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Thursday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Affirm, Bloom Energy, Carlyle, LyondellBasell, Microsoft, Target, Tesla, Twilio and More
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The futures traded lower Thursday after yet another back and forth day on Wall Street that ended with all the major indexes and the transports down big. One of the biggest issues continuing to confront Wall Street is the ongoing and spiraling inflation. Friday’s consumer price index numbers for May could be a huge market mover. In addition, it was reported that the Federal Reserve’s gross domestic product tracker for the second quarter was cut to 0.9% from the 1.3% print just a week ago, which signals that the economy is already on the brink of recession. That comes when many market pundits are saying that if there is a recession, it would not show up until next year.
Sellers returned to the Treasury market after a one-day reprieve, as yields moved higher across the curve. One sign that rising rates are stalling the economy is that mortgage demand fell to the lowest level in 22 years, amid the rising rates and slowing home sales.
Another very ominous sign for beleaguered consumers is that both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed over $122 Wednesday. Natural gas actually was lower on the day, after a big run closing at $8.68, but still at the highest level since 2008. Gold also closed modestly higher, while Bitcoin closed down almost 3%
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, June 9, 2022.
Affirm Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: AFRM): Wedbush initiated coverage with an Underperform rating and a $15 price target. The consensus target is $42.41 for now. The stock closed over 4% lower on Wednesday at $23.33.
Avnet Inc. (NASDAQ: AVT): A recent blowout report has this stock experiencing a solid post-earnings drift higher, says Zacks, which named the electronic components distributor as the Bull of the Day. Shares last closed at $48.40, and the $50.25 consensus target would be a 52-week high.
Bloom Energy Corp. (NYSE: BE): Piper Sandler resumed coverage with a Neutral rating and a $20 target price. The consensus target is $25.33. The stock closed almost 3% lower on Wednesday at $18.68.
24/7 Wall St.Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CG): JMP Securities started coverage on the private equity giant with a Market Outperform rating and a $60 target price. The consensus target is $62.18. The stock closed Wednesday at $38.58.
Chart Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: GTLS): Barclays downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight and has a $189 target price. The consensus target is $203.21. The shares were last seen trading at $186.46 on Wednesday.
Dutch Bros Inc. (NASDAQ: BROS): J.P. Morgan downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight with a $40 target price. The consensus target is $37.63. The closed almost 3% lower on Wednesday at $39.25.
Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX): Goldman Sachs maintained a Neutral rating with a $211 price target after reducing forward estimates. The consensus target is up at $242.65. The stock closed Wednesday at $196.18.
Fiserv Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV): Baird maintained an Outperform rating with a $144 price target after the company had a solid presentation at the firm’s CTS conference. The consensus target is lower at $126.57. Wednesday’s closing share price was $100.13.
Guidewire Inc. (NYSE: GWRE): Stifel lowered the $100 price target on the Hold-rated stock to $85. The consensus target is $105.67. The final trade for Wednesday was reported at $80.58.
Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE: HBI): Barclays downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight and dropped the $18 target price to $13. The consensus target is $15.92. The stock closed on Wednesday at $11.44.
Iveric Bio Inc. (NASDAQ: ISEE): Guggenheim started coverage with a Buy rating and a $30 price target. The consensus target is just $24. The shares closed almost 3% higher on Wednesday at $11.25.
LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE: LYB): Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating on the chemical giant. Its target price of $135 compares with the $119.20 consensus target and Wednesday’s close at $109.98.
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT): Oppenheimer stuck with an Outperform rating on the legacy software heavyweight and has a $340 target price after a solid meeting with company management that stressed the importance of the cloud for the company’s future. The consensus target is $363.13. The last trade on Wednesday was recorded at $270.41.
MongoDB Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB): Goldman Sachs raised the $435 price target on the Buy-rated shares to $450 after a very positive analyst day. The consensus target is $384.75. Wednesday’s close was at $299.01.
O-I Glass Inc. (NYSE: OI): Baird reiterated an Outperform rating on the shares and set its price objective at $24. The consensus target is $15.92. The final trade for Wednesday at $17.65 up 4% on the day.
Omeros Corp. (NASDAQ: OMER): BofA Securities downgraded the shares to Neutral from Buy and slashed the $12 target price to $4. The consensus target is $31.20, for the time being. The stock closed down almost 10% on Wednesday at $2.18, on no news we could source other than the downgrade.
Radius Health Inc. (NASDAQ: RDUS): BofA Securities raised its Underperform rating to Neutral with an $8 target price. The consensus target is $8.29. The stock closed at $7.28 on Wednesday.
Rigel Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: RIGL): Both Piper Sandler and Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded the shares to Neutral from Overweight, and both cut their price target from $7 and $6, respectively, to $1. The consensus is $7.14 for now. The shares closed Wednesday down a stunning 60% at $0.70, after disappointing data for the company’s Phase 3 trial for fostamatinib.
Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. (NYSE: SMG): Truist Financial downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy and slashed the $185 price target to $85. The consensus target is $139.13 for now. The last trade Wednesday was for $93.13 a share, which was down close to 9% after the company cut sales and earnings guidance for the year despite solid retail sales.
Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT): Raymond James reiterated a Strong Buy rating after the big-box retailer cut forward guidance. However, the analyst lowered the $205 price target to $190. The consensus target is $197.52 for now. The stock closed on Wednesday at $156.70.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA): UBS upgraded the electric vehicle giant to Buy from Hold and has a $1,100 target price. The consensus target is $916.25. The stock closed on Wednesday at $725.60.
Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO): Scotiabank started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $215 target price. The consensus target is $207.56. The stock closed on Wednesday at $108.39.
Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ: WFRD): Deutsche Bank initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $49 target price. The consensus target is up at $59. The $36.50 per share close on Wednesday was up almost 7% for the day.
Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ): Zacks selected this retailer as its Bear of the Day stock, with the analyst pointing out that it missed earnings expectations in its last two. Shares have traded as high as $55.10 in the past year but closed most recently at $29.95. That is down more than 37% year to date.
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24/7 Wall St.Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Altria, Apple, Bath & Body Works, BorgWarner, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, FedEx, Occidental Petroleum, Peabody Energy, Plug Power, Rio Tinto, Target, United Parcel Service, Vale and XP.
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