The futures traded higher Thursday, after a back-and-forth Wednesday that saw the major indexes fight a tug-of-war between the risk-off sellers and the buy-the-dip crowd looking for bargains. In the end, the sellers won, with all the major indexes closing lower.

Continued concerns over rising interest rates, profits at major corporations that may see compensation costs expanding, the continued rapidly rising inflation and the reality that economic growth could slow dramatically this year are all contributing to the recent volatility. In addition, with the Federal Reserve liquidity punchbowl being removed from the party, stocks that make no money have come under intense selling pressure for some time, and short sellers seemed to be focused on this group.

Yields were down slightly across all the Treasury maturities. However, the five-year and 10-year notes are still sitting right near 52-week highs.

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 20, 2022.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD): Piper Sandler downgraded the chipmaker to Neutral from Overweight and lowered the price target to $130 from $140. The Wall Street consensus target is $143.63. The stock closed trading on Wednesday at $128.27.

Affirm Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: AFRM): Loop Capital started coverage with a Hold rating and a $72 price target. The consensus target is much higher at $146.36. The stock was last seen on Wednesday trading at $64.30.

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ARCO): Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral but trimmed the price target to $7 from $6. The consensus target for the franchisee of McDonald’s restaurants across the globe is $6.87. The shares closed trading on Wednesday at $5.54.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK): Zacks named this as the Bull of the Day stock. The analyst makes the case that solid institutional buying should continue to provide a tailwind for this long-term market winner. The stock most recently closed at $59.24 and has a consensus price target of $67.84, which would be a 52-week high.

Boise Cascade Co. (NYSE: BCC): BofA Securities upgraded the stock to Buy from Underperform and lifted the target price to $82 from $68. The consensus target is $67.40. The closing share price on Wednesday was $69.95, which was up almost 4% for the day.

Brown Forman Inc. (NYSE: BF-B): Bernstein started coverage with a Market Perform and a $70 target price. The consensus price objective is $72.55. The stock closed on Wednesday at $66.77.

Cloudflare Inc. (NYSE: NET): KeyBanc Capital Markets began coverage with an Overweight rating and a $132 target price. The consensus price objective is up at $188.06. The last trade Wednesday hit the tape at $94.32.

Commercial Metals Co. (NYSE: CMC): KeyBanc Capital Markets raised its Sector Weight rating to Overweight with a $42 price target. The consensus target is $38.50. The stock closed at $36.56 Wednesday.

Commvault Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CVLT): KeyBanc Capital Markets cut its Overweight rating to Sector Weight. Over the past year, the stock has traded between $56.99 and $84.22, and it has a $77.14 consensus price objective. The last trade on Wednesday was posted at $66.67.

DoorDash Inc. (NYSE: DASH): Northcoast started coverage with a Neutral rating. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $110.13 to $257.25 and have a $224.65 consensus target. The stock closed on Wednesday at $131.76.

F5 Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV): KeyBanc Capital Markets started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $307 price target. The consensus target is much lower at $249.13. Wednesday’s final trade was reported at $222.80 a share.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F): Though Jefferies downgraded the venerable automaker to Neutral from Buy, it also raised the target price to $25 from $20. The consensus target is $21.14. The shares closed Wednesday at $22.45, down almost 8% for the day.

Hancock Whitney Corp. (NYSE: HWC): Truist Securities upgraded the regional bank to Buy from Hold and lifted the $50 price target to $70. The consensus target is $58.56. The stock closed Wednesday at $55.18.

Interactive Brokers Group Inc. (NASDAQ: IBKR): Keefe Bruyette upgraded the stock to Outperform from Market Perform and has a $90 price objective. The consensus target is higher at $98.67. The final trade for Wednesday was posted at $72.15 a share.

Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR): KeyBanc Capital Markets started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $46 target price. The $31.06 consensus target is less than the most recent close at $33.57.
McCormick & Company Inc. (NYSE: MKC): Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to Neutral from Outperform and has a $100 target price. The consensus target is $88.96. The shares ended trading on Wednesday at $96.06. As it is trading right near a 52-week high, this looks like a valuation call.

Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL): KeyBanc Capital Markets downgraded the luxury homebuilder to Underweight from Sector Weight with a $56 target price. The consensus target is much higher $79. The shares were last seen Wednesday at $60.35, close to 5% lower on the day.

Truist Financial Corp. (NYSE: TFC): UBS upgraded the super-regional broker-dealer and bank to Buy from Neutral and raised the target price to $77 from $63. The consensus target is $68.34. The shares closed on Wednesday at $64.58.

Unilever PLC (NYSE: UL): Societe Generale raised its Sell rating on the global consumer staples giant to Buy. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $46.07 to $61.81 and have a $62.00 consensus target. The last trade Wednesday was reported at $50.04, which was up almost 8% for the day as worried investors hunt for safety.

Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZBH): Wells Fargo downgraded the medical devices leader to Underweight from Equal Weight and slashed the $170 target price to $124. The consensus target is $162.80, and Wednesday’s final print was $123.27.

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Wednesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Foot Locker, Incyte, Intel, Las Vegas Sands, LyondellBasell Industries, Nike, SoFi Technologies and Unity Software. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Cisco Systems, Exxon Mobil, Kroger and more.

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