The futures were mostly higher Wednesday, after Tuesday’s trading that saw the major indexes moving in and out of the red all day before ending down across the board. The earnings parade started in a big way Wednesday morning, with JPMorgan and Delta Air Lines posting solid results before the bell. The rest of the big banks and brokerage firms will post results later this week. Soaring commodity prices remain a big concern on Wall Street as oil prices are at their highest levels since 2014 and natural gas prices have skyrocketed as well. Interest rates were a nonissue back-and-forth, with some buying across the longer end of the yield curve.

Top strategists across Wall Street remain focused on rising interest rates, Federal Reserve tapering due to begin soon, big increases in energy costs, ongoing supply chain issues and stagflation worries, and many analysts are not nearly as positive on the upcoming earnings season as they were for the second quarter. Toss in the debt ceiling and China worries, and the cauldron continues to simmer.

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 Wednesday, October 13, 2021.

American Tower Corp. (NYSE: AMT): Wolfe Research resumed coverage with a Peer Perform rating and a $271 target price. The consensus price objective is up at $308.50. The final trade for Tuesday
was reported at $264.55.

Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI): UBS started coverage on the chip giant with a Buy rating and a $210 price target. That compares with a lower $192.46 consensus target and Tuesday’s closing print of $164.02.

BellRing Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: BRBR): Truist Securities downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy with a $30 price target. The consensus target is $35.14. The stock closed Tuesday at $27.78.

Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ): HSBC Securities raised its Hold rating on the adult beverage giant to Buy with a $262 price target. The consensus target is $262.18. The final Tuesday trade was reported at $218.84.

Continental Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLR): MKM Partners downgraded the energy giant to Neutral from Buy and nudged down the target price to $54 from $57. The consensus target is just $44.31. The shares were last seen Tuesday at $53.72. As they are trading just shy of the 52-week high after a strong run, this looks like a valuation call.

Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI): Wolfe Research resumed coverage with an Underperform rating and a $162 price target. The posted consensus target is $199.22. The last trade for Tuesday hit the tape at $170.60 a share.

CyrusOne Inc. (NASDAQ: CONE): Wells Fargo downgraded the shares to Equal Weight from Overweight and trimmed the target price to $78 from $80. The consensus target is $80.25. The stock closed on Tuesday at $75.99.

Dow Inc. (NYSE: DOW): Mizuho initiated coverage on the chemical giant with a Neutral rating and a $64 price target. The consensus target is $67.68. The closing share price on Tuesday was $57.74.

Freshpet Inc. (NASDAQ: FRPT): The Truist Securities upgrade to Buy from Hold included a price target hike to $175 from $150. The consensus target is $180.38. The stock closed on Tuesday at $132.19.

Graphic Packaging Holding Co. (NYSE: GPK): Baird raised the stock to Outperform from Neutral and lifted the price target to $24 from $20. Truist Securities also started coverage with a Buy rating and a $25 target. The stock closed Tuesday at $18.79.

HubSpot Inc. (NASDAQ: HUBS): RBC Capital Markets resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and raised the target price from $610 to a massive $925. The consensus target is just $702.59, but the stock closed Tuesday at $758.27, after a more than 11% rise on the day.
International Paper Co. (NYSE: IP): Truist Securities started coverage with a Hold rating and a $50 price target. That compares with the $63.32 consensus and Tuesday’s closing print of $55.74.

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE: LYB): Mizuho started coverage of the chemical leader’s stock with a Buy rating and a $125 price target. The consensus target is $117.13. The stock closed at $96.86 on Tuesday.

Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP): UBS started coverage with a Neutral rating and a $154 price objective. The higher $181.65 consensus target also compares with Tuesday’s closing trade of $140.99.

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE: NTR): Zacks has selected this as its Bull of the Day stock. The analyst points out that fertilizer prices are soaring and so are this company’s earnings. Shares last closed at $70.62, and the consensus price target is $76.25.

ON Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: ON): UBS started coverage with a Neutral rating and a $46 price target. The consensus target is up at $53.84. Tuesday’s last trade was reported at $42.35.

Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG): Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight and also raised the price target to $40 from $30. The consensus target is $42.51. The stock closed Tuesday at $29.78, which was up almost 8% for the day. It added an additional 7% in premarket action.

Sherwin-Williams Co. (NYSE: SHW): Mizuho started coverage of the paint giant with a Buy rating and a $352 price objective. The consensus target is $308.70. The stock closed on Tuesday at $291.86.

Workday Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY): D.A. Davidson began coverage with a Buy rating and a $300 price target. The consensus target is $306.10. The stock was last seen on Tuesday at $257.19.

Five dividend-paying sin stocks look like outstanding values now and may be just the ticket for worried investors not bothered by these industries. The stocks are all rated Buy and should hold up well in a swift sell-off and in a protracted bear market.

Wednesday’s early meme stock movers included Camber Energy, ESS and Vinco Ventures.

Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Airbnb, Archer Daniels Midland, DraftKings, MGM Resorts International, Nike and Square. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Livent, Penn National, Toyota and more.

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