Thursday's Top Analysts Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, Darden Restaurants, Peloton, Pfizer, Pioneer Natural Resources and More

Investing

Published: May 6, 2021 8:48 am

Last Updated: August 9, 2021 11:18 am

The futures were higher on Thursday. Once again, we saw some “buying the dip” action on Wednesday as two of the major indexes bounced back from Tuesday’s big tech train wreck. The Dow Jones industrials printed yet another all-time intraday high, while the S&P 500 managed a small gain. Both the Nasdaq and the Russell 2000 closed down but finished off the lows of the day.

The biggest data point this week will hit tomorrow before the market opens, with the release of the April payroll numbers. Estimates across Wall Street range from the 965,000 consensus to some as high as 2.1 million. While many across Wall Street remain very positive, some think we could be looking at a “sell in May and go away” scenario.

Despite clear inflationary pressures, the Federal Reserve is vowing to keep interest rates contained, which could be one reason for the continued moves higher in the equity markets, even after sell-offs. It also should be noted that money markets continue to see massive inflows, which is another big plus.

With major Wall Street firms still warning of the potential for impending 5% to 10% correction across the board, it makes sense for investors to continue building some cash reserves into the market strength while repositioning portfolios for the balance of the second quarter and the rest of 2021.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding new 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 May 6, 2021.

Accolade Inc. (NASDAQ: ACCD): SVB Leerink raised the stock to Outperform from Market Perform. The shares have traded in a wide 52-week range of $.0.55 to $65.25 and have a consensus price target of $58.73. The last trade for Wednesday came in at $45.05.

Alcon Inc. (NYSE: ALC): Citigroup raised its Sell rating to Neutral and also hiked the price target to $72. The consensus target is $77. Wednesday’s closing share price was $70.04.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL): Zacks named this as the Bull of the Day. The firm said that this is one of the most profitable companies in history and things just keep getting better. Shares most recently closed at $128.10 and have a consensus price target of $158.47.