The futures were higher on Wednesday, after another train wreck of a trading session on Tuesday. All the major indexes were hammered, with the Nasdaq now having its worst month since the fall of 2008. The safe-haven Utility index was the only sector that was not destroyed.

Worldwide growth concerns remain a major issue across Wall Street, as China continues its massive and unprecedented lockdowns to go along with a gigantic COVID-19 testing effort that some fear could initiate even more of the draconian Chinese efforts to contain the virus. Toss in a threat cited by Bloomberg that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov warned western countries that there is a “considerable” chance of nuclear war if weapon deliveries to Ukraine continue, and that was all we needed for the massive Tuesday meltdown.

Yields dropped on Treasury securities once again, and despite the upcoming interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve (the next one which will come at the May meeting next week), worried investors rushed again into the safety of the U.S. debt. Both the five-year and 10-year note yields dropped six basis points. The energy complex was up across the board, with both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closing higher, and natural gas jumped almost 3%. Gold closed the day higher as well.

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, April 27, 2022.

Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI): Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating on the video game giant and has a $95 target price. The consensus target is $94.37. The final trade on Tuesday was posted at $77.06.

Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA): Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating on the Conviction List member, citing the big pullback on the shares recently, and the firm has a $110 price target. The consensus target is $91.67, and the closing share price on Tuesday was $66.97.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN): Baird maintained an Underperform rating on the biotech giant, citing the end of the company’s giant $6 billion buyback as a key point going forward. The firm’s $185 price target is much lower than the $247.94 consensus target. The shares were last seen on Tuesday trading at $249.87.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK): J.P. Morgan downgraded the shares to Neutral from Overweight and cut the $59 target price to $51.50. The consensus target is $55.83. The stock closed on Tuesday at $43.26.
Beauty Health Co. (NASDAQ: SKIN): Stifel reiterated a Buy rating on the stock, which is on the firm’s Select List of top picks, and has a $33 target price. The consensus target is $29. The stock closed at $13.32 on Tuesday.

Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM): Zacks selected this brewer as its Bear of the Day, suggesting that the stock was never going to be able to keep up its hyperbolic run. Shares have traded as high as $1,232.98 apiece in the past year but closed most recently at $359.60. That is down almost 29% year to date.

Brunswick Corp. (NYSE: BC): D.A. Davidson started coverage with a Buy rating and a $96 target. The consensus target is up at $116.38. The stock closed almost 5% lower on Tuesday at $74.48.

Calix Inc. (NASDAQ: CALX): Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating after the company reported solid first-quarter results. The analysts have set a $74 price objective, while the consensus target is just $62.25. The stock closed almost 4% lower on Tuesday at $38.09.

Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW): Goldman Sachs slashed the $99 target price on the Neutral-rated legacy discount broker to $75. The consensus target is $96.23. The last trade Tuesday was posted at $68.54.

Church & Dwight Co. Inc. (NYSE: CHD): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating with a $110 price target in front of this week’s earnings report. The consensus target is $99.26, but the stock was last seen trading at $102.59.

Columbia Sportswear Co. (NASDAQ: COLM): Baird reiterated a Neutral rating with a $110 price target. The consensus target is $113.66. The stock closed on Tuesday at $85.29.

Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ): Baird kept an Outperform rating on the legacy pizza restaurant giant, despite noting the company has difficult comparisons to match up against. The analysts have a large $480 target price, which compares with the $457.45 consensus target and the last trade on Tuesday at $369.93.

Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL): Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating on the fragrance and beauty giant and has a $300 price objective. Earnings will be reported in early May. The consensus target is up at $347.10. Tuesday’s close at $254.77 was down just over 5% on the day.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX): Goldman Sachs maintained a Buy rating on another Conviction List stock, again pointing to the recent big pullback in the shares. The analyst’s price target of $55 compares with the $50.05 consensus target and the $40.15 close on Tuesday, which was down almost 4% for the day.

Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR): Zacks has named this as its Bull of the Day stock, with the analyst making a case that this grocery chain powerhouse thrived during the pandemic and now is benefitting from price-conscious shoppers trying to eat out less due to surging inflation. Shares last closed at $55.72, having overrun the consensus price target of $55.00.
Live Nation Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: LYV): Rosenblatt started coverage with a Buy rating and a $138 target price. The consensus target is $129.82. The last trade for Tuesday hit the tape at $107.61.

Mattel Corp. (NASDAQ: MAT): Stifel reiterated its Buy rating and has a $33 price target on the toy and games leader. The consensus target is $31.70. Tuesday’s last trade was at $22.11, which was down almost 5% for the day.

Motorola Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MSI): Loop Capital started coverage with a Buy rating and a $295 target price objective. The lower $269.89 consensus target also compares with Tuesday’s close at $219.33.

Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: NBIX): Oppenheimer reiterated its Outperform rating with a $150 target price. The consensus target is $112.86, and shares closed on Tuesday at $91.80.

ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE: NOW): Stifel reiterated a Buy rating with a $650 price target. The consensus target is even higher at $668.77. The last trade on Tuesday was posted at $456.00.

Southern Co. (NYSE: SO): Credit Suisse started coverage with an Underperform rating and a $78 target price. The consensus target is $72.16. Tuesday’s final print came in at $73.74.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO): Goldman Sachs kept a Sell rating on the refining heavyweight and has an $84 price target, after the company released first-quarter results that were slightly higher than the firm’s expectations. The consensus price objective is up at $111.01. The shares were last seen on Tuesday at $105.14, which was over a 4% gain on the day.

One of the best assets that most investors are underweighted on is real estate. Seven top real estate investment trust stocks are Buy-rated, pay very secure and big dividends, and act as a hedge against inflation.

Wall Street is betting big on six entertainment and leisure stocks for summer. And see how top analysts feel about Twitter now.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included American Express, APA, Apple, AT&T, Baker Hughes, CrowdStrike, Dow, D.R. Horton, Kimberly-Clark, Regions Financial, Salesforce, Starbucks, Teradyne and Twitter. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Boyd Gaming, NextDecade, Redfin, Rio Tinto, Zions Bancorp and more.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.