The futures were up across the board Wednesday, after another incredible roller-coaster day on Wall Street that saw the venerable Dow Jones industrials claw back from an 800-point loss at midday to finish only slightly lower. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were pounded. Rising interest rates continue to be the story driving many of the sellers, as are the ongoing concerns about Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Russia.

The Treasury bond market saw the return of the sellers, as yields were higher across the curve on Tuesday. Many across Wall Street cite the hawkish policy shift at the Federal Reserve for the rise in rates, and Wednesday’s Fed policy meeting and statement, while not expected to have a rate increase, will set the tone for things to come.

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 26, 2022.

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM): Citigroup started coverage with a Buy rating and a $135 target price. The consensus target is $134.86. The shares closed trading Tuesday at $112.56.

Ares Management Corp. (NYSE: ARES): Piper Sandler started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $97 target price. The consensus target is $96.33. The shares were last seen on Tuesday at $71.99.

Brown-Forman Corp. (NYSE: BF-B): Berenberg upgraded shares of the giant spirits company to Buy from Hold and raised the target price to $76.10 from $69.20. The consensus price target is $72.30. The stock closed on Tuesday at $66.34.

Chuy’s Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CHUY): Benchmark raised the popular Texas restaurant to Buy from Hold and has a $35 price target. The consensus target is $36.83. The stock closed on Tuesday at $26.19.

Confluent Inc. (NASDAQ: CFLT): D.A. Davidson upgraded the shares from Neutral to Buy with a $76 price target. The consensus target is up at $90.47. The shares were last seen on Tuesday at $56.75, which was down over 3% for the day.

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG): Morgan Stanley raised the popular sports betting site to Overweight from Equal Weight and has a $31 price target. The consensus target is much higher at $56.50. The shares closed Tuesday at $19.32, down almost 4% for the day, but the stock was up close to 7% in premarket action.

Fastly Inc. (NYSE: FSLY): Citigroup resumed coverage with a Sell rating and slashed the target price to $25 from $40. The consensus target is $40.78. The shares ended trading on Tuesday at $26.53, down over 5% on the day.

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL): Citigroup reiterated a Buy rating on the oilfield services leader and raised the target price to $33 from $30. Cowen reiterated an Outperform rating and moved its $33 target price to $35. Additional top firms across Wall Street made similar moves Tuesday, on the back of positive results and forward commentary from Schlumberger. The final trade for Tuesday was posted at $30.59, a 7% gain for the day.

KLA Corp. (NASDAQ: KLAC): KeyBanc Capital Markets started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $480 target price. The consensus price objective for the semiconductor capital equipment leader is $451.14. The shares closed trading Tuesday at $370.11, a retreat of over 5% for the day.

Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA): Deutsche Bank upgraded the COVID-91 vaccine giant from Sell to Hold with a $175 target price. The consensus price objective is a much higher $284.26. The stock closed on Tuesday at $152.54. Shares were up 3% in the premarket.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX): The new management team has not proven itself to the markets yet, which is reflected in the share price, says Zacks of its Bear of the Day. The stock has traded as high as $700.99 a share in the past year but closed most recently at $366.42.

New Relic Inc. (NYSE: NEWR): Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight and has a $150 target price. The consensus price objective is $124.91. The stock closed on Tuesday at $104.78.

Plains GP Holdings L.P. (NYSE: PAGP): Bernstein upgraded the stock from Market Perform to Outperform with a $14.50 price target. The consensus target is $13.96. The last trade on Tuesday was reported at $11.34.

Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE: PEG): Evercore ISI lifted its In line rating to Outperform with a $71 price target. The consensus target is $71.75, and the stock closed on Tuesday at $64.72.

SJW Group (NYSE: SJW): Seaport Research Partners upgraded the shares from Neutral to Buy with a $78 price target. The consensus target is $76.83. The last trade Tuesday came in at $68.48 per share.

Southern Co. (NYSE: SO): Evercore ISI upgraded the utility heavyweight to In line from Underperform and has a $66 price target. The consensus target is $68.66. The final trade on Tuesday was reported at $67.25.

Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK): Citigroup resumed coverage on the shares with a Neutral rating and nudged the $117 target price on the big data stock to $120. The consensus target is much higher at $164.28. Tuesday’s closing trade was at $116.25, which was down over 4% for the day.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (NYSE: TSM): Zacks named this as its Bull of the Day stock. The analyst suggested it represents the best parts of the semiconductor industry as it supports the fabrication of virtually all leading-edge chip innovators. Shares last closed at $122.48 and have a consensus price target of $158.88, which would be an all-time high.

Teradyne Inc. (NASDAQ: TER): KeyBanc Capital Markets initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and a $180 price target. The consensus price objective is $165.67. The final trade on Tuesday was reported at $138.29, down over 6% on the day.

Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO): Atlantic Equities started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $240 price objective. The consensus price target is a stunning $400.84. The final trade on Tuesday was reported at $185.84.

ViacomCBS Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAC): KeyBanc Capital Markets upgraded the broadcasting and programming heavyweight to Sector Weight from Underweight. Over the past 52 weeks, the shares have traded in a wide range of $28.29 to $101.97, and they have a consensus target of $47.69. The final trade on Tuesday was at $32.86 a share.

VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW): Macquarie resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $157 target price. The consensus target is $150.56. The final trade for Tuesday was at $122.65.

Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: XEL): Evercore ISI raised the stock to Outperform from In Line and has a $75 target price. The consensus target is $72.53. Tuesday’s closing share price was $67.88.

ZScaler Inc. (NASDAQ: ZS): Citigroup started coverage with a Buy rating and a $310 target price. The consensus price objective is $386.06. The last trade on Tuesday came in at $228.88, down almost 6% on the day.

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Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Ballard Power Systems, CF Industries, Deere, Dun & Bradstreet, Grab, Infinera, Nike, Palo Alto Networks, Plug Power, Sunrun, Schlumberger, UBS and VMware. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on American Airlines, Kroger, Marathon Petroleum, U.S. Bancorp and more.

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