The futures were lower as we get ready to finish of a very positive January for investors. All three major market indexes finished higher last week. the Nasdaq Composite jumped 4.3% to post the fourth straight week of gains for the tech-heavy index, while the S&P 500 gained 2.4% and the Dow Jones industrials closed up 1.8%. Despite the solid rally since the start of the year, many across Wall Street feel that this is nothing more than a bear market short-covering move and that, down the road, things could get decidedly more dangerous for investors.

Treasury yields across the curve were flat to modestly higher on Friday. The 10-year note finally pushed back through the 3.50% level to close at 3.52%. When compared to the two-year paper closing at 4.20%, that keeps the ongoing (and widest in years) inversion firmly in place. Bond market aficionados maintain, and history shows us, that the inversion between the two securities is a precursor to a recession.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both closed lower Friday, with WTI slipping back below the $80 level to close at $79.68, down close to 2% on the day. After a very strong move for both benchmarks over the past 10 days, this was likely some profit-taking for faster money accounts.

Friday’s big winner was natural gas, which closed the day up close to 6% at $3.11. After slipping below $3 per metric million British thermal units for the first time since May of 2021 last week, the futures rallied big-time, with frigid weather expected to move across North America this week. Likely a large amount of short covering pushed natural gas higher. Gold and Bitcoin both finished the day modestly higher after making solid moves higher last week.

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, January 30, 2023.

Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI): Wedbush resumed coverage on the shares with an Outperform rating and a $95 target price. The consensus target is $91.88. The stock closed on Friday at $76.61, which was up close to 2% for the day.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL): BofA Securities reiterated a Neutral rating but trimmed its $154 target price to $153. The consensus target is up at $171.23. Friday’s final trade came in at $145.93.

Bill.com Inc. (NASDAQ: BILL): Citigroup initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $131 target price. The consensus target is higher at $166.72. Friday’s close at $119.91 was up almost 6% for the day on the strong analyst comments and coverage.
BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BJ): The warehouse club retailer has crushed the market and rivals, says Zacks about its Bull of the Day stock. Shares last closed at $69.70, and the $80 consensus target represents more than 14% upside.

CBRE Group Inc. (NYSE: CBRE): Keefe Bruyette downgraded the real estate giant to Strong Buy from Outperform and has an $88 target price. The consensus target is $103.83. The stock closed on Friday at $84.46.

Chewy Inc. (NYSE: CHWY): Wedbush’s upgrade was from Outperform to Market Perform with a $55 target price. The consensus target is $47.27. The last trade on Friday was posted at $45.91, up over 4% for the day on the upgrade.

Couchbase Inc. (NASDAQ: BASE): Guggenheim initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $20 price target. The consensus target is $17.89. The stock’s $15 close on Friday was up almost 5% on the coverage.

Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating and raised its $125 target price to $150. That compares with the $127.32 consensus and Friday’s closing print of $137.80.

Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT): Mizuho cut its Buy rating to Neutral with a $60 target price. The consensus target is $64.60. The shares closed on Friday at $52.70.

General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS): UBS’s upgrade to Buy from Neutral included a price target bump to $88 from $85. The consensus target is $82. The last trade on Friday was for $77.89 a share.

Hasbro Inc (NASDAQ: HAS): Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a Buy rating but cut its $106 price target to $80. The consensus target is $83.18, for now. The stock closed over 8% lower on Friday at $58.61 after posting dismal preliminary results and the chief operating officer departed.

Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES): Though Goldman Sachs downgraded the energy leader to Neutral from Buy, the analyst lifted the $161 target price to $170. The consensus target is $160.14. Friday’s close was at $156.25.

Informatica Inc. (NASDAQ: INFA): Guggenheim initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $24 target price. The consensus target is $21.73. The stock closed over 4% higher on Friday at $18.08 on the coverage.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS): Argus’s upgrade was from Hold to Buy with a $68 target price. The consensus target is $61.63. The shares closed on Friday at $58.92.

MongoDB Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB): Guggenheim started coverage with a Neutral rating and a $205 price target. That compares with a $254.05 consensus target and Friday’s closing print of $224.01, which was up close to 8% for the day on no news we could source other than the strong tape.
Playtika Inc. (NASDAQ: PLTK): D.A. Davidson downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy and has an $11 target price. The consensus target is $15.40. Friday’s close was at $10.27.

Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL): The Market Perform rating at BMO Capital Markets slipped to Underperform. The firm’s $100 target price is well below the $118.02 consensus target and the most recent close at $122.82.

Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD): The Goldman Sachs downgrade to Neutral from Buy came with a target price boost to $118 from $114. The consensus target is just $99.83. The shares closed on Friday at $118.93.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO): MoffettNathanson upgraded the stock to Outperform from Market Perform and has a $140 target price. The consensus target is $132.24. The shares closed at $114.28 on Friday.

Teradyne Inc. (NASDAQ: TER): Loop Capital cut its Buy rating to Hold and lowered its $110 target price to $102. The consensus target is $107.98. The stock closed on Friday at $103.44.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA): Argus reiterated a Buy rating on the stock but slashed its $374 target price to $257. The consensus target is just $194.14. The shares ended Friday’s session at $177.890, up 11% for the day after the company posted strong quarterly earnings.

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM): Citing a rough outlook for 2023 that is part of a multiyear downturn, Zacks selected this stock as its Bear of the Day. The shares have traded as high as $169.25 in the past year and closed most recently at $115.25. That is down almost 20% in the past six months.

Winnebago Inc. (NYSE: WGO): MKM Partners reiterated a Neutral rating while raising its $53 target price to $61. The consensus target is $83.18, for now. Friday’s $63.02 closed was almost 3% higher on the day.

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Shares of natural gas production leaders have sold off, but as an unseasonably warm winter turns frigid, that may be about to change. Seven top energy stocks offer outstanding growth potential, reasonable entry points and dependable dividends.

Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Datadog, DexCom, Exelixis, Lam Research, Las Vegas Sands, Lyft, Match, Nasdaq, Next Era Energy, Norfolk Southern, Pfizer, Walmart and Wolfspeed.

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