The futures were slightly higher as the consumer price index numbers came in pretty much as expected. Inflation is still at the highest level in 40 years and consumers are being hit on everything from groceries to gasoline. Investors witnessed a wild roller-coaster Tuesday that featured some big back and forth moves on the major indexes, but all finally closed higher, with the Nasdaq leading the way with a 1.4% gain. Clearly, some of the strength we have seen in the Nasdaq this week appears to be hedge fund short covering.

All eyes Tuesday were focused on Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell’s testimony during his confirmation hearing. While noting in prepared remarks that the Fed will use all available tools, the bullish outlook for investors after the years of manufactured liquidity could be in jeopardy. Many Wall Street professionals also will be looking for Friday’s retail sales report. In addition, fourth-quarter earnings kick off this week as some of the big banks will be out with what are expected to be strong results on Friday.

Many on Wall Street are continuing to focus on the big increases in energy and food costs and other spiraling inflation issues. While some strategists and economists are divided on when the current inflation surge will ease, the ongoing supply chain concerns and stagflation worries remain front and center and will until the price increases start to decline.

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 Wednesday, January 12, 2022.

Ambarella Inc. (NASDAQ: AMBA): Wells Fargo upgraded the shares to Overweight from Equal Weight and set the price target at $205. The consensus target is up at $221.44, and the final trade on Tuesday came in at $157.05.

Bill.com Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BILL): Goldman Sachs started coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and a $296 price target. That compares with a $341.50 consensus target and Tuesday’s closing print of $212.32, which was up almost 6% for the day.

Danaher Corp. (NYSE: DHR): Bernstein started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $365 price target. The consensus target is $351.42. The stock closed trading on Tuesday at $305.33.

Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR): Bernstein started coverage with a Market Perform rating and a price target of $100. The consensus target is $109.78. The final trade on Tuesday was reported at $96.38.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB): Morgan Stanley resumed coverage of the regional banking giant with an Overweight rating and a $56 target price. The consensus is lower at $49.12. The last trade on Tuesday came in at $49.05.

FMC Corp. (NYSE: FMC): Citigroup upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and lifted the target price to $129 from $110. The consensus target is $121.94. The last trade on Tuesday came in at $109.39.

JD.com Inc. (NYSE: JD): Atlantic Equities started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $100 price target. The consensus target is $104.65. The shares closed Tuesday at $76.76, up over 10% for the day.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB): Exane BNP Paribas downgraded the consumer staples heavyweight from Overweight to Neutral with a $148 price target. The consensus target is $132.02. The stock closed Tuesday at $143.14.

Krispy Kreme Inc. (NASDAQ: DNUT): BofA Securities started coverage of the beloved donut company with a Buy rating and a $23 price target. The consensus target is just $18. The final trade on Tuesday was filled at $17.68.

Lucid Group Inc. (NASDAQ: LCID): Redburn initiated coverage of the electric vehicle darling with a Neutral rating. The stock has traded between $13.00 and $64.86 a share over the past 52 weeks and has a $38 consensus target. The shares closed Tuesday at $45.47, a gain of almost 9% on the day.

Maxar Technologies Inc. (NYSE: MAXR): Zacks has selected this space technology company as its Bull of the Day, citing the boost it gets from Department of Defense and SpaceX contracts. Shares last closed at $30.58, and the consensus price target is $43.00.

Monolithic Power Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: MPWR): KeyBanc Capital Markets raised its Sector Weight rating to Overweight with a $520 target price. The consensus price objective is higher at $603.29. The stock was last seen trading on Tuesday at $452.51.

Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE): Wolfe Research downgraded the steel powerhouse to Underperform from Peer Perform and has a $102 price objective. The consensus price target is $109.88. The final trade for Tuesday was reported at $110.84.

Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF): Citigroup upgraded the bank to Buy from Neutral and raised the price target on the shares to $30 from $25. That compares with the consensus target price of $26.25 and Tuesday’s final print of $24.66.
Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP): William Blair downgraded the shares to Market Perform from Outperform. The stock has traded in a stunning 52-week range of $1005.14 to $1,762.92 and has a $2,082.95 consensus price target. The last trade on Tuesday was reported at $1,157.31.

Snowflake Inc. (NYSE: SNOW): Barclays raised the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight but lowered the target price to $367 from $393. The consensus target is $386.31. The shares ended trading on Tuesday at $301.27.

SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ: SIVB): Morgan Stanley resumed coverage with an Overweight rating and a very aggressive $985 price objective. The consensus target is just $840.10. The stock was last seen Tuesday at $733.45, up close to 4% for the day.

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM): Bernstein started coverage of the venerable industrial leader with a Market Perform rating. It has a $175 price target, but the consensus target is $184.63, and the stock closed on Tuesday at $178.98.

Vacasa Inc. (NASDAQ: VCSA): Oppenheimer started coverage of the property management company’s stock with an Outperform rating and a $12 price target. The consensus target is $14. The closing share price on Tuesday was $7.83.

ViewRay Inc. (NASDAQ: VRAY): B. Riley Securities upgraded the shares to Buy from Neutral and has a $7 target price. The consensus target is $8.57. The last trade on Tuesday was at $5.00 a share.

Wendy’s Co. (NASDAQ: WEN): BofA Securities resumed coverage on the popular fast-food restaurant with an Underperform rating and a $25 target price. The consensus price objective is $26.58. The stock closed at $23.89 on Tuesday.

With rising interest rates and a continued reopening of the economy as tailwinds for the rest of 2022, four big bank stocks make sense for patient growth investors. They are rated Buy and look attractive in front of their quarterly reports.

Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Advanced Micro Devices, General Electric, Infosys, Intel, Juniper Networks, Kimco Realty, Kinder Morgan, PayPal, Shopify, Target, Wynn Resorts, ViacomCBS and Visa. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Alcoa, IBM, Las Vegas Sands, Take-Two Interactive and more.

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