The futures traded higher on Wednesday after another big day of selling that saw the S&P 500 dip into correction territory. Once again, the main culprits appear to be the ongoing specter of Russia invading Ukraine, the huge inflation risks and the interest rate hikes that are coming in March. The concerns were additionally heightened following reports that Russian President Putin was sending “peacekeepers” into the separatist-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine. Those concerns were somewhat tamped down as Russian troops were already in those areas, but many still see the action as very provocative.

The big commodities story Tuesday was oil with Brent crude heading toward the $100 a barrel mark and West Texas Intermediate seemingly on its way to $95. Of course, the rise in the black gold is directly tied to the Ukraine situation, and some across Wall Street have predicted $5 to $7 per gallon gasoline if a full-scale war breaks out in the region.

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, February 23, 2022.

Albany International Corp. (NYSE: AIN): BofA Securities downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy and lowered the target price to $90 from $105. That compares with a consensus target of $96.29 and Tuesday’s closing print of $85.53, which was down over 3% for the day.

Allison Transmission Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ALSN): Credit Suisse downgraded the shares to Neutral from Outperform and has a $48 price objective. The consensus price target is $41.29. The stock closed trading on Tuesday at $39.91.

Bloomin’ Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: BLMN): Raymond James reiterated a Strong Buy rating on the restaurant chain giant and raised the $28 price target to $30. Jefferies kept it at Buy and nudged the target price to $36 from $35, while BMO Capital Markets stayed with an Outperform rating and raised the target price from $30 to $33. The consensus target is $29.91. The final trade Tuesday came in at $24.43.

Callaway Golf Co. (NYSE: ELY): Goldman Sachs raised the price target on the popular golf club and accessories company to $31 from $27 while maintaining a Neutral rating. The consensus target is up at $39.83, but the stock closed Tuesday at $22.75, down close to 3% for the day.

Celanese Corp. (NYSE: CE): Piper Sandler lowered its Neutral rating to Underweight and slashed the target price to $140 from $180. The consensus target is higher at $191.80. The last trade on Tuesday was at $144.07 a share.

ChargePoint Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CHPT): Needham reiterated a Buy rating but cut the target price to $24 from $35. The consensus target is $28.94. The last trade Tuesday was filled at $12.97 down over 6%.

Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX): This was named as the Bear of the Day at Zacks. The analyst cited the year-over-year top-line and bottom-line declines in its past four quarterly reports. The stock has traded as high as $196.67 in the past year but closed most recently at $148.50, which is down about 15% year to date.

Cloudflare Inc. (NYSE: NET): JMP Securities resumed coverage on the cybersecurity stock with a Market Outperform rating, and it dropped the $220 price target to $175. The consensus target is $161.29. Shares ended Tuesday trading at $94.73.

Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ: CRDO): Goldman Sachs started coverage with a Buy rating and a $23 target price. Needham and Stifel also started coverage with Buy ratings, each with a $20 target. The company had a recent initial public offering, so a consensus target has not been tabulated. The shares were one of the few winners on Tuesday, closing up almost 3% to $15.62.

CyberArk Software Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYBR): JMP Securities resumed coverage with a Market Outperform rating, while chopping the $214 target price to $175. The consensus target is $210.41. The last trade on Tuesday was reported at $140.73.

DoubleVerify Inc. (NYSE: DV): BMO Capital Markets started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $37 target price. The consensus target is $37.70. The stock was last seen Tuesday at $26.92, up close to 3% on the day.

Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GNRC): Stifel reiterated a Hold rating on the home generator giant while slashing the $500 target price to $415. The consensus target is $461.89. The last trade on Tuesday was reported at $282.47, which was down over 4% for the day.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC): Raymond James raised the legacy chip giant to Market Perform from Underperform. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $43.85 to $68.49, and they have a $54.64 consensus target. The final trade Tuesday for at $44.69 a share.

Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX): Jefferies resumed coverage of the stock with a Buy rating and a $198 target price, though that is well below the $232 consensus target. The last trade Tuesday came in at $79.39, after retreating 3% on the day.

Owens Corning (NYSE: OC): RBC Capital Markets reiterated a Sector Perform rating and lifted its target price to $105 from $97. The consensus target is up at $121.44. The shares were last seen on Tuesday at $93.59, down close to 5% for the day, but they headed higher in premarket trading.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: PANW): JMP Securities resumed coverage of the cybersecurity heavyweight with an Outperform rating and lifted the price target to $620 from $585. The consensus target is $615.08. Tuesday’s closing trade was at $475.51. The shares were up almost 8% in premarket trading, after the company posted outstanding earnings and revenue.
PPL Corp. (NYSE: PPL): Though RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to Outperform from Sector Perform, it trimmed the price target to $31 from $32. The consensus target is $31.73. Tuesday’s final trade was reported at $26.81, up close to 3% on the day.

Privia Health Group Inc. (NASDAQ: PRVA): Cowen raised its Market Perform rating to Outperform with a $35 price target. The consensus target is $41.44. The stock closed Tuesday at $25.08, a huge 12% gain for the day.

Quidel Corp. (NASDAQ: QDEL): Raymond James upgraded the stock to Strong Buy from Outperform, but it also lowered the $155 target price to $130. The consensus target is up at $166.33. The shares were last seen Tuesday at $103.09, up over 5% after very bullish analyst comments.

Rackspace Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RXT): BMO Capital Markets downgraded the shares to Market Perform from Outperform and slashed the $18 price target to $10.50. Deutsche Bank cut the stock from Buy to Hold with a $9 target price. The consensus target is $20.88 for now. The shares closed Tuesday at $10.85, down almost 9% on the day, and they were taking an additional beating in premarket action, down an additional 23% despite beating fourth-quarter earnings and revenue estimates.

TechTarget Inc. (NASDAQ: TTGT): The pandemic was the exact digital jump-starter this company needed to solidify its dominance of behavioral data analytics in the booming tech space, says Zacks, which selected it as the Bull of the Day stock. Shares last closed at $73.38 and have a consensus price target of $106.14.

Visteon Corp. (NASDAQ: VC): Goldman Sachs raised the price target to $156 from $119, while upgrading the stock to Buy from Neutral. The consensus target is much lower at $126.53. The final trade on Tuesday was reported at $127.66, up over 6% after Goldman Sachs posted very bullish commentary on the company.

Seven top stocks are popular with analysts and come with dependable and generous monthly dividends. Adding some of them to a growth and income portfolio makes good sense in these very turbulent times.

Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Advanced Micro Devices, Baxter International, Constellation Energy, CrowdStrike, Datadog, Nutrien, Sandstorm Gold, SentinelOne and Zhihu. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on DraftKings, GE, Goodyear, Splunk and more.

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