The futures were higher Thursday, as investors get ready for the long Christmas holiday weekend. The markets will be closed for Christmas Eve. All the major indexes posted a second day of gains Wednesday, after a brutal three-day Omicron-fueled sell-off. While COVID-19 fears remain somewhat elevated, no lockdowns have been announced and none are expected to be. Massive corporate stock buybacks combined with seasonal strength have been the source of strength for the risk-on crowd over the past two trading days.

With much of the Federal Reserve’s forward-looking initiatives now baked in, Wall Street strategists are continuing to focus on big increases in energy and food costs and other spiraling inflation issues, as well as the ongoing supply chain concerns and stagflation worries.

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 Thursday, December 23, 2021.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT): Raymond James cut its $150 price target on the stock to $134. The consensus target is $140.42. The stock closed on Wednesday at $138.99 a share.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD): Westpark Capital reiterated a Buy rating on the semiconductor leader and has a $180 target price. The consensus target is $142.50. Shares were last seen on Wednesday at $143.88.

Affirm Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: AFRM): Piper Sandler cut its price target to $108 from $127. The consensus target is $157.14, and Wednesday’s closing share price was $101.07.

AGCO Corp. (NYSE: AGCO): Bernstein downgraded the stock to Market Perform from Outperform and slashed the $177 target price to $127. The consensus target is $156.14. The last trade on Wednesday was reported at $114.26.

Atlassian Corp. PLC (NASDAQ: TEAM): KeyBanc Capital Markets resumed coverage with an Overweight rating and a $442 price target. The higher $467.90 consensus target also compares with Wednesday’s closing print of $388.33.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T): Daiwa Securities started coverage of the telecommunications giant with a Neutral rating and a $26 price target. The consensus target is $30.56. The stock closed on Wednesday at $244.78.

CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ: CAMP): Craig Hallum downgraded the shares to Hold from Buy and cut the target price to $10 from $14. The consensus target is $14.67. The stock closed Wednesday at $7.51, down almost 25% for the day after posting very disappointing earnings.

Canopy Growth Corp. (NASDAQ: CGC): BofA Securities downgraded the marijuana stock to Underperform from Neutral. Over the past 52 weeks, shares have traded between $8.52 to $56.50, and they have a $12.40 consensus price target. The stock closed on Wednesday at $9.37 per share.

Cleanspark Inc. (NASDAQ: CLSK): H.C. Wainwright resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $16 price target. The consensus target is a stunning $42.50. Shares of the bitcoin-mining company were last seen on Wednesday at $11.56.

Cognyte Software Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGNT): Wedbush’s downgrade was to Neutral from Outperform, as it has a $17 price target. The consensus target is $31.40. The shares were ended Wednesday at $15.00, after retreating almost 5% for the day.

Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY): Argus reiterated a Buy rating on the pharmaceutical giant with a $300 price target. The stock has traded as high as $283.90 in the past year but was last seen at $266.50 on Wednesday.

ESS Tech Inc. (NYSE: GWH): Baird started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $15 price target. The consensus target is up at $24.75. The stock was closed on Wednesday at $12.67.

EVO Payments Inc. (NASDAQ: EVOP): Northcoast upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy with a $29 price target. The consensus target is $27.64. The shares closed Wednesday almost 5% higher to $25.01.

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN): Northcoast raised its Neutral rating to Buy from and has a $160 price target. The consensus target is up at $190.95. The shares closed Wednesday at $134.84.

Luminar Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: LAZR): Citigroup resumed coverage with a Buy rating but slashed the price target to $40 from $50. The consensus target is just $26.75. The shares closed on Wednesday at $16.70, which was up over 4% on the day.

PACCAR Inc. (NASDAQ: PCAR): Bernstein raised its Market Perform rating to Outperform and has a $98 price target. The consensus target is $97.53. The stock closed at $84.26 on Thursday.

Sun Country Airlines Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SNCY): Evercore ISO started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $45 target price. The consensus target is $42.67. The stock closed on Wednesday at $26.62.

Workiva Inc. (NYSE: WK): Stifel resumed coverage with a Buy rating, but it cut the $175 price target to $150. The consensus target is $168.67. The final trade for Wednesday was at $133.45 a share.

Five top real estate investment trust stocks make good sense for investors concerned that next year could bring far fewer gains and more volatility than this year, as they offer attractive entry points now and a degree of safety in an inflationary environment.

Wednesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Biogen, Goodyear Tire, Hippo, Krispy Kreme, Lockheed Martin, Micron Technology, Microsoft, Nike and Patterson-UTI Energy. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Caterpillar, Darden Restaurants, First Solar, LendingClub, Upstart and more.

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