Investing

Meme Stock Madness: Analysts Upgrade or Downgrade Meta Platforms, Occidental Petroleum and More

Chris Lange

Published: August 19, 2022 12:40 pm

Markets were crushed going into the weekend, with the Nasdaq suffering its worst trading session in over a month. The Nasdaq was down roughly 2%, while the S&P 500 was 1.3% lower and the Dow Jones had retreated nearly 1%.

Although this Friday may be a lull for economic data, investors are watching the meme stock frenzy happen again, with Bed Bath & Beyond shares plunging by nearly 40% in the session. Shares reached as high as $30 earlier this week, after closing out July at $5. It has been a wild ride for those who bought the ticket, but now everything is coming back to Earth.

Bed Bath & Beyond was subject to a short squeeze and gamma squeeze, similar to what GameStop and AMC experienced early in 2021. Again, similar to these other meme stocks, the frenzy is over and someone will be stuck holding the bag.

24/7 Wall St. is reviewing additional analyst calls seen on Friday. We have included the latest call on each stock, as well as a recent trading history and the consensus targets among analysts. Note that analyst calls seen earlier in the day were on Bath & Body Works, Cisco, Exxon, Nvidia, Snowflake, Target and more.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT): Needham reiterated a Buy rating and cut the price target to $125 from $130. Cowen reiterated an Outperform rating and cut its $160 price target to $140. The 52-week trading range is $82.67 to $167.06, and the share price was near $105 on Friday.

Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: BHVN): Piper Sandler downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight and has a $149 price target. The 52-week range is $79.01 to $151.51 a share, and the stock was last seen near $148.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS): Telsey Advisory reiterated an Outperform rating and raised the price target to $125 from $110. The 52-week trading range is $63.45 to $147.39. Shares changed hands near $111 apiece on Friday.

Foot Locker Inc. (NYSE: FL): BofA Securities upgraded the shares from Underperform to Neutral with a $43 price target. Citigroup upgraded it to Neutral from Sell and has a $38 price target. The shares traded near $38 on Friday. The 52-week trading range is $23.85 to $61.50.

HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ): Wells Fargo’s downgrade to Underweight from Equal Weight included a price target cut to $30 from $35. The stock traded near $34 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $26.11 to $41.47.

Krispy Kreme Inc. (NASDAQ: DNUT): HSBC Securities lowered its Buy rating to Hold and cut the $17 price target to $15. Shares have traded as high as $19.55 in the past year but were near $12 on Friday, which is down 34% year to date.

Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META): Morgan Stanley reiterated an Overweight rating and cut the price target to $225 from $280. The 52-week trading range is $154.25 to $384.33, and shares were trading near $168 on Friday.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY): Tudor Pickering Holt downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy. The shares traded near $65 on Friday. The 52-week trading range is $21.62 to $74.04.

Vulcan Materials Co. (NYSE: VMC): Raymond James resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $197 price target. Shares traded near $175 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $137.54 to $213.65.

See why Citigroup pumped the brakes on three stocks after earnings.