The futures finally traded higher on Wednesday, after another wretched day across Wall Street in which the focus remains on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the overall sentiment remains very poor. Negotiations between the two countries produced no agreement, although they did agree on further talks. Reports of a 40-mile-long convoy headed to Kyiv and some heavy bombardment of Kharkiv are two of the biggest negative factors investors face.

All the major indexes closed lower, and there was continued safe-haven buying in the U.S. Treasury markets, with yields down across the curve. The benchmark 10-year note, which hit a 2.05% yield, the highest since the summer of 2019 just two short weeks ago, closed Tuesday with a 1.72% yield. Oil exploded higher with both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closing well over the $100 a barrel mark.

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, March 2, 2022.

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL): Goldman Sachs raised its Sell rating on the insurance giant to Buy, and the target price went from $111 to $142. The analysts’ consensus target is $131.92. The shares were last seen on Tuesday trading at $119.86.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. (NYSE: AMP): Piper Sandler downgraded the shares to Neutral from Overweight and lowered the $370 price objective to $325. The consensus target is $360.30. Shares closed on Tuesday at $279.07, which was down almost 7% on the day.

Arista Networks Inc. (NYSE: ANET): Zacks named this tech stock as its Bull of the Day, suggesting that earnings momentum is keeping the bulls around. Shares last closed at $117.88 and have a consensus price target of $150.12, which would be an all-time high.

BigCommerce Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BIGC): Though Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating, it also slashed the $60 price target on the stock to $29. The consensus target is $59.40 for now. The stock was hammered Tuesday, closing down almost 16% to $21.85, after reporting a fourth-quarter loss.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA): Truist Securities lowered its Buy rating on the cable and entertainment giant to Hold and cut the target price to $50 from $70. The consensus target is $61.90. The last trade on Tuesday came in at $46.39.

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG): Goldman Sachs lowered its price target to $47 from $63, while keeping a Buy rating on shares of the popular gambling and fantasy sports site. The consensus target is $38.15. Tuesday’s final trade on was reported at $23.52 a share.

GoodRx Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: GDRX): Goldman Sachs lowered its $43 price target to $30, but it maintained a Buy rating. The consensus target is $40.47 for the time being. The shares closed on Tuesday at $16.74, down a stunning 39% after posting horrible results and offering up a glum outlook.

Jack Henry & Associates Inc. (NASDAQ: JKHY): Oppenheimer upgraded the stock from Perform to Outperform with a $206 price objective. The consensus target is lower at $182. The closing trade on Tuesday was at $179.12 per share.

Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR): Evercore ISI reiterated an In Line rating and bumped up the price target by a dollar to $50. The consensus target is $46. The last trade on Tuesday was at $48.35, up over 3% on the day.

Live Nation Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: LYV): Goldman Sachs raised the target price to $145 from $130 and kept a Buy rating. The consensus target is $122.55. The closing share price on Tuesday was $116.70, down over 3% for the day.

Luminar Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: LAZR): Investors should avoid this stock before taking it for a ride says Zacks, which selected it as the Bear of the Day stock. Shares have traded as high as $31.39 in the past year but closed most recently at $15.17, which is down more than 10% year to date.
MongoDB Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB): RBC Capital Markets initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $505 target. The consensus price objective is up at $557.33. The shares were last seen on Tuesday trading at $381.81 apiece.

ON24 Inc. (NYSE: ONTF): Piper Sandler downgraded the shares to Neutral from Overweight and has a $17 target price. Baird cut its Outperform rating to Neutral with an $18 target. The consensus target is $24.17 for now. The stock closed Tuesday at $13.67, down close to 13% after the company reported a fourth-quarter loss.

Pennant Group Inc. (NASDAQ: PNTG): Stifel downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy and slashed the $32 target price to $18. The consensus price is $31.75. The shares closed almost 8% lower on Tuesday to $15.02.

Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP): Benchmark began coverage with a Buy rating and a $50 price target. The consensus target for the popular social media company is $57.65, and the shares last changed hands on Tuesday at $37.84, which was down just over 5% for the day.

Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. (NYSE: SHO): Evercore ISI raised the stock to Outperform from In line. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $9.93 to $13.31 and have a $12.71 consensus price objective. Tuesday’s closing share price of $10.17 was down close to 4% for the day.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC): Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and has a $121 price target. The consensus target for the company is set lower at $98.76. The shares were last seen on Tuesday at $88.11.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR): Benchmark began coverage with a Hold rating. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $31.30 to $77.10 and has a $46.17 consensus price objective. Tuesday’s last trade hit the tape at $35.56.

Voya Financial Inc. (NYSE: VOYA): Piper Sandler lowered its $81 target price to $74, which compares with a consensus price objective of $79.38 and Tuesday’s final print of $63.22, after retreating over 6% on the day.
Vroom Inc. (NASDAQ: VRM): Truist Securities downgraded the shares to Hold from Buy. Over the past year, the stock has traded in a stunning range of $5.10 to $49.03. The consensus target is $17.50. The shares closed Tuesday at $3.25, after plunging 47% in the wake of a dreadful quarterly report.

Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WM): JPMorgan resumed coverage with a Neutral rating and a $153 target price. The consensus target is $165.29. The stock closed at $146.58 on Tuesday.

Workday Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY): Societe Generale’s upgrade to Buy from Hold included a price target hike to $309 from $306. The consensus target is higher at $317.82, and Tuesday’s closing print of $240.33 was just shy of a 5% gain for the day.

Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM): Goldman Sachs dropped the $200 price target to $171 while keeping a Neutral rating on the shares. The consensus price objective is much higher $215.51. The final trade for Tuesday was reported at $122.78, down close to 8% on the day.

Five Warren Buffett top stock picks are ideal for growth and income investors to consider now, especially in what has become a very volatile and nervous market. They should hold up as interest rates rise, and they are all rated Buy by top Wall Street firms.

With the world uniting against the Russian aggression in Ukraine, the likelihood of cyberattacks against western nations grows. Four top Goldman Sachs cybersecurity stock picks look like very solid ideas for aggressive growth stock investors now.

Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Arista Networks, Block, Cheniere Energy, Datadog, Foot Locker, Intuit, Kroger, TechnipFMC and Workday. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Comcast, Farfetch, GoodRx, Vroom and more.

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