The futures were down on Monday, after the fourth quarter started off on the right foot with a big risk-on rally, helped along in part by the reopening trade stocks. Technology and health care soared as drugmaker Merck said Friday that its experimental pill for people sick with COVID-19 reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half. In Washington last week, House Speaker Pelosi was forced to scrap a planned Thursday vote on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package due to lack of support from progressives. Conservatives meanwhile are pushing back hard on the massive reconciliation spending bill.

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 Monday, October 4, 2021.

Akamai Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM): KeyBanc Capital Markets downgraded the shares to Equal Weight from Overweight. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $92.64 to $124.91 and has a $132.31 consensus price objective. The shares closed Friday at $105.48.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY): UBS upgraded it to Buy from Neutral and boosted the price target to $215 from $141. The consensus target is $184.16. Friday’s closing share price was $192.68.

AON PLC (NYSE: AON): JPMorgan’s downgrade was from Overweight to Neutral with a $283 price objective. The consensus target is $283.13. The stock closed on Friday at $291.08.

Coherent Inc. (NASDAQ: COHR): Stifel resumed coverage with a Hold rating and a $270 price target. The consensus target is $256.33. The last trade for Friday was reported at $253.12 a share.

ContextLogic Inc. (NASDAQ: WISH): Oppenheimer downgraded the popular meme stock to Underperform from Perform and has a $4 price target. The consensus target is much higher at $9.83. Friday’s last print was $5.35 per share.

DuPont de Nemours Inc. (NYSE: DD): JPMorgan upgraded the chemical and industrial leader to Overweight from Neutral and has an $85 price target. The shares were last seen on Friday trading at $69.13. The stock was up almost 3% in Monday’s premarket.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR): Zacks has named this as its Bear of the Day stock. The analyst pointed out that earnings looked good, but supply chain issues hamper future growth. Shares last closed at $96.57, and the consensus price target is $99.16.

Guidewire Software Inc. (NYSE: GWRE): BofA Securities downgraded the shares to Underperform from Neutral, and the firm also cut the target price to $125 from $132. The posted consensus target is $132.75. The closing trade for Friday came in at $118.47 a share.

John Bean Technologies Corp. (NYSE: JBT): JPMorgan raised the shares to Neutral from Underweight, and it has a $130 target price. The consensus target is $149.80, and the last trade for Friday hit the tape at $143.15.

Leap Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: LPTX): Mizuho started coverage with a Buy rating and a $6 price target. The consensus price objective is $4.50. The stock ended Friday’s trading at $3.65 a share.

MultiPlan Corp. (NASDAQ: MPLN): Citigroup resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $9 price target The consensus price objective is $8.75. The stock closed Friday at $5.60.

Nerdy Inc. (NASDAQ: NRDY): Canaccord Genuity started coverage with a Buy rating, and the firm has a $14 price target. The consensus target is $15. The last Friday trade was at $10.04 per share.

nLIGHT Inc. (NASDAQ: LASR): Stifel resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $38 price target. The consensus target is $41. The stock closed Friday at $26.95, which was down almost 5% for the day.
Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU): B. Riley Securities raised the stock to Buy from Neutral and also lifted the target price to $22 from $15. The consensus price target is lower at $15.25, but the shares ended Friday’s trading session at $15.65.

Roper Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ROP): Raymond Hames raised its Outperform rating to Strong Buy from and has a $550 price objective. That compares with the lower $529.30 consensus target and Friday’s closing print of $447.58.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV): Barclays raised its Equal Weight rating on the popular airline to Overweight and also hiked the target price to $75 from $64. The consensus target for the stock is just $65.63. Friday’s closing print was reported at $54.35, which was up almost 6% on the day.

Thor Industries Inc. (NYSE: THO): Citing RV demand that continues to impress investors, Zacks has selected this as its Bull of the Day stock. Shares closed most recently at $126.78 and have a consensus price target of $147.44.

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM): JPMorgan downgraded the industrial giant to Neutral from Overweight and has a $210 price target. The consensus target is just $196.76, and the shares closed on Friday at $176.68.

Tractor Supply Co. (NASDAQ: TSCO): BofA Securities downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral with a $217 price target. That compares with the $202.04 consensus target and Friday’s last trade at $201.36 per share.

Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP): Barclays upgraded the railroad giant to Overweight from Equal Weight and also raised the target price to $260 from $240. The posted consensus target is $244.59. The stock rose close to 3% on Friday to close at $201.74 a share.

Vertex Inc. (NASDAQ: VERX): BofA Securities downgraded the shares to Underweight from Neutral. The firm also dropped the price target from $24 to $20, while the consensus target is $26. Friday’s final trade was reported at $20.18, which was up almost 5% for the day, but the shares were sinking in the premarket, down over 3%.

Five stocks that fund managers have been adding to their portfolios most are very strong ideas for growth investors with a degree of risk tolerance. They all have Buy ratings from major Wall Street analysts.

Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Alibaba, Amazon.com, Bed Bath & Beyond, Berkshire Hathaway, Canopy Growth, Dollar Tree, Facebook, IBM, MGM Resorts and Southwest Airlines.

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