The futures traded lower Wednesday, after a huge risk-on rally Tuesday. This time, unlike Monday, the buyers held their ground until the close. All the major indexes, as well as the transports, stormed higher. Some weakening in the dollar was cited across Wall Street, in addition to the “peak inflation” narrative, which makes the case that we are at, or close to, the highest price increases. Gasoline prices, which still remain high by historical standards, have dropped (at least for the time being) below the $4.50 per gallon average for the first time in nine weeks, which aids the peak inflation crowd’s thesis.

Treasury yields continued their march higher on Tuesday, while the two-year and 10-year note inversion once again held its ground. The two-year yield closed at 3.24%, while the 10-year at 3.02%. The inversion is moving to the benchmark 30-year bond, as it now yields 3.18%.

Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude were modestly higher after Monday’s big 5% increase. Natural gas also took a breather, down almost 3%, after a big move up over the last week. Gold and Bitcoin both closed higher Tuesday, with Bitcoin tacking on almost another 4%.

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, July 20, 2022.

Apollo Global Management Inc. (NYSE: APO): Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight and slashed its $81 price target to $60. The consensus target is $69.45. The stock closed over 3% higher on Tuesday at $53.00.

Asana Inc. (NYSE: ASAN): RBC Capital Markets downgraded the shares to Underperform from Sector Perform and sliced the $21 price objective to $13. The consensus target is $36.45. The stock closed on Tuesday at $17.24.

Block Inc. (NYSE: SQ): Macquarie downgraded the shares to Neutral from Outperform and slashed the $140 price objective to $64. The consensus target is higher at $135.55. Tuesday’s close at $69.26 was almost a 5% gain on the day.

Caesars Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: CZR): Stifel lowered its $113 price target on the casino heavyweight to $63 but kept a Buy rating. The consensus target is $92.15. Tuesday’s close was at $41.79, up over 8% for the day on no news that we saw.

Casey’s General Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: CASY): Benchmark initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $230 price target objective. The consensus for the popular retailer is $232.80. The closing share price on Tuesday was $198.91.
CBOE Global Markets Inc. (CBOE): Morgan Stanley’s upgrade to Overweight from Underweight included a price target hike to $140 from $118. The consensus target is $136.50. Tuesday’s close at $122.51 was up close to 4% on the day.

Crown Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CCK): Goldman Sachs cut its target price to $107 from $123 but kept a Neutral rating. The consensus target is $134.47. Tuesday’s close at $92.15 was up over 4% for the day.

Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG): Oppenheimer reiterated its Outperform rating on the popular discount retailer, which is also one of the top picks at the firm. Its $275 target price is well above the $252.87 consensus target and Tuesday’s close at $245.35.

Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ): Baird maintained an Outperform rating and has a $435 price target. The consensus target is $412.57. Tuesday’s closing price was $410.24 a share.

Duck Creek Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: DCT): The RBC Capital Markets downgrade to Sector Perform from Outperform included a price target trim to $14 from $18. The consensus target is $20.44. The stock closed on Tuesday at $13.87.

Franco-Nevada Corp. (NYSE: FNV): Barclays downgraded shares of the gold-mining giant to Underweight from Equal Weight and dropped its $130 price target to $112. The consensus target is $157.05. Tuesday’s last trade came in at $124.10.

Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD): Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating with a $90 target price. The consensus target is $69.44, and the $62.12 close on Tuesday was up over 2% on the day.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform with a $483 target price. The $393 consensus target is nearer to Tuesday’s closing trade of $318.05, which was almost a 6% gain on the day. The Wall Street heavyweight posted solid results earlier this week.

Invitation Homes Inc. (NYSE: INVH): Oppenheimer began coverage with a Perform rating and a $39 target. The consensus target is $44.10. The shares closed on Tuesday at $35.68.

Lemonade Inc. (NYSE: LMND): Zacks named this insurer as its Bull of the Day stock, citing its strong revenue growth. Shares last closed at $19.71, and the $28.19 consensus price target represents upside of about 43%.

MasTec Inc. (NYSE: MTZ): The Zacks Bear of the Day has delayed projects and the economic slowdown as headwinds, says the analyst. Shares have traded as high as $104.45 in the past year but closed most recently at $73.79. That is down about 20% year to date.

Medtronic PLC (NYSE: MDT): Goldman Sachs lowered its $112 target price to $96 while keeping a Neutral rating. The consensus target is $112.62. The shares closed on Tuesday at $90.33, which was up close to 3% for the day.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT): Citigroup reiterated a Buy rating and cut its $364 target price to $330. The consensus target is $351.45. Microsoft closed 2% higher on Tuesday at $259.53.
Ovintiv Inc. (NYSE: OVV): The BofA Securities upgrade to Buy from Neutral came with a target price trim to $60 from $65. The consensus target is $68.16. Tuesday’s $45.54 close was almost a 5% gain on the day.

Plains All American Pipeline L.P. (NASDAQ: PAA): BofA Securities raised its Underweight rating to Neutral with a $12 target price. The consensus target is $13.86. The stock closed on Tuesday at $10.74, a 3% gain for the day.

Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD): BofA Securities downgraded the Permian Basin energy giant to Underperform from Neutral, and it chopped the $272 target price to $244. The consensus target is $299.06. The stock was last seen on Tuesday trading at $214.25.

Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE: SHAK): Gordon Haskett initiated coverage on the popular fast-food favorite with a Hold rating and a $50 target. The consensus target is $61.50. The last trade on Tuesday was at $46.22 a share.

Sunnova Energy International Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVA): Piper Sandler downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight and lowered the $27 price target to $23. The consensus target is up at $37.73. The shares closed on Tuesday at $20.08.

TaskUs Inc. (NASDAQ: TASK): Citigroup started coverage with a Buy rating and a $28 target price. The consensus target is $35.00. Tuesday’s close at $19.47 was up almost 8% on the day. The analyst upgrade was cited as the reason for the pop.

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Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Alphabet, Arista Networks, BorgWarner, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Exxon Mobil, Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Nu, Paramount Global, Teladoc Health, Tesla and Yelp. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Apollo Global Management, Cinemark, ConocoPhillips, EOG Resources, Fastly, Southwestern Energy, Sunrun, Takeda Pharmaceutical and more.

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