The futures were down big across the board Friday, after a wild and wooly week on Wall Street. All eyes and ears on Wall Street were focused on Federal Reserve Chair Powell this week as he confirmed what was generally known: The interest rate hikes will start in March and there should be at least four this year, with some speculating they could be .50 basis points each instead of .25 basis points.

A very positive fourth-quarter gross domestic product report helped to buffer the end-of-the-day selling that hit the market on consecutive days, and once again on Thursday. All three major indexes ended lower after posting big early gains, with the selling spurred on by supply chain issues, growth concerns and the ongoing inflation worries.

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

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 28, 2022.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT): UBS kept a Buy rating on the pharmaceutical heavyweight and raised the target price to $142 from $138. Raymond James reiterated an Outperform rating but dropped the $150 target price to $143. That compares with the $144.58 consensus target and Thursday’s closing print of $120.44.

Albemarle Inc. (NYSE: ALB): HSBC Securities upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and raised the target price to $280 from $250. The consensus target is $261.29. The final trade on Thursday was reported at $205.48.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT): Goldman Sachs cut the stock to Neutral from Buy. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $21.24 to $37.87 and have a $50.73 consensus target price. The final trade on Thursday was reported at $28.68, which was down almost 5% for the day.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T): UBS reiterated a Buy rating on the legacy telecommunications giant and trimmed the target price to $32 from $34. Wells Fargo kept an Equal Weight and dropped the price target to $26 from $27, while Cowen reiterated a Market Perform call and lowered its target price to $29 from $34. The consensus target is $30.30. The last trade for Thursday was for $24.12 a share.

CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX): Seaport Research Partners raised the stock to Buy from Neutral and has a $140 price target. The consensus target is up at $146.91. The shares were last seen Thursday at $105.85.

Chewy Inc. (NASDAQ: CHWY): RBC Capital Markets started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $77 target price. The consensus target is $74.36. The shares closed on Thursday at $42.71.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ: CLNE): Evercore ISI upgraded the stock to Outperform from Neutral and has an $11 price target. The consensus target is higher at $14. The final trade on Thursday was reported at $5.67.

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ: FWRG): Though Citigroup upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral, it trimmed the target price from $24.50 to $22. The consensus target is $25.30. The shares closed on Thursday at $13.72.

Fisker Inc. (NYSE: FSR): This is the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The analyst points out that not all electric vehicle companies are created equal. Shares have traded as high as $31.96 in the past year but closed most recently at $10.18 apiece.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX): Jefferies reiterated its Buy rating on the heavyweight gold and copper miner and raised the $50 price target to $55. Deutsche Bank kept a Neutral rating on the company and trimmed and lowered the target price to $40 from $44. The consensus target is $44.30, and the shares were last seen Thursday at $37.10, which was down over 3% on the day.

Gitlab Inc. (NASDAQ: GTLB): JPMorgan raised the stock from Neutral to Overweight with a $99 price target. The consensus target is $119.67. The final trade on Thursday came in at $60.40, up almost 5% for the day.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC): Credit Suisse reiterated an Outperform rating on the legacy semiconductor giant but cut the price target to $70 from $80. the BofA Securities kept an Underperform rating and lowered the price target to $52 from $55. The consensus target is $55.84, and shares closed on Thursday at $48.05, down a large 7% despite the company posting solid results for the quarter. It also offered up some disappointing guidance.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS): Stifel reiterated a Buy rating on the casino giant and lifted the target price to $56 from $51. Deutsche Bank maintained a Buy rating and trimmed its target price to $60 from $65, while Wells Fargo stayed with an Equal Weight rating and boosted its price objective to $45 from $41. Those targets compare with the $50.30 consensus figure, and Thursday’s closing trade of $42.08 was down almost 5% for the day.

Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN): BofA Securities downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy and cut the target price to $113 from $125. The consensus target is $129.29. Thursday’s final trade came in at $91.73.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE: LEVI): Citigroup reiterated a Buy rating on the legendary jeans and clothing company, but it dropped the price target to $28 from $32. BofA Securities maintained a Buy rating and lifted the price target to $32 from $30. The consensus target is $33.12. The stock was last seen on Thursday at $22.02, up over 8% after posting stellar results.

Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA): Jefferies started coverage on the bitcoin miner with a Buy rating and a $51 target. The consensus target is $57.40. The shares closed Thursday at $19.79, down almost 8% on the day.
MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: MKTX): Compass Point downgraded the stock to Sell from Neutral and has a $300 target price. The consensus price objective is $403.33. The final trade for Thursday was at $330.12 a share.

PagSeguro Digital Ltd. (NYSE: PAGS): Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy and slashed the price target to $27 from $60. The consensus target is $42.56. The last trade on Thursday came in at $20.00, which was down over 3% for the day.

Paycom Software Inc. (NYSE: PAYC): D.A. Davidson raised its Neutral rating to Buy but slashed the target price to $385 from $550. The consensus target is $483.69. The stock closed on Thursday at $301.53.

Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: STX): Summit Insights raised the hard disk drive giant to Buy from Hold. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $65.14 to $117.67 and closed most recently at $103.68.

Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL): BofA Securities downgraded the high-end homebuilder to Underperform from Buy and slashed the target price to $61 from $85. That compares with the $76.79 consensus target and Thursday’s closing print of $54.89.

Twilio Inc. (NASDAQ: TWLO): BofA Securities resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $250 target. The consensus price objective is much higher at $377.78. The closing share price on Thursday was $176.75.

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT): RBC Capital Markets started coverage of the retail colossus with an Overweight rating and a $160 target price. That compares with the $168.52 consensus target and Thursday’s final print of $135.84.

Given Warren Buffet’s proclivity for only owning stock of companies that he understands inside and out, five of his top picks with big, dependable dividends make sense now for growth and income investors worried about the potential for a steep market decline.

Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest’s position on Tesla takes an unexpected turn. And one key analyst now favors two chip stocks in the automated driving space.

Thursday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Applied Materials, Bloom Energy, Corning, Lam Research, MetLife, PayPal, Plug Power, ServiceNow, Shopify, Spotify Technology and Texas Instruments. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Corning, StoneCo, Tesla and more.

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