The futures were lower, after a big bounce back on Tuesday that saw all the major indexes close higher, as well as a stunning reversal in the banking sector after the demise of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. There was a small sigh of relief as the February consumer price index numbers came in pretty much in line with estimates, with core figure slightly above consensus. This caused some across Wall Street to ruminate that the Federal Reserve may pause and not raise interest rates later this month. History disagrees, as the Fed was raising rates during the 1987 stock market crash and up until the meltdown in the fall of 2008.

Treasury yields soared on Tuesday, after some of the panic from the Silicon Valley Bank failure subsided. The Federal Reserve backstop against uninsured deposits is raising eyebrows, but it moved some out of the safe haven of government securities. Yields across the curve were up double digits, while the benchmark 30-year long bond closed at 3.76%, up 10 basis points. The two-year and 10-year inversion widened with the selling, as the short paper closed at 4.30%, up a stunning 22 basis points, while the other note closed at 3.64% The ongoing inversion suggests recession is on the horizon.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both were hammered on the day, despite estimates for a big increase in Chinese crude demand. WTI closed down close to 5% at $71.33, while Brent finished the day at $77.65, down almost 4%. Analysts cited the concerns over the banking sector for the weakness, as many across the energy complex and Wall Street feel that another shoe in the financial world may be ready to drop.

After spiking higher on Monday, gold gave up some gains Tuesday closing modestly lower, while Bitcoin continued to trade higher, up almost 2% on the day, to finish at $24,584. This after trading below $20,000 a month ago.

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, March 15, 2023.

Academy Sports and Outdoors Inc. (NASDAQ: ASO): Jefferies initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $73 target price. The consensus target is $69.50. The stock closed almost 3% higher Tuesday at $59.97.

Acushnet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOLF): Compass Point downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy and has a $55 target price. The consensus target is $53. The stock closed on Tuesday at 49.58.

Arcellx Inc. (NASDAQ: ACLX): Stifel started coverage with a Buy rating and a $43 target price. The consensus target is $38. Tuesday’s close at $30.11 was up 9% on the day as many see the company as a potential oncology takeover target after other recent deals.
Asana Inc. (NASDAQ: ASAN): Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating with a $28 target price. The consensus target is $23.08. The stock closed on Tuesday at $20.84.

Avid Bioservices Inc. (NASDAQ: CDMO): KeyBanc Capital Markets upgraded the shares to Overweight from Sector Weight, but its $20 target price is less than the $21.75 consensus target. The stock closed on Tuesday at $18.79, which was up over 35% for the day after an earnings beat.

Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW): Goldman Sachs lowered its $98 target price on the Buy-rated stock to $75. The consensus target is $87.45. Tuesday’s closing share price of $56.68 was up close to 10% on the day as the financial sector rallied.

Community Bank System Inc. (NYSE: CBU): Janney started coverage with a Buy rating and a $66 target price. The consensus target is $62.20. The stock closed almost 5% higher on Tuesday to $54.06 as regional and smaller banks rallied.

Crestwood Equity Partners L.P. (NYSE: CEQP): J.P. Morgan’s downgrade to Neutral from Overweight included a target price trim to $28 from $31. The consensus target is $31.22. The final trade Tuesday was for $24.36 a share.

Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL): TD Cowen started coverage with an Outperform rating. Its $280 target price compares with the $291.52 consensus target and Tuesday’s closing print of $240.42.

Ferrari N.V. (NYSE: RACE): BofA Securities reiterated a Buy rating with a $300 target price. The consensus target is $286, and the stock closed at $262.90 on Tuesday.

GATX Corp. (NASDAQ: GATX): Sidoti resumed coverage with a Buy rating and has a $152 target price. The consensus target is just $123.50. The stock closed on Tuesday at $104.70, which was up 4% on the day.

General Electric Corp. (NYSE: GE): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating with a $102 target price. The consensus target is $94.39. Tuesday’s final trade was reported at $91.17.

GitLab Inc. (NASDAQ: GTLB): Goldman Sachs lowered its $75 target price on the Buy-rated stock to $65. The consensus target is $64.92. The stock closed on Tuesday at $33.96 after tumbling 24% due to a surprising loss for the quarter despite topping revenue estimates.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD): BofA Securities maintained a Buy rating and has a $346 target price. The consensus target is $326.94, and shares closed at $285.57 on Tuesday.

Intellia Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: NTLA): BMO Capital Markets raised its Market Perform rating to Outperform, and its $77 target price increased to $80. The consensus target is still higher at $96.40. The shares closed Tuesday at $40.13, up almost 5% on the day.
Match Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MTCH): Barclays upgraded shares of the popular dating site from Equal Weight to Overweight with a $52 target price. The consensus target is up at $62.77. The shares closed on Tuesday at $36.55.

MicroStrategy Inc. (NASDAQ: MSTR): The rally in its Bear of the Day stock this year appears overdone, says Zacks. Shares of this analytics software and cloud services company have traded as high as $522.80 in the past year but closed most recently at $229.47. That is down more than 15% in the past month.

MPLX L.P. (NYSE: MPLX): J.P. Morgan upgraded the energy giant to Overweight from Equal Weight, and its $37 target price is now $41. The consensus target is $38.86. Tuesday’s close was at $34.67.

Ovintiv Inc. (NYSE: OVV): As J.P. Morgan downgraded the shares to Neutral from Overweight, the analyst trimmed the $59 target price to $53. The consensus target is $61.96. Tuesday’s close was at $37.

Rogers Corp. (NYSE: ROG): CJS Securities initiated coverage with a Market Outperform rating, and its $185 target price is the same as the analysts’ consensus target. Tuesday’s closing share price of $156.25, was up over 3% for the day.

SoFi Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFI): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating and has a $7 target price. The consensus target is $7.58. The stock closed at $5.55 on Tuesday.

TrueCar Inc. (NASDAQ: TRUE): Needham’s upgrade was from Hold to Buy with a $3.50 target price. The consensus target is $3.88. Tuesday’s $2.09 close was up almost 5% for the day.

United Airlines Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL): BofA Securities reiterated its Underperform rating. Its $40 target price is well below the $61.94 consensus target. Tuesday’s close at $46.21 was down over 5% on the day after the company projected a fourth-quarter loss.

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With consumer debt skyrocketing and interest rates rising, one bearish equity strategist recommends selling market rallies until new bear market lows. See seven safe stocks with big and dependable dividends for investors to move capital to now.

Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Ally Financial, Amgen, Baidu, Bilibili, Bill.com, Coinbase Global, Eli Lilly, GE Healthcare Technologies, JPMorgan Chase, Merck, Moderna, Newmont, Palo Alto Networks, Truist Financial and Viking Therapeutics.

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