Tuesday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alibaba, Ericsson, Mastercard, McDonald's, Micron Technology, Visa and More

Investing

Published: December 21, 2021 8:56 am

Last Updated: December 21, 2021 11:24 am

The futures traded higher on Tuesday, after a dreadful risk-off opening to the holiday-shortened trading week. Many financial world pundits and talking heads cited the increase in Omicron cases, even though the symptoms are said to be much milder than the Delta variant. In addition, there was some handwringing over Senator Joe Manchin’s announcement that he will not support the Build Back Better social spending and climate program after so much stimulus and the planned infrastructure spending.

With much of the Federal Reserve’s forward-looking initiatives now baked in, Wall Street strategists are continuing to focus on big increases in energy and food costs and other spiraling inflation issues, as well as the ongoing supply chain concerns and stagflation worries.

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, December 21, 2021.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA): Atlantic Equities downgraded the Chinese technology colossus to Neutral from Overweight and cut the price target to $140 from $185. The consensus target is $210.88. The stock closed Monday at $115, which was down almost 6% for the day.

Argenx S.E. (NASDAQ: ARGX): Truist Securities raised its $350 price target $365 while reiterating a Buy rating on the shares. The consensus target is $360.12. The final trade on Monday was at $337.51, after an almost 9% pop on the day.

ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ: ASML): Morgan Stanley started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $902 price target. The consensus target is just $863.63. The closing price on Monday was $752.88 a share.

Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN): Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Underweight and boosted the price target to $85 from $77. The consensus target is $84. The company, which is being acquired by Oracle for $95 a share, had a closing share price of $90.49 on Monday.

Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN): Jefferies raised its $85 price target to $88 as it reiterated a Buy rating. The consensus target is $79.40. The shares closed at $74.48 on Monday.