The futures were mixed on Thursday, with attention focused on billionaire Elon Musk announcing his intention to buy all of Twitter he doesn’t already own as we get ready to end the trading week early as the markets will be closed for the Good Friday observance. Wednesday’s massive rally saw all the major indexes up big despite a massive producer price index print of 11.2%., Some on Wall Street attributed the strength on Wednesday to the fact that a rumored Federal Reserve intra-meeting rate increase was widely panned as unlikely. They also pointed to Tuesday’s consumer price index numbers that, sans the volatile food and energy component, was reasonably benign. With that being noted, the Fed is still looking to raise interest rates by 50 basis points next month and in June.

Yields dropped across the Treasury curve as buyers returned after days of selling, while oil and natural gas prices surged higher again after a big move on Tuesday despite a huge inventory build that was reported by the U.S. Energy Information Agency. Gold prices jumped again as buyers continue to push the precious metal back toward the $2,000 level.

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 Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Albertsons Companies Inc. (NYSE: ACI): Goldman Sachs raised its $28 price target on the supermarket giant to $32 while keeping a Neutral rating. The consensus target is $34.47. The stock closed almost 4% higher on Wednesday at $33.18.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): Baird reiterated its Outperform rating on the technology heavyweight and has a $4,000 target price. The consensus target is $4,072.11, and the last trade for Wednesday was reported at $3,110.82.

CACI International Inc. (NYSE: CACI): Goldman Sachs boosted the $304 target price to $336 but stuck with a Neutral rating on the stock. The consensus target is $314.73. The final trade for Wednesday was at $289.12 a share.

CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX): Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating and has a $125 price target. The consensus target is $126.92. The shares closed on Wednesday at $92.99.
Carnival Corp. & PLC (NYSE: CCL): Jefferies reiterated a Hold rating on the cruise giant and has a $19 target price. The final trade for the stock Wednesday came in at $19.51, which was up close to 6% for the day.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG): Oppenheimer is maintaining a “top pick” status on the wildly popular restaurant chain. The analyst has an Outperform rating and a $1,925 target price, which compares with the $1,919.89 consensus target. Wednesday’s closing print of $1,590 was up close to 4% for the day.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL): Barclays raised its Equal Weight rating to Overweight and boosted $42 the target price to $60. The consensus target is $50.47. The shares closed on Wednesday at $41.02, up over 6% after posting sparkling earnings. The strength carried through to the premarket, with the stock up an additional 1.3%.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY): Baird maintained an Outperform rating and an $80 price objective. That compares with the much lower $66.49 consensus target and Wednesday’s closing trade of $55.12.

Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY): Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating but lowered the $215 target price to $175. The consensus target is up at $206.79. The final trade on Wednesday was posted at $117.47, a gain of 4% for the day.

GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME): The Zacks Bear of the Day is a trading mechanism at best (a losing lottery ticket at worst), not a buy and hold investment, says the analyst. Shares have traded as high as $344.66 in the past year but closed most recently at $150.70.

Hayward Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HAYW): Goldman Sachs cut its $27 target price to $23 while maintaining a Buy rating. The consensus target is $23. Wednesday’s closing share price of $17.31 was up over 3% for the day.

Helmerich & Payne Inc. (NYSE: HP): Goldman Sachs raised its $36.50 target price target on the oil well drilling giant to $41 but kept a Sell rating on the shares. The consensus target is $41.32. The stock closed Wednesday at $48.21, up over 4% on the day.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM): Morgan Stanley raised the legacy technology giant to Overweight from Equal Weight and nudged the $147 target price to $150. The consensus target for Big Blue is $143.26. The shares closed on Wednesday at $126.14.

MasTec Inc. (NYSE: MTZ): Stifel cut the $117 price target to $96.50 but kept a Buy rating on the shares. The consensus target is $113.25. The last trade for Wednesday was reported at $78.60.

Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: FB): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating on the social media heavyweight and has a $305 price target. The consensus target is $324.03, and Wednesday’s closing print was $214.99.
NanoString Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: NSTG): Stifel reiterated a $70 price objective, much higher than the $56.20 consensus target. The stock was obliterated Wednesday, closing down a stunning 34% at $21.87 after the company warned of revenues coming in well below Wall Street estimates.

Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA): Zacks has named this tech giant as its Bull of the Day stock. The analyst makes a case that its revolutionary CEO and his constant disdain for the status quo have driven the company to greatness. Shares last closed at $222.03 apiece and have a consensus price target of $334.94.

Pentair PLC (NYSE: PNR): Goldman Sachs lowered its $89 target price to $77 but kept a Buy rating on the stock. The consensus target is $71.40. The close on Wednesday was at $52.96 a share.

Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM): Baird maintained an Outperform rating and has a $300 target price. The analyst cited strong spending from the U.S. government. The consensus target is $293.11. Wednesday’s final trade came in at $195.72.

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: SEAS): Stifel raised its price target to $93 from $87, citing the recent sell-off as offering an excellent entry point for the theme park giant. The consensus target is $79.67. The stock closed on Wednesday at $71.83, up over 7% on no substantial news.

Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNT): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating and has a $60 target price. The consensus target is $65.14, and shares were last seen trading at $52.88.

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Wednesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included AbbVie, Blackstone, Boston Scientific, CarMax, Chewy, Eli Lilly, Medtronic, NetApp, Ping Identity, Shopify, Veru and Zscaler. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Apollo Global, Nvidia and more.

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