The futures were higher on Tuesday, after an ugly start to the first full trading week for the fourth quarter. Despite Friday’s impressive showing, Monday’s action surely proved discouraging to the risk-on crowd as the same headwinds remain in place. Continued rising interest rates, Federal Reserve tapering due to begin in a month, big increases in energy costs, ongoing supply chain issues, stagflation worries and Wall Street analysts that are not nearly as positive on the upcoming earnings seasons as they were for the second quarter. Toss in the debt ceiling and China worries, and the cauldron continues to simmer.

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 Tuesday, October 5, 2021.

Albertsons Companies Inc. (NYSE: ACI): BMO Capital Markets downgraded the supermarket giant’s stock to Underperform from Market Perform but raised its price target to $26 from $22. The consensus target is up at $28.56. The shares closed trading on Monday at $30.10. The stock was down close to 4% in Tuesday’s premarket.

Becton, Dickinson and Co. (NYSE: BDX): Zacks has named this as its Bear of the Day stock, after the firm’s sentiment sank to its lowest. Shares last closed at $240.55, and the consensus price target is $267.80.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY): BofA Securities resumed coverage of the former meme stock with an Underperform rating and a $14 price target. The higher consensus target is $19.57, and Monday’s close at $15.70 followed a more than 5% retreat on Monday.

Charles Schwab Corp. (NASDAQ: SCHW): Atlantic Equities started coverage of the venerable discount brokerage firm with an Overweight rating and a $95 price target. The $85.17 consensus target is also well above Monday’s final trade of $73.23 a share.

Clearway Energy Inc. (NYSE: CWEN): Evercore ISI’s upgrade to Outperform from In Line included a target price hike to $36 from $25. The stock ended trading on Monday at $30.40.

Cloudflare Inc. (NYSE: NET): Wells Fargo started coverage with an Equal Weight rating and a $122 price target. The consensus target is $124.80. The shares were last seen Monday at $115.73.

Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL): BofA Securities resumed coverage on the consumer staples giant with a Neutral rating and an $80 price target. The consensus target is up at $86.70. Monday’s final trade was reported at $75.06.

Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA): Wolfe Research raised its Underperform rating to Outperform and boosted the target price to $101 from $80. The consensus price target is $78.22. The shares were last seen on Monday at $82.97.

CommScope Inc. (NASDAQ: COMM): Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to Neutral from Outperform and cut the target price to $12 from $23. The consensus target is $20.95. The final trade for Monday was reported at $13.23.

CyberArk Software Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYBR): Wells Fargo initiated coverage with an Equal Weight rating and a $165 price target. The higher consensus target is $182.21, and Monday’s closing print was $156.78 per share.

Decker’s Outdoor Corp. (NASDAQ: DECK): Wedbush started coverage with a Neutral rating and a $390 price target. The consensus target is a much higher $486.50. The last trade for Monday was reported at $366.67.

Dow Inc. (NYSE: DOW): Redburn started coverage of the chemicals leader with a Neutral rating. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $44.33 to $71.38 and have a $67.86 consensus target price. Monday’s closing share price was $58.24.

Equinix Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX): Credit Suisse downgraded it to Neutral from Outperform and slashed the target price to $731 from $942. The consensus target is up at $898.97. The stock closed Monday at $785.61.

Foot Locker Inc. (NYSE: FL): Wedbush initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and have a $51 price target. The posted consensus target is $73.65. Monday’s final trade for the popular athletic shoe retailer was at $46.59 a share.

Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT): Wells Fargo started coverage with an Overweight rating and a strong $380 target price. The consensus target is just $306.23. The final trade on Monday was reported at $288.87, which was down over 3% on the day.

Jazz Pharmaceutical PLC (NASDAQ: JAZZ): Citigroup initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $200 price target. The consensus price objective is $208.50. The shares closed on Monday at $127.21.
Lordstown Motors Corp. (NASDAQ: RIDE): Morgan Stanley downgraded the electric vehicle stock to Underweight from Equal Weight and slashed the price target from $8 to $2. The consensus target is $4.75. The stock was last seen Monday at $5.85, which was over 10% lower for the day, and the stock was pummeled in premarket action, down another 9%.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE): Wedbush started coverage of the popular athletic apparel and shoe company with an Outperform rating and a $170 price target. The consensus target is $181.13. The shares closed at $147.14 on Monday.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC): Goldman Sachs raised its price target on the bank to $214 from $193 while maintaining a Neutral rating. The consensus target is $204.43. The last trade for Monday came in at $198.09.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG): BofA Securities resumed coverage of the consumer staples leader with a Buy rating and a $160 target price. The consensus target is $153.14. Monday’s closing share price was $138.79.

RingCentral Inc. (NYSE: RNG): Summit Insights resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $300 price target. The consensus target is much higher at $399.96. The stock pulled back almost 6% on Monday to close at $216.16.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA): This was selected as Bull of the Day at Zacks. The analyst suggests that strong production and delivery numbers are only part of the bigger story with this EV stock. Shares closed most recently at $781.53, but the consensus price target was only $687.84 on last look.

Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UAA): Wedbush started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $26 price target. The consensus target is set at $27.78. The last trade for Monday was reported at $20.74.

BofA Securities has revealed its top ideas for the fourth quarter of 2021. They include great picks, such as General Electric and Uber, along with a couple of potential short sale ideas.

Meme stocks on the move Monday included Camber Energy and ContextLogic.

Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Akamai Technology, ContextLogic, DuPont de Nemours, First Solar, Peabody Energy, Southwest Airlines, 3M and Union Pacific.

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