The futures traded higher Friday, as we look to close out a volatile trading week and begin the fourth quarter, after an ugly Thursday that saw all of the major indexes down big. The song remains the same, as concerns over rising prices and inflation combined with big supply-chain disruptions continue to keep a lid on risk-off market action. With the S&P 500 up just 1.4% for the third quarter, but down over 3.5% in September, it appears that traders are taking a much more cautious stance.

Though the recent consumer price index and retail sales data has tempered some of the inflation and growth worries, mounting stagflation concerns continued to pick up, amid the ongoing supply chain and input pressures and recovery headwinds from the spread of the Delta variant. Federal Reserve assurances that rates will remain accommodative continue to provide a tailwind for equities though.

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 Friday, October 1, 2021.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA): Raymond James downgraded shares of the Chinese internet giant to Outperform from Strong Buy and slashed the target price to $240 from $300. The consensus target price is $256.26. The shares closed trading on Thursday at $148.05.

Align Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN): Credit Suisse resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $732 price target. The consensus target is $743.46, and Thursday’s closing trade was at $665.43 a share.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): RBC Capital Markets started coverage of the technology giant with an Outperform rating and a $4,150 price target. The posted consensus target is in line at $4,149.52. The final Thursday trade was reported at $3,285.04 per share.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY): Goldman Sachs lowered the price target of the former high-flying meme stock to $16 from $19 and reiterated a Sell rating. The consensus target is higher at $26.15. The stock closed Thursday at $17.28, after tumbling 22% due to a very disappointing earnings report.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B): Zacks has selected this as its Bull of the Day stock. The analyst pointed out that earnings estimates are moving higher for Warren Buffett’s conglomerate. Shares most recently closed at $272.94, and the consensus price target is $328.00.

Canopy Growth Corp. (NYSE: CGC): BofA Securities downgraded the marijuana company’s stock to Buy from Neutral. Over the past year, the shares have traded in a wide range of $13.35 to $56.50, and they have a $23.02 consensus price target. Thursday’s closing share price was at $13.86.

CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX): Wolfe Research resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $160 target price. The consensus target is $152.27. The shares were last seen on Thursday at $127.96.

CenterPoint Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNP): The Barclays upgrade to Overweight from Equal Weight included a price target bump to $30 from $28. The consensus price target is $27.77. Thursday’s last trade was at $24.60 a share.

Cricut Inc. (NASDAQ: CRCT): Barclays lowered its Overweight rating to Sector Weight with a $28 price target. The consensus target is up at $33.20. The stock closed Thursday at $27.58, which was down over 10% for the day.

Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR): KeyBanc Capital Markets downgraded shares of the discount retailer to Sector Weight from Overweight. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $84.26 to $120.37, and it has a consensus price target of $107.27. Thursday’s final trade was reported at $95.72, which was down close to 5% on the day.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB): RBC Capital Markets started coverage of the social media colossus with an Outperform rating and a $425 price target. That compares with the $417.62 consensus target and Thursday’s last trade at $339.39 per share.

Five9 Inc. (NASDAQ: FIVN): Canaccord Genuity raised its Hold rating to Buy and has a $200 price target. The consensus target is $202.44. Thursday’s closing share price was $159.74.
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM): Jefferies started coverage on the venerable technology giant with a Buy rating and a $170 target price. The consensus target is $150.59. Thursday’s close was at $138.93 a share.

Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG): Citigroup’s downgrade of the robotic surgery device maker was to Neutral from Buy, and the firm has a $1,100 price target. The consensus price objective is $1,029.81. The final Thursday trade was posted at $994.15 a share.

MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM): Though Susquehanna downgraded the casino giant to Negative from Neutral, it also raised the target price to $36 from $10. The consensus target is up at $48.45. The shares ended trading on Thursday at $43.15.

Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG): BMO Capital Markets began coverage with a Market Perform rating and a $30 price target. The consensus target is much higher at $43.06. The stock closed at $25.54 on Thursday.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV): JPMorgan raised the popular low-cost carrier to Overweight from Neutral and has a $70 price objective. The consensus target is just $65.40. The last trade to hit the tape Thursday came in at $51.43.

SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ: SIVB): Goldman Sachs started coverage with Buy rating and a $770 price target. The consensus target is much lower at $682.06. The shares were last seen on Thursday at $646.88.

Timken Co. (NYSE: TKR): Goldman Sachs lowered the price target on the shares to $84 from $95 while maintaining a Buy rating. The consensus price objective is $88. The final trade on Thursday was reported at $65.42, which was down close to 3% for the day.

Five blue chip technology companies pay big dividends, have solid growth prospects for the rest of 2021 and beyond, and look like outstanding ideas now. No surprise, they are all rated Buy at top Wall Street firms too.

Thursday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Anheuser-Busch, Fiserv, Foot Locker, Fox, Kohl’s, Snowflake, Starbucks, Williams-Sonoma and Zscaler. More analyst calls were seen later in the day, including on Alibaba, Home Depot and Roku.

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