The futures were trading higher after a risk-off day early Wednesday that saw all the major indexes start the session down big but finish mixed, with just the Dow Jones industrial average squeezing out a small gain. The proverbial cornucopia of issues weighed on the market, including weak earnings and even weaker guidance from big bellwether stocks like Microsoft and Boeing, more layoffs (and the threat of many more to come) and ongoing inflation (albeit lower, though some prices like food remain stubbornly high). Perhaps one of the biggest fears is that the incoming economic data increasingly suggests that a recession may be upon us sooner rather than later.

Treasury yields were flat across the curve Wednesday, after some big buying earlier in the week. The aforementioned recession risk appears to be the tailwind for the recent rally in the Treasury market. The 10-year note closed unchanged at 3.46%, while the two-year ended the day at 4.13%. That keeps the inversion well in place, which as we have noted is a recession indicator.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude were both slightly higher Wednesday, and some analysts speculated that the move by the United States and Germany to send tanks to Ukraine in front of the predicted Russian advance might have been the reason for the energy sector’s mild strength. Natural gas finished almost 6% lower, despite Uzbekistan expecting the coldest winter weather in 50 years. Both gold and Bitcoin ended the day higher.

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 Thursday, January 26, 2023.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG): MKM Partners reiterated a Buy rating but lowered its $130 target price to $120. The shares have a consensus target of $124.70. The last trade Wednesday was filled at $96.73.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): UBS reiterated a Buy rating but lowered its $121 target price to $118. The consensus target is higher at $135.98. The shares closed on Wednesday at $97.18.

APA Corp. (NASDAQ: APA): Wells Fargo initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and a $52 target price. The consensus target is $54.32. The final trade for Wednesday was for $44.09 a share.

Bloomin’ Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: BLMN): The BMO Capital Markets downgrade to Market Perform from Outperform included a price target cut to $26 from $29. The consensus target is $27.25. Wednesday’s close was at $23.41.
Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG): Though BofA Securities downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy, its price target blasted higher to $2,700 from $2,250 in a very unusual move. The consensus target is $2,384.28. The stock closed on Wednesday at $2,390.75.

Cheesecake Factory Inc. (NASDAQ: CAKE): The Neutral rating at UBS is now at Sell. The $30 target price is less than the $34.50 consensus target. The shares closed on Wednesday at $37.97.

Diamondback Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FANG): Wells Fargo initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and a $181 target price. The consensus target is $179.38. The shares closed on Wednesday at $147.08.

D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI): As Wedbush downgraded the homebuilder to Neutral from Outperform, it cut its $104 target price to $96. The consensus target is $102.12. The stock closed on Wednesday at $95.48. At these trading levels, this looks like a valuation call.

Dutch Bros Inc. (NASDAQ: BROS): Wedbush initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and a $37 target price. The consensus target is $40.11. Wednesday’s final trade was reported at $34.46.

Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH): Piper Sandler’s downgrade to Neutral from Overweight included its $350 target slashed to $255. The consensus target is $308.50. The stock closed over 4% lower on Wednesday at $210.32 after the downgrade.

Fisker Inc. (NYSE: FSR): Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Underweight from Equal Weight and chopped its $8 price target in half to $4. The consensus target is $12.60. Wednesday’s close at $6.92 was down over 5% for the day on the downgrade.

Fox Corp. (NASDAQ: FOXA): Loop Capital raised its Hold rating to Buy with a $40 target price. The consensus target is $36.83. Wednesday’s $33.49 close was up over 3% on the day.

Horace Mann Educators Corp. (NYSE: HMN): Piper Sandler downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight, and it lowered its $42 target price to $38, below the consensus target of $40.50. The stock closed almost 7% lower on Wednesday at $33.65 due to the downgrade.

Lightspeed Commerce Inc. (NYSE: LSPD): BofA Securities started coverage with a Neutral rating and a $21 target price. The consensus target is $29.98. The shares closed on Wednesday at $17.07.

Magna International Inc. (NYSE: MGA): When TD Securities downgraded the shares to Hold from Buy, the analyst lowered the $76 target price to $69. The consensus target is $71.53. Wednesday’s close was at $61.14.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT): The BMO Capital Markets downgrade was to Market Perform from Outperform. The firm clipped the $267 target price to $265. The consensus target is $291.60, and shares ended Wednesday trading at $240.61.
Mobileye Global Inc. (NASDAQ: MBLY): Loop Capital initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $45 price target. The consensus target is $43.46. The stock closed on Wednesday at $33.95.

News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA): Loop Capital upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and changed its $17 price target to $25. The consensus target is $23.14. The stock closed Wednesday at $20.64, up over 5% on the day, after company management decided against the internal merger with Fox Corp.

Papa John’s International Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA): BofA Securities initiated coverage on the popular pizza retailer with a Buy rating and a $103 target price. The consensus target is $95.33. The stock closed 4% higher on Wednesday at $86.10 on the positive coverage.

Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM): Goldman Sachs upgraded the tobacco giant to Buy from Neutral. It also raised its target price to $120, well above the $106.46 consensus target. The stock ended Wednesday’s session trading at $103.42.

Shoals Technologies Group Inc. (NASDAQ: SHLS): Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and a $30 target price. The consensus target is $31.92. The stock closed on Wednesday at $28.36.

SunPower Inc. (NASDAQ: SPWR): The Barclays Equal Weight rating was cut to Underweight, and its $26 target price dropped to $18. The consensus target is $21.83. The shares closed on Wednesday at $16.07.

Toast Inc. (NASDAQ: TOST): D.A. Davidson initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a price target of $27. The consensus target is $24.47. Wednesday’s close was at $22.06.

Zions Bancorp. (NASDAQ: ZION): J.P. Morgan downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight. It also trimmed its $49 price target to $46, even further from the $56.83 consensus target. The stock closed on Wednesday at $52.02.

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Five top safe stock picks from the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio pay dependable dividends and look like good ideas now for conservative investors worried about a continuation of the bear market and the potential for a recession.

Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Amazon.com, Blackstone, Caesars Entertainment, Dollar Tree, DraftKings, GlobalFoundries, IBM, Lyft, Marathon Oil, McDonald’s, Palo Alto Networks, Starbucks, Target, Toast and ZScaler.

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