The futures were trading lower on this Monday, as investors get ready for a full week of action after the holiday-shortened week. The major indexes closed mixed on Friday, as the surprisingly strong nonfarm payrolls numbers for June came in much higher than expected. The key data will be this week’s consumer price index report on Wednesday. While some in the financial media and across Wall Street are starting to pitch a “peak inflation” narrative, unless the CPI number is drastically lower than expected, investors and consumers can count on another 75-basis-point increase in the federal funds rate at the end of the month.

Sellers returned to the Treasury markets on Friday, with yields once again up big across the curve. The inversion between the two-year and 10-year notes started to come back into play on Friday, and bond market participants will continue to keep a close on the two securities as the inversion (where the two-year yield is higher than the 10-year) is considered a harbinger of a recession. They both closed at a 3.10% yield Friday, with the two-year fractionally higher.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both closed higher on Friday, up over 2%, while natural gas ended 4% lower after a massive rally on Thursday. Gold closed modestly higher, and Bitcoin tacked on a 1% gain.

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, July 11, 2022.

Affirm Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: AFRM): Goldman Sachs started coverage with a Neutral rating and a $22 target price. The consensus target is higher at $38.12. The stock closed on Friday at $23.34 per share.

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL): Argus downgraded the shares to Hold from Buy. The legacy carrier has traded in a 52-week range of $11.93 to $22.35 and has a consensus price target of $18.93. The stock closed on Friday at $13.97.

Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE: BYD): Loop Capital initiated coverage of the popular casino operator with a Buy rating and an $86 target price. The consensus target is $77.90. The stock closed almost 3% lower on Friday at $49.62. The shares were almost 2% higher in Monday’s premarket.

BP PLC (NYSE: BP): Zacks selected this supermajor as its Bull of the Day stock, citing oil and gas prices have companies in the energy sector gushing profits. The shares last closed at $27.84 and have a consensus price target of $37.92, which would be a 52-week high.
Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL): BofA Securities stuck with a Neutral rating on the consumer staples giant and has an $80 price target. The consensus target is $81.47. Friday’s close was at $78.35.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST): Baird reiterated an Outperform rating with a $560 target price after solid June numbers were posted. The consensus target is $550.58. Friday’s closing trade was for $501.54 a share.

Diebold Nixdorf Inc. (NYSE: DBD): Wedbush upgraded the shares from Neutral to Outperform with a strong $5 target price. The consensus target is higher at $5.67. The shares had a huge day Friday, closing up over 25% at $3.13 on huge volume.

Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ): Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating on the popular pizza chain. Its $435 target price is higher than the $406.31 consensus figure. The shares closed on Friday at $401.35.

Eversource Energy (NYSE: ES): Guggenheim’s upgrade to Buy from Neutral included a price target boost to $97 from $92. The consensus target is $93.18. The stock closed at $83.32 on Friday.

Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG): Baird maintained an Outperform rating on the legendary U.S. motorcycle giant but with a cautious $55 target price. The consensus target is $48.67. The last trade on Friday was recorded at $32.43.

Healthpeak Properties Inc. (NASDAQ: PEAK): Citigroup raised its Neutral rating to Buy but trimmed the $33 target price to $31. The consensus target is $34.44. The last trade Frida was for $26.22 a share.

Howmet Aerospace Inc. (NYSE: HWM): Benchmark raised the stock from Hold to Buy with a $40 target price. The consensus target is $41.60. The shares ended trading on Friday at $32.74.

Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN): Piper Sandler downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight and has a $13.50 target price. The consensus target is $15.94. The shares were last seen Friday at $12.27.

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT): The UBS downgrade to Sell from Neutral included a price target cut to $19 from $27. The consensus target is $30.13. The stock closed over 5% lower on Friday at $23.06.

Lennox International Inc. (NYSE: LII): Cowen upgraded the stock to Outperform from Market Perform and has a $260 price objective. The consensus target for shares of the HVAC giant is $252.40. The closing print on Friday was $214.49 per share.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE: LEVI): Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating on the legendary jeans maker and clothier while trimming the $25 price target to $22. The consensus target is $29.82. The last trade on Friday was posted at $16.58.
Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY): Goldman Sachs downgraded the energy giant that Warren Buffett has been scooping up to Neutral from Buy and has a $70 target price. The consensus target is higher at $75.92. Friday’s last trade was reported at $60.67. The stock was down almost 3% in premarket action.

Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC): Though Wells Fargo upgraded the advertising agency giant to Overweight from Equal Weight, the firm lowered the $96 price objective to $73. That compares with an $81.95 consensus target and Friday’s closing print of $64.46.

PayPal Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL): Redburn downgraded the payment heavyweight to Neutral from Buy. Over the past year, the shares have traded in a stunning range of $67.58 to $310.16, and they now have a $117.36 consensus price target. The final trade Friday hit the tape at $73.43.

Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC): Wells Fargo upgraded the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight and boosted the $44 price target to $49. The consensus target is $39.64. The stock closed on Friday at $25.62.

Six Flags Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: SIX): Citigroup downgraded the theme park giant to Neutral from Buy and slashed the $41 price target to $26. The consensus target is $46.27 for now. The shares closed Friday at $21.81, which was down over 7% on the downgrade.

Toast Inc. (NASDAQ: TOST): Baird reiterated an Outperform rating and $25 target price. The consensus target is $22.46. The shares ended the day Friday almost 3% lower to $14.57.

Vertex Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: VTNR): Oppenheimer started coverage with an Outperform rating and an $18 target price objective. The consensus target is $23.25. The stock closed on Friday at $11.41.

Virtu Financial Inc. (NASDAQ: VIRT): Goldman Sachs trimmed the $30 target price to $27 while keeping a Neutral rating. The consensus target is $38. Friday’s close was at $22.66.

Vita Coco Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: COCO) BofA Securities upgraded it to Buy from Neutral and lifted the target price to $12 from $10. The consensus target is $12.83. The $11.03 close on Friday was up close to 12% on the day.

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Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Agilent Technologies, Bunge, Duolingo, Dynatrace, Emerson Electric, Kohl’s, Lamar Advertising, Oshkosh, Regions Financial, Splunk, Spotify, XPO Logistics and more.

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