The futures rebounded and traded higher on Wednesday, as we began the final trading month of 2021 following another risk-off day that was dominated once again by concerns about the new Omicron variant. In large part, that was down to the comments from the Moderna CEO that he expects current vaccines to be materially less effective against this variant. This comes despite the fact that the mutation is said to be far less transmissible than the Delta variant and the symptoms appear to be milder. All the major indexes and the transports closed lower, while the Treasury market was bought across the curve by worried investors looking for safety.

Top strategists across Wall Street remain focused on the potential for rising interest rates, quantitative easing tapering, big increases in energy costs and other inflation issues, and the ongoing supply chain issues and stagflation worries. Toss in the very pressing debt ceiling issue and the ongoing China concerns, and there is still plenty of potential for volatility into the end of the year.

24/7 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, December 1, 2021.

Alkermes PLC (NASDAQ: ALKS): Citigroup started coverage on the stock with a Neutral rating and a $22 price target. The consensus target is $28.50, and shares were closed on Tuesday at $21.92.

Ayala Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: AYLA): Jefferies raised its Hold rating to Buy and changed the $12 target price to $17. The consensus target is $22.33. Shares closed almost 5% on Tuesday and were up an additional 5% in Wednesday’s premarket.

Beyond Meat Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND): HSBC started coverage with a Reduce rating and a $62 price target. The consensus target for the plant-based food company is $74.71. The shares were last seen on Tuesday trading at $70.26, which was down close to 6% for the day.

Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF): Baird upgraded it from Underperform to Neutral with a $145 price target. The consensus target is up at $188. The stock closed on Tuesday at $140.53, down almost 5% on the day.

Decker’s Outdoors Corp. (NYSE: DECK): Jefferies resumed coverage on the very popular retailer with a Buy rating, and it raised its $475 target price to $525. The consensus price objective is $476.33, and Tuesday’s closing share price was $405.40.

Diageo PLC (NYSE: DEO): Societe Generale upgraded shares of the spirits giant to Buy from Hold. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $153.67 and $210.15, and it has a consensus target price of $225.34. The last trade on Tuesday was reported at $203.17 a share.

Dillards Inc. (NYSE: DDS): UBS started coverage of the popular retailer with a Sell rating and a $190 price target. The consensus target is $221.67. The last trade for Tuesday hit the tape at $273.90, after tumbling almost 20% on the day. With no news to speak of, the very negative initiation by UBS looks like the culprit.

DMC Global Inc. (NASDAQ: BOOM): Sidoti upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and has a $52 price target. The consensus target is $53.67. The last trade on Tuesday was reported at $36.50.

DoorDash Inc. (NYSE: DASH): Gordon Haskett upgraded the shares of the popular food delivery company from Hold to Buy with a $217 price target. The consensus target is $232.95. The stock closed trading on Monday at $178.77, which was down almost 5% for the day.

Engage Smart LLC (NYSE: ESMT): The Raymond James upgrade was to Strong Buy from Outperform. The firm’s $40 price objective is higher than the $39.06 consensus target. The stock closed Tuesday at $21.87, which was up almost 7% for the day on no reported news.

Foot Locker Inc. (NYSE: FL): Jefferies resumed coverage with a Buy rating and an $80 price objective. The much lower $67 consensus target is still well above Tuesday’s closing print of $45.64, after pulling back almost 5% for the day.

Goodrich Petroleum Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN: GDP): Roth Capital’s downgrade to Neutral from Buy included a target price cut to $23 from $28. The consensus target is $24.00, and shares were last seen on Tuesday trading at $23.00 apiece.
Krispy Kreme Inc. (NASDAQ: DNUT): Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to Sell from Neutral and trimmed the target price to $14 from $15. The consensus target is $18.11. The last trade on Wednesday came in at $14.55 a share, after a retreat of almost 5% for the day.

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE: MP): BofA Securities resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $52 price target. The consensus target is just $43.98. The stock closed on Tuesday at $43.94.

Redbox Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: RDBX): Wedbush started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $15 price target. The consensus price objective for the popular DVD movie vendor is much higher at $24. The shares closed on Tuesday at $11.88, after a pop of close to 6%.

Shift4 Payments Inc. (NYSE: FOUR): Loop Capital began coverage with a Buy rating and a $69 price target. The consensus target is a much higher $109.10. The last Tuesday trade was reported at $52.02.

Sun Communities Inc. (NYSE: SUI): Citigroup resumed coverage with a Buy rating and has a $225 price target. The consensus target is $225.13. The final trade for Tuesday was reported at $188.85, which was over 4% lower on the day.

Tronox Holdings PLC (NYSE: TROX): UBS’s double upgrade to Buy from Sell included a target price boost to $32 from $22. The consensus target is $27.56. The last trade on Tuesday came in at $21.99.

Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN): Jefferies resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $46 price target. The consensus target is $42.87. The stock closed at $31.67 on Tuesday.

Ziff Davis Inc. (NYSE: ZD): Wedbush began coverage with an Outperform rating and a $150 target price. The consensus target is up at $166.88. The stock rose almost 3% on Tuesday to close at $113.87.

Now is the time to reduce risk and more to safer ideas. Top-quality health care stocks may be the way to go for the rest of 2021 and in 2022, and these five Dividend Aristocrats make good sense now for worried investors.

Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Dollar Tree, Plains All American Pipeline, Simon Property, SoFi Technologies, Square, Synchrony Financial, Tyson Foods, U.S. Bancorp and Zoom Video Communications. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Chevron, Toyota, Victoria’s Secret and more.

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