The futures traded lower Monday, as investors return from the long holiday weekend with a degree of apprehension that seems to be mounting. Despite some positive results to kick off the first-quarter earnings-reporting season from some of the top banks and Delta Air Lines, the mood has grown extremely cautious after two down weeks in a row. While the chatter of an intra-meeting rate increase has died down, the massive consumer and producer price index prints last week all but ensure 50-basis-point increases for the federal funds rate in May and June.

Oil blasted higher last week, and prices at the pump, which had started to trend lower, look to be moving higher again. With the European Union starting to draft embargo sanctions on Russian oil, and demand starting to increase, the prospects for lower prices when the busy summer driving season starts are looking bleak. Gold continued to press higher toward the $2,000 level last week, as nervous investors are continuing to use the precious metal as a hedge against a major downturn.

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, April 18, 2022.

Aeva Technologies Inc. (NYSE: AEVA): Credit Suisse started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $6 target price. The consensus target is higher at $10. Thursday’s closing share price was $3.80.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY): Telsey Advisory cut the stock to Hold from Buy and trimmed the $18 target price to $15. The consensus target is $13.62, but shares closed on Thursday at $17.33.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB): Wells Fargo upgraded the biopharmaceutical heavyweight to Overweight from Equal Weight and lifted the target price to $265 from $235. The consensus target is $244.86. The last trade on Thursday was reported at $212.55.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL): UBS raised its Hold rating to Buy and lifted its $44 target price to $53. The consensus target is $52.82. The shares closed on Thursday at $42.36, which was up over 3% for the day.
Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH): Stephens started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $280 price objective. The consensus target is $225. Thursday’s last trade hit the tape at $190.51.

FMC Corp. (NYSE: FMC): Loop Capital downgraded the shares from Buy to Hold with a $140 target. The consensus target is $135.87. The shares were last seen Thursday trading at $136.79.

Gartner Inc. (NYSE: IT): BofA Securities upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and has a $340 target price. The consensus target is $349.86. The shares closed last at $298.10 a share.

GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY): Benchmark began coverage with a Buy rating and a $102 target price. The consensus target is $99.17. Thursday’s closing share price was $86.44.

Graphite Bio Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPH): BTIG Research began coverage with a Buy rating and an $18 target price. The consensus target is $15.80. Thursday’s final trade was reported at $4.29.

H.B. Fuller Co. (NYSE: FUL): Baird upgraded the stock to Outperform from Neutral, but its $85 target price is much lower than the $101.17 consensus target. The stock closed most recently at $70.30, up close to 2% on the day.

Invitation Homes Inc. (NASDAQ: INVH): BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage of the homebuilder with a Market Perform rating and a $45 price objective. The consensus target is $46.83. The last trade for Thursday was at $41.95.

Luminar Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: LAZR): Credit Suisse started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $22 price objective. That compares with the $23.15 consensus target and Thursday’s last trade at $14.52 a share.

PagSeguro Digital Ltd. (NYSE: PAGS): Piper Sandler started coverage with an Overweight rating and a price target of $22. The consensus target is $29.98. The stock closed on Thursday at $17.10, down almost 3% on the day.

Phreesia Inc. (NYSE: PHR): Guggenheim started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $45 target price. The consensus target is $41.50. The stock retreated close to 4% on Thursday to close at $27.63.
Portland General Electric Co. (NYSE: POR): Mizuho raised its Neutral rating to Buy and lifted the $54 target price to $61. The consensus target is $55, and the final trade for Thursday came in at $54.37.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM): As SMBC Nikko downgraded the stock to Market Perform from Neutral, it slashed the $215 target price to $155. The consensus target is $218.17. The stock was last seen Thursday at $136.91, down close to 3% on the day.

Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP): Benchmark started coverage with a Hold rating. The stock has traded in an incredible 52-week range of $510.02 to $1,762.92 and has a $1,527.45 consensus price objective. The last trade on Thursday was reported at $579.51, down over 4% for the day.

SolarEdge Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SEDG): Stephens began covering the stock with an Overweight rating and a $490 target price. The consensus target is just $348.06. The final trade for Thursday was at $300.66 a share.

Verastem Inc. (NASDAQ: VSTM): RBC Capital Markets started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $5 target price. The consensus target is $6. The shares closed on Thursday at $1.77, after popping almost 16% on no news that we could find.

Wix.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: WIX): Benchmark initiated coverage with a Hold rating. Over the past year, the stock has traded in a wide range of $70.70 to $329.00, and it has a $137.33 consensus target price. Thursday’s close at $89.73 was down almost 7% for the day.

W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE: WPC): Raymond James started coverage of the real estate heavyweight with an Outperform rating and a $90 target price. The consensus target is $87.11. Thursday’s last trade was for $83.15 a share.

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Even with the potential for a sizable correction looming, eight Dividend Aristocrats are poised to do well for the rest of 2022. With just moderate appreciation in their share prices, investors could be looking at double-digit total return potential.

The top analyst upgrades and downgrades seen most recently included Albertsons, Amazon.com, CarMax, Carnival, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Delta Air Lines, eBay, Etsy, GameStop, IBM, Meta Platforms, Nvidia and Salesforce.com.

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