The futures traded higher on Wednesday, after an up and down Tuesday when it seemed like many investors and traders were more than ready to take some of the 9% gains from July off the table. All the major indices closed lower. Some across Wall Street linked the weakness to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan and rising tensions with China. With next week’s consumer price index print for July due, and Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report also looming, investors are also trying to factor in a big drop in consensus earnings estimates for this year and 2023.

Yields exploded higher across the Treasury curve on Tuesday, as investors who piled into the safe-haven securities over the past two weeks brought out the sellers in a big way. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note (which had fallen almost 100 basis points since mid-June), rose 14 basis points, helping to keep the omnipresent two-year and 10-year inversion in place. Soon it may be the 90-day T-bill and the 10-year note, which will be even more worrisome for the bond market.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both traded higher on Tuesday, after being gashed in a big way Monday. Natural gas was down a stunning 7%, falling back below $8. Gold closed higher, while Bitcoin closed down over 2% at 22,762.

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, August 3, 2022.

Bluebird Bio Inc. (NASDAQ: BLUE): Raymond James upgraded the shares from Market Perform to Outperform with an $8 target. The consensus target is $7.33. The stock closed up 8% on Tuesday at $4.05 on no news we could find.

Burlington Stores Inc. (NYSE: BURL): Goldman Sachs began coverage of the popular retailer with a Buy rating and a $183 target price. The consensus target is higher at $206.06. The stock was last seen on Tuesday trading at $148.05.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT): Bernstein downgraded the heavy equipment giant to Market Perform from Outperform and has a $195 target. The consensus target is $291.88. The shares closed Tuesday at $183.51, down almost 6% for the day after posting disappointing second-quarter results.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: CHK): Benchmark started coverage with a Buy rating and a $137 target price. The consensus target is $129.36. The shares closed on Tuesday at $90.25.
Choice Hotels International Inc. (NYSE: CHH): UBS downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy and lowered its $167 target price to $124. The consensus target is $135.89. Tuesday’s close was at $117.72 a share.

Comstock Resources Inc. (NYSE: CRK): Piper Sandler upgraded the shares from Underweight to Neutral and set a $17 price target, in line with the $17.05 consensus target. Tuesday’s final trade came in at $15.98 per share.

Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ): BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $290 price target. The consensus target is $274.63. The close Tuesday was at $245.00.

Duckhorn Portfolio Inc. (NYSE: NAPA): Citigroup resumed coverage of shares of the very popular wine and vineyards company with a Buy rating, but it sliced the $24 target price to $22. The consensus target is $24.50. The shares closed on Tuesday at $18.43.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F): Citigroup reiterated a Neutral rating on the legacy automaker and trimmed the price target to $15 from $16. The consensus target is $15.96. The last Ford trade for Tuesday was posted at $15.16 a share.

Four Corners Property Trust Inc. (NYSE: FCPT): Berenberg lowered its Buy rating to Hold and trimmed its $31 target price to $30. The consensus target is $30.17. The stock closed on Tuesday at $28.53.

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN): BofA Securities downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy and lowered the $137 price objective to $109. Tuesday’s close was at $96.48.

Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS): Citigroup upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and has a $61 target price. The consensus target is $69.55. The final trade on Tuesday was reported at $52.22.

Noodles & Co. (NASDAQ: NDLS): This restaurant operator was selected as the Bear of the Day stock at Zacks, which cited the ongoing impact of higher costs. Shares have traded as high as $13.44 in the past year but closed most recently at $5.15, which is down more than 38% year to date.

On Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: ON): Goldman Sachs raised the $60 price target to $68 while keeping a Buy rating. The consensus target is $72. The stock closed over 3% higher on Tuesday at $65.50.

PerkinElmer Inc. (NYSE: PKI): BofA Securities cut its Buy rating to Neutral and has a $178 target price. The consensus target is $171.36. Tuesday’s last trade at $154.10 a share was down over 4% on the day.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX): It pays to be a refiner in 2022, says Zacks, which named this one as its Bull of the Day. Shares last closed at $87.54, and the consensus price target of $114.99 would be a 52-week high.
Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG): Northland Capital started coverage with a Market Perform rating and a $25 target. The consensus is up at $34.14. The stock closed on Tuesday at $23.23, up over 9% for the day on zero news we could source.

Revolve Group Inc. (NYSE: RVLV): Baird maintained an Outperform rating and $50 target price in front of Wednesday’s earnings print. The consensus target is $49.17. The last trade on Tuesday hit the tape at $29.05.

Ross Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST): Goldman Sachs began covering the popular discount retailer with a Buy rating and a $102 price objective. That compares with the lower $96.35 consensus and Tuesday’s close of $79.83, which was down 3% on the day.

Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA): Goldman Sachs stuck with a Neutral rating but bumped the $9 price target to $10. The consensus target for the generic drug giant is $10.07. The stock closed at $9.83 on Tuesday, up almost 4% for the day.

TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX): Goldman Sachs started coverage with a Neutral rating and a $70 target price. The consensus target is $75.30. The shares ended Tuesday’s session at $61.64.

Tricon Residential Inc. (NYSE: TCN): The Raymond James upgrade to Strong Buy from Outperform came with a target price trim to $16 from $17. The consensus target is $14.22. The shares closed on Tuesday at $10.96.

Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER): Raymond James upgraded shares of the ride-sharing leader from Market Perform to Outperform with a $38 target price objective. That compares with a higher $47.71 consensus target and Tuesday’s close at $29.25, which was up a massive 19% after the company hit earnings targets and announced a $2 billion share buyback.

Woodward Inc. (NASDAQ: WWD): Truist Financial downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy and slashed the $121 price target to $88. The consensus target is $117.43. The stock was last seen on Tuesday trading at $93.29, down almost 11% after earnings and revenue dropped for the quarter

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Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Amazon, Chevron, Comcast, Meta Platforms, Spirit Airlines and Starbucks. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Intel, Pinterest, Snowflake and more.

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