The futures were mixed on Friday after a difficult week for stocks to start off the new year. Though all three major indexes closed lower on Thursday, the Russell 2000 closed higher, indicating some money may be rotating to smaller capitalization stocks and value. Again the nonfarm payroll numbers came in below the 440,000 figure that Wall Street had expected, only adding 199,000 jobs.

Top strategists and financial media pundits have cited the very hawkish tone from the December FOMC minutes as the driving force behind the big risk-off moves this week. Toss in the fact that the market was very overbought and valuations are very stretched, so the buy-the-dip crowd has remained on the sidelines. The Treasury bond market saw sellers again Thursday as yields crept higher across the curve.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding fresh 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 Friday, January 7, 2022.

Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA): BofA Securities raised the stock to Neutral from Underperform and also lifted the target price on the bank to $105 from $88. The consensus target is $94.63. The last trade on Thursday came in at $96.49, which was up close to 5% for the day.

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWD): Wells Fargo started coverage of the cybersecurity heavyweight with an Overweight rating and a $274 price objective. The consensus target is $294.31. The final Thursday trade came in at $187.49, up close to 5% on the day.

DTE Energy Co. (NYSE: DTE): Morgan Stanley upgraded the Michigan-based utility to Overweight from Equal Weight and moved the $127 price objective to $133. The consensus target is $127.47. The shares were last seen Thursday at $119.57.

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM): Truist Securities upgraded the energy heavyweight to Neutral from Sell and boosted the target price to $65 from $50. The consensus target is $72.25. The shares closed Thursday at $68.32, up almost 3% for the day.

Five9 Inc. (NASDAQ: FIVN): Jefferies upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy. Over the past 52 weeks, the shares have traded between $122.33 and $211.68, and they have a $200.42 consensus price objective. The last trade on Thursday was reported at $134.79.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F): Zacks named this stock as its Bull of the Day. The analyst makes a case that even though electric vehicles are still in their infancy, this historic automaker’s big push in that direction is already turning heads. Shares hit a 52-week high of $24.95 this week and most recently closed at $24.46. But they have a consensus price target of just $19.82.

Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD): Morgan Stanley cut shares of the biotech giant to Equal Weight from Overweight and dropped the target price to $74 from $84. The consensus target is $76.88, and the stock closed on Thursday at $71.59.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS): BofA Securities downgraded the Wall Street giant to Neutral from Buy and trimmed the target price to $475 from $490. The consensus target is $459.84. The final Thursday trade was recorded at $396.93.

Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON): UBS upgraded the industrial giant to Buy from Neutral and raised the target price to $237 from $229. The consensus target is $236.18. The shares closed Thursday at $210.82.

Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM): Wells Fargo upgraded the health care heavyweight to Overweight from Equal Weight and lifted the price target to $529 from $492. The consensus target is $505.54. The stock was hammered Thursday, closing almost 20% lower to $367.53 after the company cut its Medicare membership growth forecast.

iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT): This stock was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day. The analyst points out that shares have been on a wild up and down ride over the past five years and things have been just as crazy during the past 12 months. Shares last closed at $67.15, in a 52-week trading range of $63.37 to $197.40.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW): Evercore ISI upgraded the stock to Outperform from In Line and has a $280 price target. That compares with a $276.46 consensus target and Thursday’s final print of $257.79.

L3Harris Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LHX): Baird raised the defense and aerospace giant to Outperform from Neutral and has a $248 target price. The stock closed Thursday at $217.55, after climbing almost 4% for the day.

Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT): Jefferies downgraded the ride-sharing company’s stock to Hold from Buy and cut the price target to $50 from $78. The consensus target for the stock is $67.89. Thursday’s closing trade came in at $43.60.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: PANW): Wells Fargo started coverage of the cybersecurity giant with an Overweight rating and a $700 target price. The much lower $609.31 consensus target is well above Thursday’s closing print of $532.91, even after close to a 6% gain on the day.

Progressive Corp. (NYSE: PGR): Evercore ISI upgraded the shares from In Line to Outperform with a $118 price objective. The consensus target is $97.57. The closing share price on Thursday was  $105.25.

RPM International Inc. (NYSE: RPM): JPMorgan upgraded the stock to Neutral from Underweight and hiked the $85 price objective to $100. The consensus target is $93.75. The last trade for Thursday was reported at $94.36.
Similarweb Ltd. (NYSE: SMWB): Jefferies upgraded the shares to Buy from Hold and trimmed the target price to $22 from $20. The consensus price objective is up at $27.33. The shares closed out Thursday at $17.72.

Simply Good Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: SMPL): Credit Suisse raised its Neutral rating to Outperform and boosted the target price to $45 from $38. Shares were last seen trading at $38.98 apiece.

TaskUs Inc. (NASDAQ: TASK): BofA Securities upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and has a $71 price target. The consensus target is $68.33. The last trade Thursday hit the tape at $47.62, which was up over 4% for the day.

Texas Roadhouse Inc. (NASDAQ: TXRH): UBS upgraded the popular restaurant chain to Buy from Hold and also lifted the price target to $108 from $98. The consensus target is $100.71. The last trade on Thursday came in at $91.00.

Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE: VEEV): SVB Leerink upgraded the shares to Outperform from Market Perform and has a $282 target price. The consensus target is a much higher $325.30. The final trade on Thursday was reported at $241.67.

Zscaler Inc. (NASDAQ: ZS): Wells Fargo began coverage with an Overweight rating and a $400 target price. The consensus target is $390.61. The shares closed at $260.21 on Thursday.

Five top bank stocks are among the best ideas for growth and income investors trying to decide where to move capital and resources in 2022, as they could be poised for some outsized total return. They have Buy ratings at top Wall Street firms too.

Thursday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Beyond Meat, Delta Air Lines, Emerson Electric, Kimco Realty, Peloton Interactive, Pinterest, Plug Power, Range Resources, Roku, Salesforce.com, 3M and Voya Financial. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Coinbase Global, Dollar General, Lowe’s, Target and more.

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