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Friday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AbbVie, Chipotle, Costco, Ford, Riot Blockchain, Southwest Air, United Airlines, Walmart and More
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The futures were down big on Friday, as we get ready to finish the second full trading week of 2022. All the major indexes closed lower on a wretched risk-off day, while the Treasury market saw buying across the curve as yields went lower. One bright spot was the producer price index numbers for December came in lower than expected. However, wholesale prices for 2021 jumped a stunning 10%.
Big banks kicked off the fourth-quarter earnings seasons with some mixed results, and next week we will see a tsunami of earnings from the other sectors. Overall, analysts and market strategists are positive on the expected results for the quarter.
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 14, 2022.
AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV): Redburn started coverage of the pharmaceutical giant’s stock with a Buy rating. Over the past 52 weeks, shares have traded between $101.81 and $138.15, and they have a consensus target of $138.36. The stock closed on Thursday at $133.52.
Advance Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP): Truist Securities started coverage with a Buy rating and a $273 target price. The consensus target is $258.63. The stock closed at $241.31 on Thursday.
Ashland Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ASH): This chemicals company was selected as the Zacks Bear of the Day. The analyst ponders whether investors should cash out of this winner near all-time highs. Shares last closed at $105.48, but the consensus price target is $124.00.
Bandwidth Inc. (NASDAQ: BAND): Piper Sandler raised the stock from Neutral to Overweight with a $102 price objective. The consensus price target is higher at $127.17. The stock ended Thursday trading at $66.98.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG): Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of the popular restaurant chain to Overweight from Equal Weight but slightly lowered the target price to $1,920 from $1,929. The consensus target is up at $2,004.14. The stock closed most recently at $1,507.43.
Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST): Truist Securities began coverage of the popular retail powerhouse with a Buy rating and a big $606 target price. The lower $556.15 consensus also compares with Thursday’s closing print of $516.88.
Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX): The funky shoemaker was Piper Sandler’s top idea for 2022 and Zacks has named it as the Bull of the Day stock. The shares most recently closed at $125.87 and have a consensus price target of $209.00, which would be a 52-week high.
Dominion Energy Inc. (NYSE: D): Goldman Sachs downgraded the utility from Neutral to Sell with a $72 target price. The consensus target is $85.71. The final trade for Thursday was at $79.75. As it is trading just below a 52-week high, this looks like a valuation call.
DTE Energy Co. (NYSE: DTE): Edward Jones raised its Hold rating on the Michigan-based utility to Buy. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $108.22 to $145.43 and have a consensus target of $127.47. The shares were last seen on Thursday trading at $119.83.
Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH): Guggenheim upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and has a $213 target price. The consensus target is much higher at $254.08. Thursday’s final trade came in at $143.49, which was down close to 4% on the day.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F): Though RBC Capital Markets downgraded the venerable carmaker to Sector Perform from Outperform, it raised the $21 target price to $26. The consensus target is $20.64. The stock closed trading on Thursday at $25.02.
Hawaiian Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: HA): Cowen upgraded the stock to Market Perform from Underperform and hiked the target price to $23 from $17.50. The consensus target is $19.92. Shares of the Hawaii-based airline company closed Thursday at $20.46, up almost 6% for the day.
Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: HTZ): Oppenheimer started coverage of the rental car heavyweight with an Outperform rating and a $31 price target. The consensus target is also $31. The shares ended Thursday’s trading at $24.16.
KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY): UBS started coverage of the bank stock with a Buy rating and a $32 price target. The consensus target is $26.61. The last Thursday trade came in at $26.70.
Kite Realty Group Trust (NYSE: KRG): Baird upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and raised the price target to $24 from $21. The consensus target is $25.27. The shares were last seen on Thursday at $22.743, which was close to a 4% gain for the day.
ResMed Inc. (NYSE: RMD): Baird upgraded the stock to Outperform from Neutral and boosted the target price to $300 from $270. The consensus target is $271.50. The closing share price on Thursday was $251.70, up over 3% for the day.
Riot Blockchain Inc. (NASDAQ: RIOT): Northland Capital started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $30 price target. That compares with a much higher $48.42 consensus price objective and Thursday’s final print of $20.15, which was down close to 5% on the day.
Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV): Susquehanna downgraded the popular low-cost carrier to Neutral from Positive and trimmed its $52 price target to $50. 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 trading on Thursday at $45.79.
SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR): Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Underweight, but it lowered the price target to $23 from $27. The consensus target is $25.88. The stock closed at $20.11 on Thursday.
United Airlines Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: UAL): Susquehanna’s upgrade of the carrier to Positive from Neutral included a price target hike to $60 from $50. The consensus target is $58.89. The stock closed Thursday at $48.17, after rising close to 4% for the day.
VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW): Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded the shares to Buy from Neutral and has a $153 target price. The consensus target is $150.01. The stock was last seen on Thursday at $123.40.
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT): Truist Securities started coverage of the retailing giant with a Hold rating and a $153 target price. The consensus target is $169.39. The last trade on Thursday was recorded at $145.47 per share.
Goldman Sachs favors energy and quality utility stocks for this year. Four outstanding Conviction List picks all pay generous dividends, still have some room to run and could very well offer investors shelter from the storm.
Furthermore, BofA Securities has named its eight top picks in the personal computing and laptop hardware industry. All have tailwinds this year and huge upside potential.
Thursday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Advanced Micro Devices, American Eagle Outfitters, Baidu, Broadcom, Cardinal Health, Caterpillar, Fiserv, Halliburton, Match, Microsoft, Southwest Airlines and Texas Instruments. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Activision Blizzard, ConocoPhillips, Delta Air Lines, Home Depot, Riot Blockchain, Snap and more.
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