The futures are trading higher Wednesday after Tuesday’s initial risk-on rally (that was on track to end five consecutive across-the-board losing days) was all but over by midday. The major indexes closed the day mixed, with the Nasdaq and the Russell 2000 posting modest gains. Strategists initially pointed to the very oversold conditions and cited the October seasonality as a positive as we move into the fourth quarter. However, continued concerns over the spiraling inflation, the prospects for end-of-the-month selling and the blackout window for corporate stock repurchases all weighed on equities.

Interest rates were higher across the Treasury curve on Tuesday, with the five-year, 10-year and 30-year securities all hitting 52-week high yields, and the 10-year note closing in on the 4% level for the first time in almost 14 years. The inversion for the two-year and 10-year notes remained in place, with the former closing at 4.30% (which was a 15-year high) and the latter at 3.96%. Bond traders see the inversion as a recession indicator.

Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed almost 3% higher, after a brutal sell-off Friday and Monday that saw the two oil benchmarks down a stunning 8%. The lower prices, combined with the potential for serious issues in the Gulf of Mexico as Hurricane Ian is expected to make landfall in Florida as a category 4 storm, contributed to the move higher. Natural gas closed lower, back under the $7 level, while gold closed higher and Bitcoin ended the session lower.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding new 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 Wednesday, September 28, 2022.

AGCO Corp. (NYSE: AGCO): Stifel lowered its $170 price target on the Buy-rated shares to $150. The consensus target is $135.07. The closing share price on Tuesday was $94.40.

Altice USA Inc. (NYSE: ATUS): Goldman Sachs lowered its target on the Buy-rated shares to $10 from $13. The consensus target is higher for now at $15. The stock closed down over 3% on Tuesday at $6.31.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA): Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating on the stock, which resides on the firm’s Franchise List of top picks. Its $225 price target is above the consensus target, which is near $212. The stock closed on Tuesday at $127.51.
Cincinnati Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: CINF): BofA Securities initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and a $92 target. The consensus target is up at $110.25. The shares were last seen on Tuesday trading at $90.74.

Colliers International Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CIGI): Scotiabank resumed coverage with a Sector Perform rating, but the analyst cut the $165 target price to $120. The $154.00 consensus target is well above the most recent close at $92.86.

Douglas Emmett Inc. (NYSE: DEI): Evercore ISI downgraded the stock to In Line from Outperform and trimmed its $27 target price to $24. The consensus target is $25.29. The stock closed on Tuesday at $18.03.

Dynavax Corp. (NASDAQ: DVAX): JMP Securities started coverage with a Market Outperform rating and a $22 target price. The consensus target is $25.50. The stock closed over 5% higher on Tuesday at $10.54.

EnLink Midstream LLC (NYSE: ENLC): Stifel started coverage with a Buy rating and a $12.50 price target. The consensus target is $12.06. Tuesday’s close at $8.37 was up over 3% on the day.

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX): Morgan Stanley reiterated an Equal Weight rating on the delivery giant, though it halved the target price from $250 to $125. The consensus target is $214.70, and Tuesday’s closing print was $144.95.

FirstCash Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: FCFS): Loop Capital started coverage with a Hold Rating and an $80 target price. The consensus target is higher at $92.20. Tuesday’s close was at $74.46.

Generac Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: GNRC): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating with a $350 target price for the generator and solar giant after meeting with company management. The consensus target is $357.42. The stock closed on Tuesday at $180.22.

Genius Sports Ltd. (NYSE: GENI): Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating with a $7 target price. The consensus target is $7.75, and the shares closed on Tuesday at $3.71.

Guild Holdings Co. (NASDAQ: GHLD): Jefferies started coverage with a Buy rating and a $15 target price. The consensus target is $14.08. The stock ended Tuesday trading at $9.74 a share.

Hasbro Inc. (NYSE: HAS): BofA Securities lowered its $96 target price on the toy and game giant to $91. The consensus target is up at $101.92. The shares ended Tuesday’s session at $69.44.
Lion Electric Co. Inc. (NYSE: LEV): B. Riley Securities initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $5 target. The stock closed almost 4% higher on Tuesday at $2.98.

Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META): Suggesting that real assets are the go-to investments in this market, Zacks has selected this stock as its Bear of the Day. Shares have traded as high as $353.83 in the past year but closed most recently at $134.40, which is down about 60% year to date.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU): Citing deteriorating demand, Stifel stuck with a Hold rating on the chip giant and has a $56 target. The consensus target is $69.56. Tuesday’s close at $50.58 was up almost 4% for the day.

National Fuel Gas Co. (NYSE: NFG): Zacks named this as its Bull of the Day stock, suggesting that the utilities business is recession-proof and may be a good place to invest right now. Shares last closed at $61.72, and the $84.00 consensus price target would be an all-time high.

Perficient Inc. (NASDAQ: PRFT): Alliance Global raised its Neutral to Buy but cut the $100 target price to $85. The consensus target is higher at $110.38. The final trade for Tuesday was reported at $61.88 a share.

Smartsheet Inc. (NYSE: SMAR): Truist Financial reiterated a Buy rating with a $50 target price. The consensus target is just $45.41. The stock closed almost 3% higher on Tuesday at $32.35.

Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP): Piper Sandler reiterated its Neutral rating but bumped its $11 price target up to $12. The consensus target is $15.62. The stock closed on Tuesday at $10.45.

TransDigm Group Inc. (NYSE: TDG): Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating and has a $780 price target. The consensus target is just $730.36. Tuesday’s close was at $531.83.

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Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Bristol-Myers Squibb, Costco Wholesale, Dollar General, Exxon Mobil, FedEx, Horizon Therapeutics, Hyatt Hotels, Lucid, Medtronic, Micron Technology, Salesforce, Six Flags Entertainment, Tellurian and Unity Software. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on CSX, Keurig Dr Pepper, Norfolk Southern, PepsiCo, Prologis and more.

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