The futures were mixed on Monday, after a wild Friday that saw the nonfarm payrolls come rolling in dramatically lower than estimates, stunning all across Wall Street and rallying all the major indexes. The 266,000 jobs added, while normally solid, were well below the 965,000 consensus estimate and stole the show, as many economists and strategists have started to change their narratives for the balance of the year. The concern for many was that the expected massive jobs additions would press the Federal Reserve to taper quantitative easing bond purchases sooner than expected, but that may be put on the backburner for now.
Despite the taper concerns and 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. Note also 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 Monday, May 10, 2021.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL): Citigroup downgraded the search and technology giant to Neutral from Buy and has a $2,415 price target. The consensus target is higher at $2,721.85. The stock closed Friday trading at $2,351.93.
24/7 Wall St.AppLovin Corp. (NASDAQ: APP): Credit Suisse started the recent IPO with an Outperform rating and a $95 price target, while JPMorgan started coverage with an Overweight rating and an $80 target. Truist Securities continued the trend, starting the shares at Buy with a $76 price target. The stock had a very rough debut and has traded down dramatically from the IPO pricing and closed Friday at $57.26.
Argenix S.E. (NASDAQ: ARGX): H.C. Wainwright upgraded its Neutral rating to Buy and raised the price target to $400. The consensus target is lower at $342.26. The stock closed Friday at $263.70.
Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE; BFAM): Citigroup raised the shares to Buy from Neutral, but it lowered the price target to $170. The consensus target is in line at $170.75, and the final trade for Friday came in at $136.
Cardinal Health Inc. (NYSE: CAH): The Baird downgrade to Neutral from Outperform included the price target lowered to $64. The posted consensus target is $63.13, and the last trade to hit the tape on Friday was reported at $58.16, which was up almost 3% for the day.
Cogent Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CCOI): When RBC Capital Markets upgraded it to Outperform from Sector Perform, the firm also lifted the price target to $84. The consensus target is just $74.20, and the shares closed on Friday at $78.00.
Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE): JPMorgan raised its rating to Neutral from Underweight and has a $108 price target. The consensus target is up at $118.23, and the stock closed trading on Friday at $95.68.
Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE: EXP): Jefferies upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold. It also raised the price objective to $170, which compares with the consensus target of $139.58. Friday’s close was at $147.01 a share.
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