The futures were mixed Thursday morning, after all the major indexes except the Russell 2000 posted small gains Wednesday. The consumer price index report came in pretty much as expected, with prices rising at the fastest pace since 1982, while December prices were up 0.5%, and over the past year a staggering 7% increase. Though the recent selling in the Treasury market took a break Wednesday, as yields were down across the curve with the exception of the long end, most on Wall Street feel that the Federal Reserve is way behind, and some firms think that the rate lift-off may begin as soon as March.

With the CPI data in the books, many Wall Street professionals will be looking for Friday’s retail sales report. In addition, fourth-quarter earnings kick off Friday, and some of the big banks will be out with what are expected to be strong results.

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 Thursday, January 13, 2022.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD): Barclays reiterated an Overweight rating on the semiconductor powerhouse’s stock and raised the $135 price target to $148. The posted consensus target is $142.50. The last trade on Wednesday saw the stock close at $137.47.

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO): Cowen maintained an Outperform rating on the popular clothing retailer and raised the target price to $40 from $31. The consensus price target is $39, and Wednesday’s closing print of $23.37 was down over 3% for the day.

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU): UBS maintained a Buy rating on the shares and lifted the target price to $230 from $220. The consensus price target is $241.69. The final trade on Wednesday was reported at $159.36.

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO): Zacks has selected this as its Bull of the Day stock. The analyst points out that not all chip stocks are created equal. The shares most recently closed at $622.00 and have a consensus price target of $676.33.

BuzzFeed Inc. (NASDAQ: BZFD): Craig Hallum started coverage with a Buy rating and a $7.50 target price. The shares have traded as high as $14.77 since last year’s initial public offering but closed on Wednesday at $4.56.

CapStar Financial Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: CSTR): D.A. Davidson started coverage with a Buy rating and a $26 price objective. The consensus target is $25.50. The final trade Wednesday was at $21.63 per share.

Cardinal Health Inc. (NYSE: CAH): Earnings are not as healthy as they could be, suggests the analyst at Zacks who selected this as the Bear of the Day. Shares have traded as high as $62.96 in the past 52 weeks but last closed at $51.68.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT): UBS reiterated a Buy rating on the construction equipment heavyweight and raised its $230 target price to $250. The consensus target is $229.60, and the stock closed on Wednesday at $222.40.

Cogent Communications Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CCOI): Wells Fargo cut its Equal Weight rating to Underweight and lowered the target price to $65 from $72. The consensus target is $79.27. The stock closed on Wednesday at $64.89.

8X8 Inc. (NYSE: EGHT): Baird’s downgrade to Neutral from Outperform included the price target slashed to $18 from $32. The consensus target is $30. Wednesday’s final trade was reported at $16.54, which was down over 4% for the day.

Fiverr International Ltd. (NYSE: FVRR): Piper Sandler started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $120 price target. The consensus target is much higher at $194.88. The stock closed 5% lower to $92.84 on Wednesday.

Fiserv Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV): The Jefferies downgrade to Hold from Buy included a target price cut to $115 from $120, The consensus target is $131.60. The last trade on Wednesday was reported at $108.50.

Globe Life Inc. (NYSE: GL): Piper Sandler upgraded the shares to Overweight from Equal Weight, and it lifted the $105 price target to $117. The consensus target is $105.43, and the last trade on Wednesday was made at $104.25 a share.

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL): JPMorgan upgraded shares of the oilfield services giant to Overweight from Neutral, and it lifted the price objective to $32. The consensus target is $29.71. The stock closed on Wednesday at $27.44.

IRhythm Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: IRTC): BTIG Research upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy with a $170 target price. The consensus target is $121.67. The stock closed at $142.39 on Wednesday.

Match Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MTCH): Piper Sandler started coverage with an Overweight rating with a $160 target price. Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and has a $157 price target. The consensus price target is up at $172.89. The final trade on Wednesday was reported at $124.08. The stock was up almost 3% in premarket trading.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT): BMO Capital Markets reiterated its Outperform rating on the legacy technology heavyweight and bumped the price target to $360 from $355. The consensus target is $371.11. The last trade Wednesday was recorded at $318.27.
Nio Inc. (NYSE: NIO): Macquarie started coverage of the electric vehicle company with an Outperform rating and a $37.70 price target. The consensus target is much higher at $57.81. The final trade on Wednesday was reported at $31.68, which was up almost 6% on the day.

Premier Financial Corp. (NYSE: PFC): Piper Sandler downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight and trimmed the target price to $34 from $35. The consensus target is $35.50. The stock closed almost 4% lower on Wednesday at $30.77.

SolarEdge Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SEDG): Guggenheim raised its Neutral rating to Buy with a $329 target price. The consensus target is up at $347.73. The closing share price on Wednesday was $261.02.

Solo Brands Inc. (NYSE: DTC): As Citigroup upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral, it nudged the target price to $20 from $17. The consensus target is higher at $26. The shares closed on Wednesday at $16.36, up close to 4% for the day.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV): Wolfe Research downgraded shares of the popular low-cost carrier to Peer Perform from Outperform. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $38.66 and $64.75, and it has a $56.58 consensus target. The shares closed on Wednesday at $45.21.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN): Barclays kept an Underweight rating on the stock but raised the $170 price target to $180. That compares with a much higher consensus target of $205.18 and Wednesday’s final print of $186.03.

Wolfspeed Inc. (NYSE: WOLF): Wells Fargo upgraded the shares to Overweight from Equal Weight and has a $130 target price. The consensus target for the shares is $125.57. The stock closed on Wednesday at $110.50.

Oil prices look to be headed higher, and now may be the last good chance for investors to pick up dependable dividend leaders at reasonable levels. Four top energy stocks have some serious upside potential and are rated Buy at major Wall Street firms.

Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest continues to reduce its stake in Palantir. Wednesday’s meme stock movers included Bed Bath & Beyond and GameStop.

Wednesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Danaher, Emerson Electric, Fifth Third Bancorp, JD.com, Krispy Kreme, Lucid, Nucor, Regions Financial, Shopify, Snowflake, 3M and Wendy’s. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on AbbVie, DoorDash, PayPal, Wells Fargo and more.

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