The futures were modestly higher after a week of trading that saw some massive volatility and some huge up-and-down days. While the risk-off buyers made their presence felt in a big way on Thursday, as all the major indexes closed solidly higher, the important data on Friday is the November nonfarm payrolls report, which came in below estimates. Only 210,000 jobs were added, versus expectations of 500,000, while the prior month numbers were revised up to 546,000 from 531,000. Many across Wall Street feel that if the Omicron variant proves to be just a minor irritant to the economy near term, growth in 2022 can improve, and perhaps significantly.

Top strategists across Wall Street now are starting to focus on the potential for a faster taper to the quantitative easing program and an earlier rate increase, 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 continued volatility.

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.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday, December 3, 2021.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG): UBS resumed coverage with a Buy rating on the technology giant and raised the target price big-time to $3,925 from $3,190. The consensus target is $3,269.41, and the stock closed trading on Thursday at $2,859.32.

CubeSmart Inc. (NYSE: CUBE): Raymond James upgraded the stock to Outperform from Market Perform and has a $60 price target. The consensus target is $59.38. The stock closed Thursday at $54.78, which was up 3% for the day.

Denny’s Corp. (NASDAQ: DENN): Benchmark started coverage of the ubiquitous family restaurant chain with a Buy rating and a $19 price target. The consensus target is $18.67. The last trade for Thursday came in at $14.31, up over 7% on the day.

Doximity Inc. (NYSE: DOCS): Jefferies initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $78 price objective. The $74.50 consensus price target also compares with Thursday’s close of $67.51 per share.

Freshpet Inc. (NASDAQ: FRPT): Goldman Sachs cut its $154 price target to $121 and kept a Neutral rating on the stock. The consensus price objective is $167.93. The stock closed Thursday at $107.

GoodRX Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: GDRX): Jefferies started coverage with a Buy rating and a $47 price objective The consensus target is $45.53. The stock ended Thursday at $39.66, which was up over 4% for the day.

JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS): CIBC raised its Neutral rating to Sector Outperform and has a $66.10 price target. The consensus target is $44.87. The final trade for Thursday was reported at $48.56.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM): Evercore ISI resumed coverage with an In Line rating and a $125 price target. The much higher consensus target is $148.48, and Thursday’s final print was $116.90 a share.

Marriott International Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR): Loop Capital resumed coverage with a Hold rating and sliced the $165 price target to $163. The consensus target is $162.90. The shares closed over 6% higher on Thursday to $151.12.

Marvell Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MRVL): Goldman Sachs raised its rating to Buy from Neutral and lifted the $63 price target all the way to $95. The consensus target is just $79. The final trade for Thursday was reported at $71.03. Shares were up almost 22% in premarket action, after reporting blowout earnings results.

Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE: PIPR): Wolfe Research started coverage of the broker-dealer with an Outperform rating and a $215 price target. The consensus target is a much lower $182.25. The shares closed trading at $171.02 on Thursday.

Smart Global Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SGH): Zacks says that this tech company is roaring out of the shadows with an ambitious growth strategy that won’t remain under the radar for much longer. The firm has selected it as the Bull of the Day. The shares most recently closed at $58.60 and have a consensus price target of $72.00, which would be an all-time high.

Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP): UBS resumed coverage of the social media favorite with a Buy rating and a $67 price target. The consensus target is up at $75.36. The last trade on Thursday hit the tape at $47.91.
Teladoc Health Inc. (NYSE: TDOC): Jefferies resumed coverage with a Hold rating and a $113 target price. The consensus price objective is $163.81. The stock was last seen on Thursday at $96.60.

TripAdvisor Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP): UBS started coverage with a Neutral rating and a $30 price target. The consensus target is $38.27. The closing share price on Thursday was $25.66.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR): UBS resumed coverage with a Neutral rating and slashed the target price to $50 from $69. The consensus target is $67.82. The final trade on Thursday was reported at $42.65.

Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) UBS started coverage of the ride-sharing leader with a Buy rating and an $80 price target. The consensus target is just $68.01. The stock closed on Thursday at $38.12, after rising close to 6% on the day.

Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ: ULTA): Baird reiterated an Outperform rating on the beauty supply retailing giant and raised the price target to $480. The consensus target is $430. The stock closed Thursday at $383.64, and it was almost 7% higher in premarket trading after solid third-quarter earnings.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE: WH): Loop Capital resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $99 price target. The consensus target is $94.39. The stock was last seen Thursday at $80.16, which was close to a 5% gain for the day.

Zillow Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ZG): Zacks named this as its Bear of the Day stock, pointing out that the stock has lost 75% of its value in the past nine months and this falling knife is still looking toward downside targets. Shares last closed at $53.77, though they have traded as high as $212.40 in the past year.

The wild back-and-forth swings in the market at these nosebleed levels seem to indicate that some rough sledding could be coming our way. Getting some safety into portfolios now makes good sense.

Find out what has uranium stocks down in the dumps, and how much more Tesla stock ARK Invest has sold.

Thursday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Airbnb, Allbirds, Amazon.com, CVS Health, D.R. Horton, Etsy, Ford, Gap, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Salesforce.com and UnitedHealth. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Ally Financial, DoorDash, Dropbox, eBay, Expedia, Lyft, Pinterest, Stitch Fix and Snowflake and more.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.