The futures were absolutely crushed on Friday, with each of the major indexes showing a loss of more than 1% before the market opened. Many would attribute this move to the Federal Reserve’s most recent decision to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points. Markets are on track to close yet another week lower, as a recession looms overhead.

At the same time, the 10-year U.S. Treasury note pushed above 3.7, marking its highest level since 2010. Adding to this, the U.S. dollar index reached another two-decade high of just over 112.

All this contributes to the current path for interest rates, and what analysts are saying is that these are about to get a lot higher. Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and others are predicting rate hikes of 100 basis points or more for the rest of the year as inflation is not slowing fast enough. It remains to be seen how this will be carried out by Fed Chair Jerome Powell and company.

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 Friday, September 23, 2022.

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE): MoffettNathanson started coverage with a Hold rating and a $354 price target. The consensus target is $389.97. The shares closed on Thursday at $287.06.

Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA): Wolfe Research downgraded the stock to Peer Perform from Outperform. The consensus target is higher at $58.38. The stock closed over 4% lower on Thursday at $37.52.

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY): Wells Fargo’s downgrade was from Overweight to Equal Weight with a $32 price target. The consensus target is $45.37. The stock closed down nearly 3% at $30.68 on Thursday.

AppLovin Corp. (NASDAQ: APP): Morgan Stanley resumed coverage with an Overweight rating and a $35 price target. The consensus target is $52.13. The stock closed trading Thursday at $19.90, a 6% drop for the day.

BlackLine Inc. (NASDAQ: BL): Credit Suisse initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and a $75 price target. The consensus target is up at $82.70. The stock closed on Thursday at $60.44, down almost 4% on the day.
Block Inc. (NYSE: SQ): Mizuho lowered its Buy rating to Neutral and slashed the $125 price target to $57. The consensus target is $109.70. The stock on Thursday closed down nearly 6% at $55.93.

Boston Properties Inc. (NYSE: BXP): Scotiabank’s upgrade was to Outperform from Sector Perform, but it cut the price target to $94 from $102. Evercore ISI raised its In Line rating to Outperform and cut its $104 price target to $100. The consensus target is $103.53. The stock closed on Thursday at $77.84.

Chuy’s Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CHUY): Stephens started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $27 price target. The consensus target is $28.00. The stock closed at $22.58 on Thursday.

Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI): Stephens resumed coverage with an Overweight rating and a $140 price target. The consensus target is $141.96. The last trade for Thursday was reported at $125.45.

Digital Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: DLR): The Equal Weight rating at Barclays was lowered to Underweight, and the firm cut its $126 price target to $91. The consensus target of $154.17 compares with Thursday’s close at $107.41.

Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ): BMO Capital Markets upgraded the shares to Outperform from Market Perform and has a $430 price target. Stephens initiated coverage with an Equal Weight rating and a $368 price target. The consensus target is $428.79, and Thursday’s last trade was for $320.14 a share.

Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY): UBS’s upgrade to Buy from Neutral included a price target hike to $363 from $335. The consensus target is $304.28. The stock closed on Thursday at $310.87.

Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HURN): The consulting industry is poised to remain resilient during an economic downturn, says Zacks, which named this stock as its Bull of the Day. Shares last closed at $66.38, and the $81.00 consensus price target would be a 52-week high.

Luminar Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: LAZR): Northland Capital downgraded the stock to Market Perform from Outperform and cut its $13 price target to $10. Shares last closed at $7.86, with the $15.17 price target roughly double the size.

Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX): J.P. Morgan downgraded the shares to Underweight from Neutral and cut the $132 price target to $27. The $105.83 consensus target is well above Thursday’s final print of $22.44.

PagerDuty Inc. (NYSE: PD): Credit Suisse started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $32 price target. The consensus target is $35.43. The $22.32 close on Thursday was down almost 4% on the day.
Papa John’s International Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA): Stephens started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $100 price target. The $111.80 consensus target also is well above Thursday’s last print of $74.12.

Rapid7 Inc. (NASDAQ: RPD): BTIG Research initiated coverage with a Neutral rating. The consensus target is $86.25. Thursday’s close at $46.49 was down almost 6% on the day.

Texas Roadhouse Inc. (NASDAQ: TXRH): Stephens started coverage with an Equal Weight rating and a $90 price target. The consensus target is $99.19. The stock closed on Thursday at $86.42.

Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL): Citing the plummeting outlook since its most recent quarterly report, Zacks selected this homebuilder as its Bear of the Day stock. Shares have traded as high as $75.61 in the past year but closed most recently at $42.09. That is almost 42% lower year to date.

Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO): Credit Suisse started coverage with a Neutral rating and an $80 price target. The consensus target is up at $132.45. The stock closed Thursday at $69.77, down 4% for the day.

Wendy’s Co. (NASDAQ: WEN): Stephens started with an Overweight rating and a $25 price target. The consensus target is $23.33. The stock closed at $19.14 on Thursday.

Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM): MoffettNathanson started coverage with a Sell rating. Its $86 target price is less than the $107.36 consensus target but above Thursday’s close at $74.54.

Zscaler Inc. (NASDAQ: ZS): MoffettNathanson initiated coverage with a Hold rating and a $268 price target. The consensus target is just $220.29. The shares closed on Thursday at $162.56, down over 5% for the day.

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With interest rates rising and the bears in charge, consumer staples is the sector that has seen the biggest moves recently. Seven of these stocks also come with big and dependable dividends, and they are rated Buy at top Wall Street firms.

Goldman Sachs considers 10 small and mid-cap oil and gas stocks attractive now.

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included AutoZone, CrowdStrike, Dynatrace, Estee Lauder, Morgan Stanley, Nvidia, PBF Energy, TechnipFMC and Western Digital.

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