The futures traded lower Monday, following the best week for the stock market in more than a year. All the major indexes closed higher Friday, after the Dow Jones Industrials shook off a 200-point loss in the afternoon and joined in the big risk-off move higher. The Nasdaq, which closed at a bear market low on Monday, has almost cut this year’s loss in half, up almost 9% last week. The financial media cited everything from positive comments that Russia and Ukraine have closed the gap on their differences to more clarity on Federal Reserve policy and to the massive oversold conditions.

Treasury yields across the curve were lower, as buyers stepped back in on Friday, and again that could have been prompted by quadruple witching option and futures expirations on Friday. Oil finished the week with a strong move, as Brent crude closed at $108.30 and West Texas Intermediate at $105.40. The biggest loser Friday was gold, which closed down over 1%.

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 Monday, March 21, 2022.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP): Baird maintained a Neutral rating on the credit card and financial services giant and has a $175 target price. The consensus target is $199.83. The stock closed on Friday at $190.72 a share.

BlackBerry Ltd. (NYSE: BB): RBC Capital Markets raised the stock from Underperform to Sector Perform with a $7 price target. The consensus target is $8.29. The stock was last seen Friday at $7.03.

Duolingo Inc. (NASDAQ: DUOL): KeyBanc Capital Markets upgraded shares of the foreign language learning app provider from Sector Weight to Overweight with a $112 price target. The consensus target is $120.67. The shares closed almost 10% higher on Friday to $88.68. The company crushed earnings earlier this month, and the stock has raced higher since. The shares were up an additional 4% in the premarket to start the week.

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX): Baird reiterated its Outperform rating on the land and air delivery giant and has a $300 per share price objective. The consensus target is $308.46. Friday’s closing share price was $218.91, which was down almost 4% in the wake of mixed earnings results.

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE: GMRN): BofA Securities raised its Neutral rating to Buy but cut the $165 target price to $140. The stock has traded as high as 178.81 in the past year but closed on Friday at $119.79.

Guidewire Software Inc. (NYSE: GWRE): JMP Securities upgraded the stock to Market Outperform from Market Perform and has a $110 price objective. The consensus target is $107.43. The final trade on Friday was reported at $93.71, up over 4% for the day.

Jacobs Engineering Inc. (NYSE: J): Stifel resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $159 target price. The consensus target is $158.92, and the final trade on Friday came in at $141.22.

Joann Inc. (NASDAQ: JOAN): Piper Sandler downgraded the retailer to Neutral from Overweight and trimmed the $12 target price to $11. The consensus target is $13.88. The shares were last seen on Friday at $12.18, down over 6% due to guidance that was lower than expected.

KBR Inc. (NYSE: KBR): Stifel resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $65 price target. The consensus target is $60.56. The stock ended Friday trading at $52.55.

Manchester United PLC (NYSE: MANU): Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and has an $18 price objective on the storied soccer team. The share price has been as high as $20.86 in the past year, but shares closed on Friday at $13.14.

Meridian Bioscience Inc. (NASDAQ: VIVO): Zacks has selected this as its Bull of the Day stock. The analyst points out that a beat-and-raise quarter lifted shares and estimates, as growth in diagnostics returns. The stock last closed at $25.84, and the consensus price target of $30.00 would be a 52-week high.

MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM): Susquehanna raised its Negative rating on the casino giant to Neutral and lifted the $36 target price to $45. The consensus target is set higher at $55.63. The stock closed Friday at $42.17.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE): Baird maintained an Outperform rating on the shares with a $192 price target. The consensus target for the athletic shoe and apparel heavyweight is set lower at $169.78. The final Friday trade was reported at $131.24, up over 3%.

Noodles & Co. (NASDAQ: NDLS): Piper Sandler downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight and lowered its $10 price target to $7. The consensus target is $11.42. The last trade for Friday came in at $6.54.

Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC): Argus upgraded the advertising giant to Buy from Hold and has a $95 target price. The consensus target is $91.20. The stock closed at $84.25 on Friday.

Performance Food Group Co. (NYSE: PFGC): Deutsche Bank started coverage with a Buy rating and a $62 price objective. The consensus target is $64.08, and the stock ended Friday’s session at $53.18.
Poshmark Inc. (NASDAQ: POSH): Jefferies started coverage with a Hold rating and a $14 target price. The consensus target is higher at $23.91. The last trade on Friday was reported at $12.83.

STAAR Surgical Co. (NASDAQ: STAA): BTIG Research upgraded it from Neutral to Buy with a $98 target. The consensus target is $104.25. The stock was last seen Friday at $75.25, up almost 8% on the day.

Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE: TRGP): Mizuho upgraded the energy transportation giant to Buy from Neutral and lifted the $58 target price to $85. That compares with the lower $74.30 consensus and Friday’s closing trade of $69.27.

Tractor Supply Co. (NASDAQ: TSCO): Oppenheimer upgraded the popular retailer to Outperform from Perform and has a $270 target price. The consensus target is $241.31. The final trade last for Friday was reported at $233.53.

TransUnion (NYSE: TRU): Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy and lowered the target price to $109 from $125. The consensus target is $119.25. The stock closed on Friday at $103.10.

Warby Parker Inc. (NYSE: WRBY): Goldman Sachs dropped the price target on the Buy-rated shares to $36 from $42. The $44.74 consensus is also higher than Friday’s closing print of $31.05, even after a 12% gain for the day. Friday’s big move may have been because the company was smoked earlier in the week after posting disappointing earnings.

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING): Piper Sandler downgraded the popular restaurant chain to Neutral from Buy and dropped the $125 target price to $109. The consensus target is much higher at $172.42. The closing share price on Friday was $121.05.

Five top master limited partnerships provide exposure to the energy sector and some rich and reliable distributions. They may be solid total return ideas for investors looking to benefit from higher oil prices but acknowledging the massive run energy stocks have had over the past year.

Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Allstate, Cisco Systems, CSX, FIGS, Meta Platforms, Nike, ON Semiconductor, Pinterest, SentinelOne and Zscaler. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Cummins, Datadog, Lennar, RealReal, Stitch Fix, StoneCo and United Airlines. and more.

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