How Much Did Shorts Play Into July’s Rally? Analysts Upgrade or Downgrade Gap, Lockheed Martin and More

Photo of Chris Lange
By Chris Lange Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
How Much Did Shorts Play Into July’s Rally? Analysts Upgrade or Downgrade Gap, Lockheed Martin and More

© Kevin Frayer / Getty Images

Markets tried to bounce back on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq leading the charge higher with an early gain of about 0.5%. The Dow Jones industrials and S&P 500 were lagging behind, up only 0.2% each, but all the indexes were in the red on last look. All this comes after a couple of consecutive down days on the back of the Federal Reserve reaffirming its narrative of raising interest rates.

Some are suggesting that the bear market rally we saw over the summer might not have been a rally at all. Even though the S&P 500 and Nasdaq bounced over 12% in the month of July, the quick pullback in August might suggest something else—short covering.

As many saw the market on the downtrend since the onset of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in March, it is highly likely that bets against the market were put in place in the form of shorts. Then as these short interest bets were converted, shares must be purchased, sending prices higher. In the midst of the Federal Reserve tightening over the past few months, a 12% bounce seems hard to justify on a bear market rally alone.

24/7 Wall St. is reviewing additional analyst calls seen on Tuesday. 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 Applied Materials, CrowdStrike, Frontier, Lululemon, Peloton and more.

[nativounit]

American Outdoor Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: AOUT): B. Riley Securities upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy with an $11 price target. The 52-week trading range is $7.10 to $28.14, and the stock traded near $9 on Tuesday.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ: ASND): Berenberg resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $166 price target. The stock traded near $90 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $61.58 to $178.71.

Azure Power Global Ltd. (NYSE: AZRE): Credit Suisse’s downgrade to Underperform from Outperform included a price target cut to $5 from $22. The 52-week trading range is $5.10 to $25.30. Shares changed hands near $5 apiece on Tuesday.

Cabaletta Bio Inc. (NASDAQ: CABA): Morgan Stanley lowered its Overweight rating to Equal Weight and cut the $15 price target to $3. The stock was last seen trading near $1, in a 52-week range of $0.90 to $14.95.

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS | GPS Price Prediction): Barclays upgraded it to Equal Weight from Underweight and raised the $6 price target to $9. The 52-week trading range is $7.79 to $27.19, and the share price was near $10 on Tuesday.

[recirclink id=1164989]

Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT): RBC Capital Markets started coverage with a Sector Perform rating and a $460 price target. The shares traded near $428 on Tuesday. The 52-week range is $324.23 to $479.99.

Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC): RBC Capital Markets initiated coverage with a Sector Perform rating and a $550 price target. Shares traded near $485 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $344.89 to $497.20.

Sealed Air Corp. (NYSE: SEE): J.P. Morgan upgraded the shares to Neutral from Underweight but cut the $62 price target to $58. Shares have traded as high as $70.72 in the past year but were near $55 on Tuesday, which is down 19% year to date.

Spire Global Inc. (NYSE: SPIR): Canaccord Genuity started coverage with a Buy rating and a $3.50 price target. Shares traded near $1.50 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $1.12 to $19.50.

[wallst_email_signup]
The bear market rally that started in June is over and it is clearly a time to move to safer dividend stocks. Eight outstanding health care stocks make sense for worried investors now as they are resistant to inflation or recession fears.

See what analysts are saying about Tesla after its stock split. And with two months left in hurricane season, how do things stand for Gulf oil and gas production?

Photo of Chris Lange
About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618