The futures were higher Thursday, after another wild day across Wall Street when the risk-on crowd finally thought they had a winning rally, but once again a total late-day reversal. All the major indexes closed down except the Nasdaq, which eked out a small gain after the Federal Reserve confirmed that rate hikes will begin in March and continue through the year and the massive balance sheet the Fed carries will start to be rolled off. Even with some solid earnings reports after disappointing numbers last week, and a very oversold market posture, the path of least resistance still looks like it is to the downside.

A big positive for investors and the economy is that the surge of Omicron cases appears to be peaking and starting to fall. The corporate stock buyback windows are starting to open back up, and that could put a supporting bid under the market. Some strategists even noted this week that stocks have performed reasonably well against an inflation backdrop and the prospect of continued rate hikes.

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 27, 2022.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT): KeyBanc Capital Markets started coverage of the legacy semiconductor capital equipment giant with a Sector Weight rating. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $96.07 and $167.06, and it has a $173.22 consensus target. Wednesday’s closing trade was reported at $135.58.

Bloom Energy Corp. (NYSE: BE): Susquehanna began coverage with a Neutral rating and a $16 target price. The consensus target is much higher at $30.30. The final trade on Wednesday was reported at $14.49, which was down almost 5% for the day.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: CHRW): Barclays downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight and has a $108 target price. The consensus target is $107.35. The shares closed on Wednesday at $102.65.

Church & Dwight Co. Inc. (NYSE: CHD): Credit Suisse downgraded the stock from Outperform to Neutral with a $105 target price. The consensus target is $95.73. The closing share price on Wednesday was $98.95.

Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW): Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and raised the price target to $50. The consensus target for the venerable fiber optics giant is $44.67. The stock closed Wednesday at $39.24, up over 11% after the company posted better than expected earnings and had solid forward guidance.

EVO Payments Inc. (NASDAQ: EVOP): Citigroup raised its Hold rating to Buy and boosted the target price to $28 from $26. The consensus target is $27.89. The shares were last seen at $23.21 on Wednesday.

F5 Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV): Credit Suisse maintained an Outperform rating but trimmed the target price to $270 from $278, while BofA Securities reiterated a Buy rating and sliced the $285 price objective to $265. The consensus target is $249.43. The last trade on Wednesday was posted at $202.49, down close to 9% despite posting better than expected earnings.

Gatos Silver Inc. (NASDAQ: GATO): CIBC downgraded the miner to Neutral from Sector Outperform and slashed the $17 price target to $7. The consensus target is $15.20. The shares closed Wednesday at $3.17. That was down 68% after the company reported discrepancies in its reporting for mineral reserves in New Mexico, according to reports.

Heartland Express Inc. (NASDAQ: HTLD): Barclays cut the Equal Weight rating to Underweight and lowered the target price to $15 from $17. The consensus target is $18. The shares closed trading on Wednesday at $14.77, down almost 6% on the day.

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE: IFF): Stifel upgraded the shares to Buy from Hold and moved the price target to $160 from $155. The consensus price objective is $159.56. The last trade for Wednesday was reported at $133.23.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT): Barclays upgraded the trucking and shipping leader to Overweight from Equal Weight and lifted the target price to $235 from $220. The consensus target is $213.43. The final trade for Wednesday came in at $195.50.

Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX): KeyBanc Capital Markets began coverage of the chip equipment giant with a Sector Weight rating. Over the past year, the stock has traded in a wide range of $481.05 to $731.85, and it has a $744.63 consensus price objective. The stock closed Wednesday at $596.67.

Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LITE): JPMorgan upgraded the stock from Neutral to Overweight with a $110 price target. That compares with a $112.79 consensus target and Wednesday’s close at $97.83.

MetLife Inc. (NYSE: MET): Jefferies started coverage with a Buy rating and a $74 price target. The consensus price objective is $74.58. The last trade on Wednesday was posted at $66.06.

Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX): Zacks selected this as its Bull of the Day stock. The analyst suggests that growth, strong sales and record client retention make this HR/payroll provider a top candidate. Shares last closed at $113.57 and have a consensus price target of $132.09.

PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL): BTIG Research maintained a Buy rating but slashed the target price to $270 from $345. The consensus price objective is $260.42, and Wednesday’s closing print was $156.98.
Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG): Susquehanna started coverage with a Positive rating and a $26 price target. The consensus target is a stunning $47.51. The last trade on Wednesday came in at $19.47.

ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE: NOW): Piper Sandler upgraded the shares to Overweight from Neutral and have a $650 target price. The consensus price objective is up at $705.48. The shares were last seen Wednesday at $484.42 but were up over 10% in the premarket after earnings and revenue topped expectations.

Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP): The earnings slowdown seems well discounted, and after the forced selling, this one could be ready to turn, says Zacks, which named the e-commerce stock as its Bear of the Day. However, SMBC Nikko started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $1,200 target price. The stock has traded as high as $1,762.92 per share in the past year but closed most recently at $868.92.

Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE: SPOT): Monness Crespi & Hardt kept a Buy rating on the shares but slashed the $380 target price to $240. The consensus target is $310.63. Wednesday’s closing share price of $174.79 was down over 5% for the day.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN): JPMorgan reiterated its Overweight rating on the venerable semiconductor giant and bumped the target price to $225 from $220. Truist Securities kept a Hold rating and trimmed the target price to $206 from $208. UBS has a Neutral rating and lowered its $190 target price to $180. The consensus target is $203.25, and the shares closed Wednesday at $178.33, up close to 3% after the company posted very strong fourth-quarter results.

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Wednesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Confluent, DraftKings, Fastly, Halliburton, Moderna, Netflix, Southern Company, Splunk, Taiwan Semiconductor, Twilio, ViacomCBS, VMware, Xcel Energy and ZScaler. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on American Express, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Verizon Communications and more.

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