The futures traded higher Friday, after the market was initially pulverized Thursday following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While President Vladimir Putin maintained that Russia wants to “demilitarize” and not occupy the country, he also used some powerful rhetoric by saying that external interference by the West would lead to consequences never before experienced. The danger for investors is uncertainty over what the ultimate goals the Russian President has, and uncertainty is the kryptonite Wall Street fears the most.

In the afternoon though, the stock market made one of the most incredible comebacks witnessed in years. The major equity indexes that were shredded for much of the day roared back into positive territory. The Nasdaq, which was down 3.5% at one point, closed up well over 2%, and the S&P 500 was up close to 1.5%. The Dow Jones industrials, which at one point early in the trading day looked poised to be down 1,000 points also closed positive.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both closed up, but well off the highs posted earlier Thursday that saw Brent over $100 per barrel and WTI looking like it would get to $100. The flight to safety in the Treasury markets subsided, with selling even coming in at the long end.

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, February 25, 2022.

Bandwidth Inc. (NASDAQ: BAND): Citigroup reiterated a Neutral rating on the stock but boosted the target price to $57 from $44. JMP Securities kept it at Market Outperform but lowered the price target to $100 from $206. Piper Sandler stayed with an Overweight rating but slashed the $102 target price to $51. The consensus target is $121.17 for the time being. The stock closed Thursday at $31.56, down a massive 32% despite posting solid numbers, as the forward guidance was well short of expectations.

Boise Cascade Co. (NYSE: BCC): D.A. Davidson upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and bumped up the target price higher to $82 from $80. The consensus target is $76.80. The stock closed on Thursday at $73.78, up a whopping 14% for the day.

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG): Gordon Haskett lifted its Hold rating to Buy. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $2,053.57 to $2,715.66 and have a $2,714.11 consensus target. The stock closed on Thursday at $2,295.

Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH): J.P. Morgan upgraded the satellite entertainment stock to Overweight from Underweight but trimmed the $42 price objective to $40. The consensus target is $46.94. The stock closed on Thursday at $29.46, up close to 7% on the day.

Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG): Wells Fargo raised its Equal Weight rating on the popular discount retailer to Overweight with a $220 target price. The consensus target is $245.46. The shares closed on Thursday at $190.80.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY): Goldman Sachs cut the price target to $70 from $84 and maintained a Neutral rating. Stifel kept a Buy rating and lowered its target to $70 from $80, while BofA Securities reiterated a Neutral rating and lowered the $75 target price to $67. The consensus target is $76.72. The shares ended Thursday trading at $55.44 apiece.

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS): Goldman Sachs cut the $25 target price on shares of the popular retailer to $22 while keeping a Neutral rating on the stock. The consensus target is $20.79. The final trade on Thursday was reported at $14.34, which was up closed to 6% for the day.

Golar LNG Ltd. (NASDAQ: GLNG): Inflation is helping ignite energy prices, says Zacks, which selected this as its Bull of the Day stock. Shares last closed at $16.18 and have a consensus price target of $19.90, which would be a 52-week high.

HollyFrontier Corp. (NYSE: HFC): Wells Fargo upgraded the refiner to Overweight from Equal Weight and has a $41 target price. The consensus target is $40.17. The stock closed on Thursday at $29.85.

Kodiak Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: KOD): Goldman Sachs lowered its Buy rating to Neutral and slashed the $70 price target to $7. The stock closed on Thursday at $9.17, down 7% on the day. The company’s macular degeneration drug failed to meet a combined Phase 2 and 3 endpoint in clinical trials.

Monday.com Inc. (NASDAQ: MNDY): D.A. Davidson upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral but sliced the target price to $170 from $250. Needham kept a Buy rating but slashed the $420 price target to $230. The consensus target is $317.20. The shares were last seen Thursday at $146.51, up a stunning 14% after taking a big hit 23% drubbing earlier in the day.

Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS): Berenberg downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold with a $50 price objective. The consensus target is $48.78. The final trade for Thursday was at $45.35.

Navitas Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: NVTS): Rosenblatt started coverage at Buy and a $15 target price. The consensus target is $18.83. Thursday’s closing share price of $9.26 was up well over 3% for the day.

NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP): Goldman Sachs dropped its price objective to $72 from $84 and kept a Sell rating on the stock. Barclays maintained an Equal Weight rating and cut the target to $85 from $94, while Deutsche Bank maintained a Hold rating and lowered its $92 target price to $85. The consensus target is $100.70. The stock closed almost 6% lower on Thursday to $79.29 a share.

Nextdoor Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: KIND): Morgan Stanley began coverage with an Equal Weight rating and a $7 target price. The consensus target is up at $13. The final trade for Thursday was reported at $6.05, up well over 6% on the day.
Revolve Group Inc. (NYSE: RVLV): Morgan Stanley resumed coverage with an Equal Weight rating but trimmed the price objective to $56 from $57. The consensus target is up at $78.41. The shares closed Thursday at $51.73.

Skillz Inc. (NASDAQ: SKLZ): Wedbush reiterated an Outperform rating but chopped the $25 price target to $7.50. RBC Capital Markets has a Sector Perform rating and its $12 target price sank to $2.50. The consensus target is $14.29 for now, as the stock closed Thursday at $2.89, down almost 20% after the company posted dreadful results.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA): Daiwa Securities upgraded the electric vehicle heavyweight to Outperform from Neutral, but it lowered the $980 target price to $900. The consensus target is $962.94, and Thursday’s closing print of $80.77 was up almost 5% for the day.

TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX): Citigroup reiterated a Buy rating on the discount retailing giant and trimmed the $81 target price to $78. Credit Suisse reiterated an Outperform rating but lowered the target price to $73 from $86, while Deutsche Bank kept a Buy rating and dropped its target to $79 from $83. The consensus target is $83.50. The last trade to hit the tape Thursday came in at $64.69, up close to 4% on the day.

Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL): Goldman Sachs cut the target price on the luxury homebuilder to $52 from $60 and kept its Sell rating. The consensus target is $73.36. The stock closed Thursday at $51.19, up close to 5% on the day.

Vipshop Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: VIPS): Morgan Stanley cut its Overweight rating to Equal Weight and sliced the $15 price target to $10. The consensus target is $16.52. The stock closed Thursday at $8.89, up almost 3%, but that went away in the aftermarket when the shares fell almost 4% in the wake of disappointing results.

Five stocks not only have among the highest dividends in the S&P 500, but with incredible cash flow and shares trading well below their 52-week highs, they make sense in a market that has been very volatile and could trade to the downside at a moment’s notice.

See where investors can go for safety now that Russia has invaded Ukraine. And see which defense stocks and natural gas stocks could benefit from the conflict.

Thursday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Caesars Entertainment, Chevron, Exact Sciences, Exxon Mobil, Gap, Ginkgo Bioworks, Home Depot, New York Mortgage Trust, Novavax, NOV and SoFi Technologies. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Intel, Macy’s, Mattel, Under Armour and more.

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