The futures were hammered Monday, as investors return from an epic market meltdown last week and look to be in store for more. The May consumer price index number came in red hot at 8.6%. Core inflation, which excludes the very volatile food and energy components, rose 6.0%. Both were higher than expected. Fuel prices are up a stunning 106% over the past year, and shelter costs, which make up about a third of the consumer price index figure, rose at the fastest pace in 31 years.

All the major indexes were crushed on Friday, following a similar day last Thursday. The venerable Dow Jones industrial average was down almost 1,600 points over the two-day stretch, while the S&P 500 fell back to the 3,900 level. Sellers also hit the Treasury market as well, with yields jumping higher across the curve, as both the five-year and 10-year notes yields closed at 52-week highs. The five-year note actually closed at a stunning 3.27% handle, which totally inverted the 30-year bond at 3.20%, a clear sign that Treasury bond traders think recession is closer than anticipated.

The only positive on Friday was that after a huge run, Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed lower on the day, but both were hovering right near the $120 level. Natural gas also was lower, closing under $9. Gold caught a safe-haven bid, closing up close to 2%, while Bitcoin was taken to the woodshed with the rest, closing down over 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 Monday, June 13, 2022.

Appian Corp. (NASDAQ: APPN): Berenberg resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $63 price objective. That compares with the $57.73 consensus target and Friday’s closing print of $46.52, which was down almost 5% for the day.

Blueprint Medicines Corp. (NASDAQ: BPMC): Citigroup downgraded the shares to Sell from Neutral and cut the $68 target price to $41. The consensus price objective is $99.07 for now. The last trade Friday was $48.07 down over 18% on the day after some changes from the FDA on the company’s leading drug.

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME): Atlantic Equities upgraded the shares from Neutral to Overweight with a $235 target. The consensus target is $250.31. The stock closed on Friday at $195.43.
Design Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: DSGN): Wedbush started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $21 target price. The consensus target is $25.80. The stock closed almost 5% lower on Friday at $13.35.

Docusign Inc. (NASDAQ: DOCU): BofA Securities lowered its Buy rating to Neutral and slashed the $120 target price to $72. The consensus target is $116.39 for the time being. The last trade on Friday came in at $65.93, down a stunning 25% after the company missed earnings estimates and lowered forward guidance.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA): MoffettNathanson downgraded the video game giant to Neutral from Buy while raising its $141 price objective to $147. The consensus target is $151.74. The final trade on Friday hit the tape at $133.34.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD): The dividend yield here should help investors to keep pace with 40-year high inflation, says Zacks, which named this stock as its Bull of the Day. The shares closed most recently at $27.62, and the consensus target price of $30.81 would be a 52-week high.

Flywire Corp. (NASDAQ: FLYW): Stephens started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $24 target price. The consensus target is higher at $30.80. The stock closed almost 6% lower on Friday at $16.87.

GoodRx Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: GDRX): Goldman Sachs downgraded the shares to Neutral from Buy and lowered its $12 target price to $9. The consensus target is $12.06 for now. The shares closed over 5% lower on Friday at $6.34.

iHeartMedia Inc. (NASDAQ: IHRT): Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Underweight from Equal Weight and slashed the $25 target price to $11. The consensus target is $27.71 for now. The stock closed down almost 11% on Friday at $9.78 on no news we could source.

IHS Holding Ltd. (NYSE: IHS): Tigress Financial started coverage of the wireless tower company giant with a Buy rating and a $22 target price. The consensus target is $20.40. The last trade Friday was filled at $10.65, which was down over 6% for the day.

Lamar Advertising Co. (NASDAQ: LAMR): Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight and cut the $135 price target to $103. The consensus target is $126.25 for now. The stock closed over 4% lower on Friday at $89.41.

MongoDB Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB): Needham reiterated a Buy rating and raised its price target to $350 from $310 after a very positive analyst day last week. The consensus target is $385.38. The stock closed nearly 8% lower on Friday at $268.71.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Goldman Sachs downgraded the streaming programming giant to Sell from Neutral and slashed the $265 target price to $186. The consensus target is $323 for now. The shares closed Friday at $182.94, down over 5% on the day. Note that Goldman Sachs also downgraded three other already hammered tech heavyweights.
SciPlay Corp. (NASDAQ: SCPL): Wedbush upgraded the shares to Outperform from Neutral and lifted the $14.50 target price to $17. The consensus target is $16.05. The stock ended Friday at $16.05, up close to 2% on a wretched day.

Spirit Airlines Inc. (NYSE: SAVE): J.P. Morgan raised its Neutral rating on the discount carrier to Overweight and lifted the $24 price target to $30, citing that JetBlue may be in the driver’s seat to acquire the airline The consensus target is $28.43. The stock closed at $22.28 on Friday.

Snap-on Inc. (NYSE: SNA): MKM Partners began covering the shares with a Neutral rating and a $238 price target. The consensus target is $240. The stock closed down over 4% on Friday at $209.36.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO): Goldman Sachs resumed coverage with a Neutral rating and a price target of $136. The consensus target is $174.93, and the closing share price on Friday was $127.95.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT): Zacks selected this retailer as its Bear of the Day stock, citing the hit it took after its disappointing first-quarter report and again after slashing its outlook. Shares have traded as high as $268.98 in the past year but closed most recently at $149.67. That is down more than 35% year to date.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA): RBC Capital Markets upgraded the electric vehicle leader to Outperform from Sector Perform. Yet the firm lowered its $1,175 target price to $1,100. The consensus target is just $917.35. The stock closed Friday at $696.69, down over 3% on the day, and the shares traded almost 5% lower in Monday’s premarket.

Vonage Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: VG): Craig Hallum downgraded the shares to Sell from Hold and lowered the $21 price target to $14.50. The consensus target is $21.00. Shares ended Friday trading at $18.31 apiece.

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Investors worried about rising rates and stock volatility may want to consider seven Dividend King stocks that should still do well even if the Federal Reserve accelerates its efforts to curb inflation.

Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Annaly Capital Management, Carnival, Deere, Freeport-McMoRan, Honest Company, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Shoals Technologies, Take-Two Interactive Software, Toast and Yum China.

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