The futures were trading higher on Wednesday, as Wall Street prepares for the producer price index readings. Tuesday, it looked for a fleeting moment that all the carnage of the past four trading days was over, but a midday rally turned negative in the last hour of trading and only the Dow Jones industrials closed the day higher. The Nasdaq once again led the losers, closing down 1.1%. There was a sense from the financial press and some of the (always bullish) media pundits that the bear market is closer to the end than the beginning, and that if the consumer price index numbers show a bigger than expected decline, then November’s 75-basis-point rate increase could be trimmed back to 50 basis points.

In addition, ARK funds founder Cathie Wood wrote an open letter to Chairman Powell and the Federal Reserve Governors stating that their policies are risking an “economic bust.” With Wall Street expectations calling for an 8.1% year-over-year increase on Thursday, any print for the CPI well below the 8% level could possibly get them to tap the brakes some. A higher number? Look out below.

The Treasury market reopened Tuesday after the Columbus Day holiday and rates were modestly higher across the curve. The benchmark 10-year note looked like it was trading back to the 4% level before buyers stepped, and the final trade came in at 3.94%. That keeps the inversion to the two-year note in place, as it closed at 4.31%. Bond traders view the inversion as a recession indicator.

Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed lower after a big run over the past week. The two benchmarks each closed down close to 3%. Natural gas was a big winner on the day, closing up close to 3%. Gold closed higher on the day, while Bitcoin closed slightly 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 Wednesday, October 12, 2022.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL): Credit Suisse reiterated an Outperform rating on the search leader while trimming the $140 target price to $134. The consensus target is $141.94. The last trade for Tuesday was reported at $97.18.

Analog Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI): Cowen started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $180 target price. The consensus target is $193.73. The stock ended Tuesday’s session trading at $138.80.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL): Barclays reiterated an Equal Weight rating on the technology giant while cutting its $169 target price to $155. The consensus target is $183.16. The shares closed on Tuesday at $138.98.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA): Wolfe Research initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $180 target price. The stock has traded as high as $233.94 in the past year but closed at $131.57 on Tuesday.
Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ): Wedbush initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $275 target price. That compares with a $274.90 consensus target and Tuesday’s last trade at $221.39 a share.

Datadog Inc. (NASDAQ: DDOG): Wells Fargo starts coverage with an Overweight rating and a $120 price target. The higher consensus target is $139.80, and Tuesday’s closing share price was $82.72.

Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ): RBC Capital Markets reiterated an Outperform rating on the pizza favorite while trimming the $460 target price to $430. The consensus target is $404.62. The last trade was delivered on Tuesday at $303.50.

Dynatrace Inc. (NYSE: DT): Wells Fargo initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and a $45 target price. The consensus target is $49. Tuesday’s close was at $34.25.

General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD): Wolfe Research started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $265 target price. The consensus target is $263.00. Shares closed on Tuesday at $227.54.

Getty Images Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GETY): Benchmark lifted its Hold rating to Buy with a $9 target price. The consensus target is up at $16.42. The stock closed almost 8% higher on Tuesday at $6.76.

HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ): The Zacks Bear of the Day stock is trading at 2022 lows, points out the analyst. Shares have traded as high as $41.47 in the past year but closed most recently at $24.78. That is down more than 34% year to date.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU): Piper Sandler upgraded the popular yoga apparel and products stock to Overweight from Neutral. It also raised its $320 price target to $350. The consensus target is higher at $384.48. Tuesday’s close at $295.68 was up 2% on the day.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX): Goldman Sachs reiterated a Sell rating and trimmed its target price to $182 from $186. The consensus target for the streaming giant is $244.84. The shares closed on Tuesday at $214.29, which was down close to 7% for the day.

PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP): Wedbush started coverage on the beverage and snack giant with an Outperform rating and a $185 target price. The consensus target is $182.08. The shares were last seen Tuesday trading at $162.59.

Rapid7 Inc. (NASDAQ: RPD): Canaccord Genuity initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $60 price target. The consensus target is $83.64. The shares closed on Tuesday at $41.25, up close to 4% on the day.

Roblox Corp. (NYSE: RBLX): Barclays initiated coverage with an Underweight rating and a $20 price target. The consensus target is higher at $43.40. The last trade for Tuesday was reported at $34.56.
Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE: STNG): Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to Hold from Sell and raised the $34 target price to $38. The consensus target is up at $46.93. The stock almost 3% higher on Tuesday at $41.92.

Skyworks Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS): Wells Fargo’s downgrade to Equal Weight from Overweight included a price target cut from $130 to $95. The consensus target is $132.38. Tuesday’s close at $81.16 was down over 3% for the day.

Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP): Credit Suisse reiterated an Outperform rating and lowered the target price to $22 from $29. The consensus target is $15.64. The stock closed on Tuesday at $10.31.

Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK): Wells Fargo initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and a $95 price target. The consensus target is up at $129.39. The shares closed on Tuesday at $70.17.

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR): As BofA Securities downgraded the stock to Underperform from Neutral, it dropped its $22 target price to $18. The consensus target is $22.87. The shares ended trading on Tuesday at $20.31, down over 5% for the day.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN): Cowen started coverage on the legacy semiconductor company with a Market Perform rating and a $170 target price. The consensus target is $185.34. Tuesday’s close was at $153.45.

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING): Zacks named this its Bull of the Day stock. The analyst makes the case that a deflationary product might help this stock fly the coop to new highs. The shares last closed at $126.32, which is up more than 40% in the past 90 days.

Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM): Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight and cut its $130 target price to $90. The consensus target is $104.57, and shares closed on Tuesday at $73.71.

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Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included American International Group, APA, Etsy, Goldman Sachs, Howmet Aerospace, Morgan Stanley, Wayfair, Welltower, Wendy’s and Workday. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Amgen, Blackstone, Ciena, Marvell Technology, Meta Platforms, Qorvo, ServiceNow, Rackspace Technology and more.

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