The futures were higher Thursday, after a solid Wednesday in which all the major indexes closed higher. The song remains the same, as investors and Wall Street wait for Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole economic symposium. Recent chatter among top strategists is that Powell will stay with the hawkish stance, pushing back on a Fed policy pivot any time soon. Others feel Powell could discuss slowing the tightening pace, amid concern that too much will push the economy into a deep recession.

Sellers were back in the Treasury market Wednesday. Yields were up across the curve, and the benchmark 10-year note was solidly over the 3% level, closing at a 3.11% yield. The inversion with the two-year note stayed in place, as it closed at 3.40%. Again, many bond market pros see the inversion as a harbinger of inflation.

Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude were higher by 1% Wednesday, with Brent reclaiming the $100 level. Natural gas closed higher, with a surge into the close at $9.33, after trading lower most of the day. The commodity has had a massive run that briefly pushed the price over the $10 mark this week, something that has not happened since 2008. Both gold and Bitcoin closed higher on the day.

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 Thursday, August 25, 2022.

Advance Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP): Goldman Sachs maintained a Buy rating with a $219 target price after the company posted a second-quarter earnings miss and guided estimates lower. The consensus target is $222.06. The stock closed Wednesday at $179.91, down almost 10% for the day on the poor results.

Arista Networks Inc. (NYSE: ANET): Deutsche Bank started coverage with a Hold rating and a $135 target. The consensus target is $149. Wednesday’s close was at $125.63.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS): BMO Capital Markets downgraded the shares from Outperform to Market Perform with a $95 target. The consensus target is lower at $68.36. The stock closed on Wednesday at $57.86.

Benchmark Electronics Inc. (NYSE: BHE): Fox Advisors started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $35 target price. The $35.33 consensus is in line, and Wednesday’s close was at $27.94.
Carvana Co. (NYSE: CVNA): Baird reiterated its Outperform rating with a $65 target price. The consensus target is $57.60. The stock closed over 4% higher on Wednesday at $36.09.

Centennial Resource Development Inc. (NASDAQ: CDEV): Truist Financial upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and lifted the $7 target price to $13 ahead of the merger with Colgate Energy Partners. The consensus target is $9.60. Wednesday’s close at $8.10 was up almost 5% on the day.

Cyxtera Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: CYXT): Citigroup raised its Neutral rating to Buy with a $13 target. The consensus target is $14.43. The stock closed on Wednesday at $7.66.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS): Goldman Sachs raised its $105 target price on the popular retailer to $125 while maintaining a Buy rating. The consensus target is $122.24 The stock closed almost 3% lower on Wednesday at $108.06.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE: EPRT): BofA Securities upgraded the shares to Buy from Neutral and has a $27 target price. The consensus target is $27.15. The last trade for Wednesday hit the tape at $23.25.

Establishment Labs Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ESTA): B. Riley Securities initiated coverage with a Buy rating and has a $107 target. The consensus target is just $94.33. The stock closed on Wednesday at $65.04, a 4% gain on the day.

Frontier Group Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ULCC): Morgan Stanley resumed coverage on the carrier with an Overweight rating after its failed bid to buy Spirit Airlines. The analyst has a $20 target price, which compares with the $17.14 consensus target. Wednesday’s close at $13.20 was a solid 3.6% gain for the day.

Globant S.A. (NYSE: GLOB): Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating with a $290 price target. That compares with the $280.70 consensus target and Wednesday’s close at $227.28.

Hyatt Hotels Corp. (NYSE: H): Baird maintained a Neutral rating but raised the $94 target price to $105. The consensus target is $101.94. The stock closed at $93.54 on Wednesday.

Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE: ITW): BofA Securities resumed coverage with a Neutral rating and a price target of $188. The consensus target is $200.44, and the stock closed on Wednesday at $205.62.

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU): Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating with a $615 target price, after the company posted very solid results and gave upbeat forward guidance. The consensus target is $530.28. Wednesday’s close at $465.77 was up almost 4% on the outstanding earnings print.
Nordson Corp. (NASDAQ: NDSN): Baird reiterated an Outperform rating and raised its price target to $271 from $232. The consensus target is $275.86. Wednesday’s close was at $239.80.

O’Reilly Automotive Inc. (NASDAQ: ORLY): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating with an $800 target price. The consensus target is lower at $769.94. The stock closed on Wednesday at $711.21.

Palomar Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PLMR): Truist Financial reiterated a Buy rating and has an $86 target price. The consensus target is $81.86. The shares were last seen Wednesday trading at $76.57.

Paycor HCM Inc. (NASDAQ: PYCR): Goldman Sachs raised its $27 target price on the Neutral-rated stock to $34. The consensus target is $32.25. The closing share price on Wednesday was $30.50.

SolarEdge Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SEDG): Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating on the Conviction List member, and it has a $428 price objective. The consensus target is lower at $355.73. The final trade on Wednesday was for $294.61 a share.

Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL): Goldman Sachs maintained a Sell rating on the luxury home builder and has a $45.63 target, despite the company posting results that beat Wall Street and the firm’s expectations. The consensus target is $55.69, and the last trade on Wednesday came in at $46.22.

VICI Properties Inc. (NASDAQ: VICI): JMP Securities started the casino giant with a Market Outperform rating and a $38 price objective. The consensus target is $37.79. The stock closed on Wednesday at $33.99.

Yeti Holdings Inc. (NYSE: YETI): Citing a recent guidance cut, Zacks selected this popular consumer products maker as its Bear of the Day stock. Shares have traded as high as $108.82 in the past year but closed most recently at $40.23. That is more than 51% lower year to date.

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Six Jefferies stock picks are business development stocks with outsized dividends and growth potential, so their total return potential looks to be very solid. All six companies have posted strong quarterly results as well.

Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Baidu, BJ’s Wholesale Club, CrowdStrike, Ocugen, Palo Alto Networks, PayPal, Playtika, Schlumberger, Workday and Zoom Video Communications. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Amazon.com, Beyond Meat, Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Macy’s, Medtronic, Twitter, XPeng and more.

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