The futures were lower on Thursday, after shell-shocked investors tried to halt the risk-off crowd from causing any more damage after the worst day for the markets on Tuesday since June of 2020, when the pandemic was raging. Despite a reasonable effort, by the end of Wednesday’s session, the major indexes closed only modestly higher. While the bounce attempt was nice, the reality is the producer price index numbers, (while not as grim as the consumer numbers) were still awful. With the Federal Reserve meeting next week, the futures market is now pricing in a 100% chance of a 75-basis-point increase and a 34% chance of a 100-basis-point move.

Interest rates were modestly lower or flat Wednesday, after exploding higher after the very surprising consumer price index report. The two-year note again traded higher to 3.80%, widening the inversion with the 10-year note, which closed at a 3.41% yield. The bond market surely did not miss that 30-year mortgage rates jumped over the 6% level for the first time since 2008.

Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed up nicely after struggling somewhat over recent sessions. Analysts attributed the move higher to a smaller than expected crude oil inventory build. Natural gas had a stellar session closing up almost 10% at $9.07. Gold and Bitcoin both ended the day lower.

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, September 15, 2022.

Akero Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: AKRO): Evercore ISI upgraded the stock to Outperform from In line and hiked its $10 target price all the way to $50. The consensus target is $44.50. The shares closed almost 5% lower on Wednesday at $27.70.

Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN): Truist Financial raised its Hold rating to Buy with an $11 target. The consensus target is $10.17. The stock closed on Wednesday at $8.25.

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (NYSE: BAM): Goldman Sachs reiterated its Buy rating and has a $66 target price. The consensus target is $63.38. The shares ended Wednesday trading at $49.73 apiece.

Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSE: LNG): Goldman Sachs reiterated its Buy rating on the stock, which is on the firm’s Conviction List of top stocks ideas. Its $182 price target compares with the $184.74 consensus target. The stock closed over 5% higher on Wednesday at $174.17.
Constellation Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: CEG): Goldman Sachs boosted its $74 target price on the Buy-rated shares to $94. The consensus target is $86.80. The stock closed on Wednesday at $88.05.

Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY): BofA Securities resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $12 target price objective. The consensus target is $10.71, and Wednesday’s closing trade was for $7.84 a share.

DICE Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: DICE): Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $36 target price. The consensus target is $40.40. The stock closed on Wednesday at $19.61, which was up 6% for the day, likely on the upgrade.

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating with a $25 target price. The posted consensus target is $26.40. Wednesday’s close at $18.40 was up over 6% on the day, as Cathie Wood is reportedly loading the boat on the company.

Eastman Chemical Co. (NYSE: EMN): As Wells Fargo cut its Overweight rating to Equal Weight, it also lowered the $110 target price to $95. The consensus target is $109.23. The last trade on Wednesday came in at $82.12.

Enovix Corp. (NASDAQ: ENVX): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating with a $39 target price. The consensus target is $42.17. The stock was last seen on Wednesday trading at $23.80, a gain of 10% for the day on no reported news we could source.

Masimo Corp. (NASDAQ: MASI): Loop Capital initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $206 target price. The consensus target is lower at $162, and the stock closed on Wednesday at $150.67.

Mondelez International Inc. (NASDAQ: MDLZ): Cowen started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $71 target. The consensus target is $73.16. Wednesday’s close was at $60.24.

Motorola Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MSI): Morgan Stanley’s downgrade to Equal Weight from Overweight included a price target hike to $260 from $240. The consensus target is $279.80. Wednesday’s closing share price was $242.31.

Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL): Berenger initiated coverage on the tech giant with a Hold rating and a $72 target price. The consensus target is up at $90.64. The stock closed over 5% lower on Wednesday at $72.12.

Perrigo Co. PLC (NYSE: PRGO): Argus upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and has a $46 target price. The stock has traded as high as $50.90 in the past year but closed on Wednesday at $40.05.

RBC Bearings Inc. (NASDAQ: ROLL): Though BofA Securities cut its Neutral rating to Underperform, it raised its $193 price target to $235. That falls below the $249.43 consensus target. The stock closed on Wednesday at $229.01, down close to 6% for the day on no news except the downgrade.
Shift4 Payments Inc. (NYSE: FOUR): UBS initiated coverage with a Buy rating. Its $60 target price is the same as the consensus target. The last trade was reported at $48.75, which was up almost 4% on the day.

Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating with a $45 target price. The consensus target is higher at $76.78. Wednesday’s close at $33.69 was up 3% on the day.

SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE: SLG): Truist Financial upgraded the shares to Buy from Hold and has a $59 target. The consensus target is $58.24. Wednesday’s close was at $46.20.

Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE: SCCO): Deutsche Bank started coverage with a Hold rating and a $47 target price. The consensus target is $62.64, and the stock closed at $46.86 on Wednesday.

Toast Inc. (NYSE: TOST): UBS started coverage with a Neutral rating and a $22 price objective. The consensus of $24.25 also compares with Wednesday’s closing print of $20.54.

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT): KeyBanc Capital Markets started covering the retailing behemoth with an Overweight rating and a $155 target price. The consensus target is $151.79. The stock closed on Wednesday at $134.92.

Woodward Inc. (NASDAQ: WWD): Jefferies lowered its Buy rating to Hold with a $90 target price. The consensus target is $100.71. The stock was last seen on Wednesday trading at $93.57.

Workday Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY): Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating with a $205 target. That compares with a $218.81 consensus target and Wednesday’s final trade at $160.13 a share.

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Many experts see the markets retreating 20% or more in the coming weeks. Seven stocks in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway portfolio make sense in these volatile times, as they are reasonably safe and come with solid and reliable dividends.

Wednesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Amgen, AppLovin, Blue Owl Capital, Dell Technologies, Dow, Marvell Technology, PayPal, RingCentral, Shopify, SoFi Technologies, Twilio, Western Digital, WiPro and Wolfspeed. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Block, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Clorox, CSX, Kimberly-Clark, Merck, Match, Target and more.

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