and 6G networks, as well as eVTOL vehicles.

Investors should do these five things now before the big correction comes.

Friday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included BJ’s Wholesale Club, Cirrus Logic, Cree, DTE Energy, Las Vegas Sands, O’Reilly Automotive, Realty Income and Take-Two Interactive Software. More analyst calls were seen later in the day, including on Adobe, Alphabet, CSX, Facebook, Lululemon Athletica and Nvidia.

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.