The futures were down on Tuesday after the latest Producer Price Index numbers and after a serious risk-off Monday in which all the major indexes and the transports closed down big. The selling was not surprising after the markets posted the best week in 10 months last week. Again the blame from some pundits across Wall Street was the Omicron variant, (which posted its first reported death Monday) despite some reasonably good chatter about existing vaccines and those in the works.

In addition, monetary policy remains front and center, as portfolio managers and traders price in a faster increase in tapering and an early lift off for rate increases. Treasury buyers were seen across the curve as yields declined.

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, December 14, 2021.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL): BofA Securities raised the technology heavyweight to Buy from Neutral and raised the price target to $210 from $160. The consensus target is $172.55. The stock closed Monday at $175.74.

Avalara Inc. (NASDAQ: AVLR): Goldman Sachs began covering the stock with a Buy rating and a $200 price target, which is lower than the consensus of $212.17. Monday’s closing trade was reported at $142.94.

Beyond Meat Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND): Piper Sandler raised the plant-based food stock to Neutral from Underweight and nudged the $61 target price to $64. The consensus target is higher at $74.14. Monday’s closing share price was $63.42.

Cambium Networks Corp. (NASDAQ: CMBM): JPMorgan downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight and slashed the price target to $30 from $49. The consensus target is $52.38. The last trade on Monday was reported at $22.99.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: CHK): Johnson Rice raised the stock to Buy from Accumulate. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded in a range of $40.00 to $69.40, and it has a massive $92.89 consensus price target. The last trade on Monday was reported at $61.91, which was down almost 3% on the day.

Chewy Inc. (NYSE: CHWY): Zacks named this as its Bear of the Day stock, pointing out that shares have mostly tumbled amid slowing growth and a wide-ranging recalibration of pandemic high-flyers. The stock last closed at $55.26, though they have traded as high as $120.00 in the past year.

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWD): JPMorgan raised the cybersecurity leader to Overweight from Neutral and has a $255 price target. That compares with the higher $297.54 consensus target and Monday’s closing print of $198.68.

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG): MoffettNathanson started coverage with a Neutral rating and $36 price target. The consensus target is a stunning $63.04. The stock was last seen on Monday at $28.85, after retreating over 5% on basically no news.

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE: ESNT): Keefe Bruyette upgraded the stock from Market Perform to Outperform with a $51 price target. The consensus target is $56.70, and the closing price on Monday was $43.99 per share.

Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE: GIL): The apparel maker is in the midst of a big comeback year and its long-term outlook is strong, says Zacks, which selected it as the Bull of the Day stock. Shares last closed at $40.31 and have a consensus price target of $42.28.

Globus Medical Inc. (NYSE: GMED): BofA Securities raised Underperform rating to Buy and boosted the $55 target price to $80. That compares with a $85.71 consensus and Monday’s final trade at $68.96 per share.

GXO Logistics Inc. (NYSE: GXO): Loop Capital raised the stock to Buy from Neutral. Over the past year, the stock has traded between $61.05 and $105.92. The consensus price target is $103. The last trade for Monday came in at $86.51.

HireQuest Inc. (NASDAQ: HQI): D.A. Davidson began coverage of the stock with a Buy rating and a $26 price target. Monday’s closing print was $19.78 a share.

Logitech International S.A. (NASDAQ: LOGI): Deutsche Bank began coverage with a Buy rating. The 52-week trading range is $76.70 to $140.17, and the consensus price target is $123.81. The final trade for Monday came in at $81.83.
MKS Instruments Inc. (NYSE: MKS): Citigroup upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and has a $190 target price. The consensus price objective is up at $213.20. The final Monday trade came in at $157.15, which was down almost 3% for the day.

Paycor HCM Inc. (NASDAQ: PYCR): Goldman Sachs started coverage with a Neutral rating and a $31 price target. The consensus price objective is $41.45. Monday’s last trade was reported at $29.62.

Qualtrics International Inc. (NASDAQ: XM): Goldman Sachs began coverage with a Buy rating and a $53 price target. The consensus price objective is $54.36. Monday’s closing trade was at $33.46.

SAP S.E. (NYSE: SAP): UBS raised the European software giant to Buy from Neutral The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $120.08 and $151.48, and it has a consensus target price of $157.75. The last trade on Monday hit the tape at $137.95.

Sono Group N.V. (NASDAQ: SEV): Berenberg started coverage with a Buy rating and a $21 price target, while Craig Hallum also began covering the company with Buy rating but a $23 price objective. No consensus target was available as the stock had a recent initial public offering. The shares pulled back almost 9% on Monday to close at $13.00.

TaskUs Inc. (NASDAQ: TASK): Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight and jacked the $37 target price to $55, which compares with the massive $66.17 consensus target and Monday’s closing print of $42.85.

Tata Motors Ltd. (NYSE: TTM): BofA Securities resumed coverage with a Neutral rating. Over the past 52 weeks, the shares have traded between $11.01 and $35.38, and the consensus price objective is $36.47. Monday’s last trade was recorded at $31.95.

Unity Software Inc. (NYSE: U): Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight and raised the price target =to $185 from $130. The consensus target is $170.68. The final trade on Monday came in at $139.75.

Three top stocks are among the top aerospace and defense selections at Goldman Sachs. While perhaps not as exciting as momentum-juiced technology stocks, they have robust growth potential and will stand long after many meme stocks are in the Wall Street graveyard.

Monday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Apple, Coca-Cola, CommScope, Coupa Software, GoPro, HubSpot, Merck, NetApp, Pfizer, Shopify, Spirit Airlines and Warner Music. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Amazon.com, Chewy, PayPal and more.

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