Tuesday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: CrowdStrike, Gap, Marathon Petroleum, Mastercard, MGM Resorts, Palo Alto Networks, Snowflake, Visa and More

Investing

Published: May 18, 2021 8:52 am

Last Updated: June 1, 2021 11:07 am

The futures were all trading higher Tuesday, as the furious rally from last week gave way to some profit-taking and selling on Monday. All the major indexes, with the exception of the Russell 2000, ended lower, but they closed well off the worst levels off the day. All eyes on Wall Street this week will be focused on the earnings reports from the big box, specialty and discount retailers. Some strong earnings reports would indicate that stimulus money is going into circulation and the reopening trade is alive and well.

Despite the concerns across Wall Street for tapering of the quantitative easing program and clear building 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 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 Tuesday, May 18, 2021.

Adicet Bio Inc. (NASDAQ: ACET): BTIG Research started coverage with a Buy rating and a $34 price target. The consensus target is $27.50, and the shares ended Monday’s trading session at $13.18.

Alliant Energy Corp. (NYSE: LNT): Mizuho upgraded the shares to Buy from Neutral and also raised the price target to $61. The consensus target is $58.56. The stock closed Monday at $56.48 a share.