The futures were trading higher Monday, after another big sell-off Friday, when all the major indexes closed lower as the quarterly quad witching options and futures expiration pumped up the volume and the volatility. There is an excellent chance, with just two weeks left in the trading year, and one being shortened due to the Christmas holiday, that tax loss selling is starting to emerge, and it could start to increase in a big way in the coming days.

Treasury debt yields were mostly higher across the curve as sellers returned, quite possibly on the option and futures expirations. The benchmark 10-year note and 30-year bond both backed up five basis points in yield. The inversion between the 10-year and the two-year remained at the widest in 40 years, as the former closed at 3.48%, and the latter at 4.18%.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both closed down over 2%, as the contracts for both rolled over on Friday as well. Brent is now trading below where it was at the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Natural gas also finished the day down just over 5%. Gold ended Friday higher, while Bitcoin was down almost 3% and closed below $17,000.

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 Monday, December 19, 2022.

Agilysys Inc. (NASDAQ: AGYS): BTIG Research upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and has an $83 target price. The consensus target is $74.00. The stock closed on Friday at $76.50, up close to 9% for the day, on no specific news we could find.

Allegiant Travel Co. (NASDAQ: ALGT): Goldman Sachs resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $96 target price. The consensus target is $103.22. Friday’s close was at $68.58.

Brixmor Property Group Inc. (NYSE: BRX): Wolfe Research upgraded the stock to Outperform from Peer Perform and has a $29 target price. The consensus target is $24.13. The shares ended on Friday at $22.14.

CyberArk Software Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYBR): D.A. Davidson started coverage with a Buy rating and a $175 target price. That compares with the $180.50 consensus target and Friday’s closing trade of $131.95.

Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating on the popular discount retailer and has a $285 price objective. The consensus target is lower at $265.48. The stock closed on Friday at $248.25.
Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL): Goldman Sachs resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $40 target price. The consensus target is up at $48.33. The stock closed on Friday at $33.11.

EPR Properties (NYSE: EPR): J.P. Morgan raised its Underweight rating to Neutral with a $52 target price. The consensus target is lower at $47.38. The shares were last seen on Friday trading at $40.22.

Express Inc. (NYSE: EXPR): Citing the high inventory that is hitting retailers, Zack named this stock as its Bear of the Day. The shares have traded as high as $4.93 in the past year but closed most recently at $1.07. That is down more than 46% in the past six months.

Extra Space Storage Inc. (NYSE: EXR): J.P. Morgan’s downgrade was to Neutral from Overweight, and it lowered its $177 target price to $167. The consensus price target is higher at $185.69. The shares ended Friday at $149.30, which was down over 4% for the day, likely on the downgrade.

Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE: FRT): J.P. Morgan’s downgrade to Neutral from Overweight included a target price trim to $115 from $118. The consensus target is $114.68. Friday’s close was reported at $102.53.

JD.com Inc. (NASDAQ: JD): Zacks has selected this Chinese e-commerce company as its Bull of the Day stock. Shares closed most recently at $56.59, and the consensus price target of $78.13 represents about 38% upside potential.

Lennox International Inc. (NYSE: LII): As Mizuho upgraded the stock to Neutral from Underperform, it lifted its $210 target price to $260. The consensus target is $259.07. The stock closed on Friday at $246.50.

Mercury Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY): RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock to Sector Perform from Outperform. It also lowered its $66 price target to $54. below the consensus target of $56.91. The stock closed Friday at $43.91, down close to 8% for the day, on no news we could source.

New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT): Morgan Stanley’s downgrade was from Overweight to Equal Weight with a $37 price target. That compares with the $34.36 consensus target and Friday’s closing print of $32.43, which was down over 3% on the day.

ONE Gas Inc. (NYSE: OGS): The BofA Securities downgrade to Neutral from Buy came with a price objective cut to $79 from $84. The consensus target is $76.83. The shares ended Friday trading at $74.32.

ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE): When Wells Fargo upgraded the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight, it raised its $68 target price to $75. The consensus target is $68.00. Friday’s close was at $64.47.
Prudential Financial Inc. (NYSE: PRU): Wells Fargo downgraded the insurance and investment giant to Underweight from Equal Weight and has a $101 target price. The consensus target is $103.57. Friday’s close was at $97.87.

Regency Centers Corp. (NASDAQ: REG): Though J.P. Morgan upgraded the stock to Overweight from Neutral, it cut its $79 price target to $72. The consensus target is just $68.59. On Friday, the closing price was $62.73 a share.

Revolve Group Inc. (NYSE: RVLV): UBS started coverage with a Neutral rating and a $25 target price. The consensus target is $26.80. Friday’s close was at $24.19.

Sunoco L.P. (NYSE: SUN): Wells Fargo upgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Underweight, and it lifted its target price to $47 from $43. The consensus target is $46.25. The stock close at $42.78 on Friday.

Synopsis Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS): BofA Securities raised its Neutral rating to Buy with a price target of $410. The consensus target is $412.77. The stock closed on Friday at $329.12.

Trip.com Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: TCOM): When UBS upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral, the firm raised its $28 target price to $41. The consensus target is $37.07. Friday’s close was at $34.82.

United Airlines Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL): Goldman Sachs resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $51 target price. The consensus target is $52.41. The stock closed on Friday at $38.43.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating with a $50 target price. The consensus target is $45.42. Friday’s closing share price was $37.12.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

Seven stocks from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway portfolio are dividend-paying market leaders that appear poised to not only thrive in the higher interest rate environment but could very possibly be huge 2023 winners.

Friday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included AT&T, Baxter International, Delta Air Lines, DXC Technology, JetBlue Airways, Marriott International, MongoDB, PPL, RingCentral, Snap, Snowflake, Verizon Communications and Western Digital. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Alaska Air, American Airlines, Meta Platforms, New York Times, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and more.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.