The futures traded lower after a strong election day rally that saw all the major indexes close the day higher, with the Dow Jones industrials leading the charge with a gain of over 1%. While some votes and races are still to be counted, the initial tally looks positive for the Republicans. As expected, it looks as though the party recaptured the majority in the House of Representatives, and the Senate also could be theirs depending on some very tight races. Wall Street all along has been looking for gridlock, and it may well be on the way.

Interest rates were down across the Treasury curve as buyers came in, especially for the shorter maturities. Running for the safe haven of government securities in front of the election results seems a touch odd. However, yields have moved higher over the past week, and that could be the primary reason.

Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude were down 3% on no hard sector news. The likely reason for the move lower is the big gains investors racked up over the past couple of weeks. Natural gas was the big loser on the day, closing down almost 12% at $6.13. Warmer temperatures were cited by traders as one major reason, although that is expected to change soon.

Gold closed up a whopping 2.3% bouncing above the key $1,700 per ounce level. Analysts across Wall Street cited the fall in the dollar and lower bond yields, in addition to technical buying, for the big move higher. Bitcoin on the other hand had a horrible day, closing down a stunning 10%. The big story of the day regarding the cryptocurrency was that over 50,676 bitcoins, worth around $3.36 billion, that allegedly had been stolen years ago by hacker James Zhong were found.

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, November 9, 2022.

AMC Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: AMCX): Goldman Sachs lowered its $28 target price to $22 while maintaining a Neutral rating. The consensus target is $20.50. The shares closed over 3% higher on Tuesday at $19.19.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN): Truist Financial raised its $266 price target to $280 while maintaining a Hold rating. The consensus target is $259.07. Tuesday’s close at $292.39 was up close to 6% for the day on some positive clinical data for its obesity drug.

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM): Citing investor engagement this past year, Zacks selected this stock as the Bull of the Day. The shares last closed at $96.39, and the $100.08 consensus target would be an all-time high.

Aveo Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AVEO): Stifel cut its Buy rating to Hold. Its $15 target price is the same as the consensus target. The last trade for Tuesday was reported at $14.79.
BioMarin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRN): Truist Financial reiterated a Buy rating with a $133 target price. The consensus target is $113.90. The stock closed on Tuesday at $81.25.

Delek US Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DK): Scotiabank upgraded the stock to Sector Perform from Sector Underperform and has a $35 price objective. The consensus target is $33.33. Tuesday’s close was at $33.43.

Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY): Goldman Sachs raised its $281 price target to $313 while maintaining a Neutral rating. The stock hit a new 52-week high of $368.75 on Tuesday and closed at $366.66.

Energy Recovery Inc. (NASDAQ: ERII): Raymond James lifted its Market Perform rating to Outperform with a $23 target. The consensus target is $27.00. The shares closed 7% higher on Tuesday at $20.02 on no news we could source.

Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL): The Zacks Bear of the Day stock is widely underperforming the general market, points out the analyst. Shares have traded as high as $374.20 apiece in the past year but closed most recently at $207.89. That is down about 23% in the past 90 days.

Freshpet Inc. (NASDAQ: FRPT): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating and has an $80 target price. The consensus target is $69.12. The last trade for Tuesday hit the tape at $67.82.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD): Goldman Sachs lowered its $366 price target on the Buy-rated stock to $329, less than the $349.45 consensus target. The stock closed on Tuesday at $291.14.

IAA Inc. (NYSE: IAA): Jefferies downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy. Its $40 target price is lower than the $50.13 consensus target. The stock closed on Tuesday at $38.14.

Lending Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: TREE): Oppenheimer lowered its $55 price target to $35 while keeping an Outperform rating. The consensus target is $41.89. Tuesday’s close at $24.79 was up over 3% for the day.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. (NYSE: MMC): Atlantic Equities downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight, but its $185 price target is higher than the $173.93 consensus target. The stock closed on Tuesday at $161.73.

Medtronic PLC (NYSE: MDT): Stifel reiterated a Buy rating with a $105 target price. The posted consensus target is $105.05, and shares were last seen at $80.19, after retreating over 6% on Tuesday as one of its devices failed on primary goals.

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE: PLTR): Goldman Sachs lowered its price target on the Neutral-rated stock to $9 from $10. The consensus target is $9.98. Tuesday’s close was at $7.21.

Q2 Holdings Inc. (NYSE: QTWO): Piper Sandler’s downgrade to Underweight from Neutral included a target price cut from $45 to $22. The consensus target is $59.75 for now. The stock closed on Tuesday at $24.40, which was down almost 8% on the day despite beating earnings estimates.
Sanmina Corp. (NASDAQ: SANM): Sidoti raised its Neutral rating to Buy with a $78 target price. The consensus target is just $56.50. Tuesday’s $65.45 close was up 11% after posting impressive earnings.

Snowflake Inc. (NYSE: SNOW): Truist Financial cut its $225 price target to $200 but maintained a Buy rating. The consensus target is $216.67. Tuesday’s close was at $129.16.

Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE: SCCO): Morgan Stanley’s upgrade was from Equal Weight to Overweight with a $54 price target. The consensus target is $60.22. The stock closed 3% higher on Tuesday at $54.09.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO): Though BofA Securities upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral, it also lowered its $130 price target to $120. The consensus target is up at $161.15. The stock closed on Tuesday at $93.57, down almost 14% after posting a loss and some weak guidance.

Telephone and Data Systems Inc. (NYSE: TDS): The prior Underweight rating at J.P. Morgan is now Neutral, but the target price was reduced to $14 from $21. The consensus target is $22.50. The stock closed Tuesday at $11.25, down close to 6% for the day.

Verisk Analytics Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSK): Morgan Stanley resumed coverage with an Equal Weight rating and has a $170 price target. The consensus target is $191.93. The shares closed on Tuesday at $170.61.

Viatris Inc. (NASDAQ: VTRS): Piper Sandler’s upgrade was from Underweight to Neutral with a $10 target price. The consensus target is $14.42. The stock closed on Tuesday at $11.10.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA): Truist Financial raised its price target to $44 from $38 while maintaining a Hold rating. The consensus target is $39.07. The stock was last seen on Tuesday trading at $38.29.

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The big question for investors looking for bargains after the big-tech meltdown is which ones to go after now. Goldman Sachs favors five outstanding software stocks, and some have huge upside to the target prices.

Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Boeing, BP, Costco Wholesale, DoorDash, Dominion Energy, EnLink Midstream, Meta Platforms, NOV, Okta, Sea, Shell and Splunk. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Ballard Power Systems, Block, Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, DigitalOcean, Lyft, Six Flags Entertainment, SolarEdge Technologies, William-Sonoma and more.

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