The futures were lower Wednesday, after the prior day’s follow-through rally. All the major indexes closed higher, behind the same strength that drove stocks higher on Monday. Solid earnings from some big blue-chip companies combined with an easing of European worries as U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss did an abrupt about-face on the fiscal policies she had initially pitched. However, the policy messaging from the Federal Reserve remains the same, very hawkish, and the very grim year-over-year inflation numbers from last week almost assure the market of yet another 75-basis-point move early next month.

Interest rates were mixed, with only the 30-year long-bond yield moving higher. The 10-year closed at 4%, which is still the highest the debt has traded since June of 2008. The inversion with the two-year note remains in place, as the final trade for Tuesday was posted at 4.43%. The inversion suggests recession potential.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed mixed, as both rallied from intraday lows, but top sector analysts have noted that if Russia follows through on oil price caps, a large amount of supply will come out of the market. That, combined with OPEC moves, could spike prices higher. Natural gas also rallied late in the day, after being down 5% earlier in the day, while gold closed flat and Bitcoin ended 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 19, 2022.

APA Corp. (NASDAQ: APA): Goldman Sachs raised its target price on the Neutral-rated energy giant to $46 from $38. The consensus target is $54.08. Tuesday’s close was at $38.02.

Coupa Software Inc. (NASDAQ: COUP): This stock was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which cited a pending turnaround in earnings. Shares most recently closed at $55.39. The consensus price target of $75.13 represents more than 35% upside.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW): Barclays initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and a $96 target price. That compares with a higher $113.79 consensus target and Tuesday’s closing trade of $86.26.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD): Tudor Pickering Holt downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy and has a $29 target price. The consensus target is $31.64. The stock closed most recently at $25.50.
Enviva Inc. (NYSE: EVA): Raymond James raised its Outperform rating to Strong Buy with an $80 price target. The consensus target is $74.50. Tuesday’s close at $55.91 was a 7% gain for the day.

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN): Exane BNP Paribas downgraded the stock to Neutral from Outperform and has a $115 target price. The consensus target is higher at $161.61. Tuesday’s close was at $113.67.

International Paper Co. (NYSE: IP): Deutsche Bank downgraded the shares to Sell from Hold and lowered the $44 target price to $29. The consensus target is $38.50, and Tuesday’s closing print was $33.54.

Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG): Barclays initiated coverage of the robotic surgery leader with an Overweight rating and a $235 target price. The consensus target is up at $250.12. Tuesday’s close was at $193.73.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ): Barclays initiated coverage with an Equal Weight rating and a $175 target. The consensus target is $185.94. The stock ended Tuesday’s trading session at $166.01.

Keros Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: KROS): Truist Financial started coverage with a Buy rating and a $100 target price. The consensus target is $94. Tuesday’s close was at $45.67.

Match Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MTCH): Goldman Sachs cut its $80 target price to $70. The consensus target is $79.47. Tuesday’s close at $45.98 was up close to 4% on the day.

Medtronic PLC (NYSE: MDT) Barclays started coverage of the medical devices giant with an Equal Weight rating and a $90 price objective. The consensus target is $106.58. The stock closed 2% higher on Tuesday at $84.10.

Mohawk Industries Inc. (NYSE: MHK): BofA Securities downgraded the stock to Underperform from Neutral and cut the $140 target price to $100. The consensus target is $126.92. Tuesday’s final trade was posted at $98.85 a share.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX): Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating with a $325 target price. The consensus target is $246.14 for now. The shares closed at $240.86 but exploded after the close, up almost 14% after posting numbers that blew away expectations.

Owens Corning (NYSE: OC): BofA Securities upgraded the shares to Buy from Underperform and raised the $92 target price to $95. The consensus target is $103.36. The stock closed on Tuesday at $86.60, up 5% on the day.

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ: PEGA): Barclays downgraded the stock to Underweight from Equal Weight and cut the $50 target price in half to $25. The consensus target is $55.08. The shares closed on Tuesday at $32.38.

Pool Corp. (NASDAQ: POOL): Stifel kept a Buy rating but dropped its $415 target price to $355. The consensus target is $404.33. The shares closed on Tuesday at $318.90.

PotlatchDeltic Corp. (NYSE: PCH): The RBC Capital Markets upgrade to Outperform from Sector Perform included a target price hike to $55 from $50. The consensus target is $55.83. The stock was last seen Tuesday at $44.93, up over 5% for the day.
Royal Gold Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD): Zacks selected this precious metals royalties firm as its Bear of the Day stock, citing falling estimates. Shares have traded as high as $147.70 in the past year but last closed at $93.48, which is down nearly 35% in the past six months.

RPM International Inc. (NYSE: RPM): UBS’s downgrade was to Neutral from Buy, and it trimmed the $105 target price to $101. The consensus target is $99.71. Tuesday’s close was at $92.10.

Trade Desk Inc. (NASDAQ: TTD): Morgan Stanley initiated coverage with an Equal Weight rating and a $60 target. The consensus target is $77.42. The final trade for Tuesday came in at $56.39.

UDR Inc. (NYSE: UDR): Goldman Sachs lowered its $57 price target on the Buy-rated stock to $46. The consensus target is $52.05. The last trade on Tuesday was reported at $39.99.

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT): Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating and has a $165 price target. The consensus target is $152.42. The stock closed on Tuesday at $134.14.

XPO Logistics Inc. (NYSE: XPO): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating with an $87 target. The consensus target is $77.13. The stock closed over 2% lower on Tuesday at $47.32.

Xylem Inc. (NYSE: XYL): As Cowen upgraded the stock to Outperform from Market Perform, it boosted its $85 target price to $105. The consensus target is $94.23. The shares closed on Tuesday at $93.56.

Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZBH): Barclays began coverage with an Underweight rating and a $104 price objective The consensus target is up at $125. The stock closed on Tuesday at $109.03.

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Real estate investment trusts tend to survive in rising-rate environments. Seven top REIT stocks also pay dependable and substantial dividends and are offering enticing entry points, due to the large-scale selling across Wall Street this year.

Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Apple, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Citigroup, Constellation Energy, Fastenal, JPMorgan Chase, Kroger, Livent, News Corp, Prologis, Salesforce and SunPower. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on  Carvana, Cleveland-Cliff, EOG Resources, International Paper, Juniper Networks, MongoDB, Target, UiPath and more.

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