Investing

Morgan Stanley Is Wall Street's New Big Bad Bear: More Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Include Blend Labs, Gold Fields, Welltower

alexsl / iStock via Getty Images

Markets got off to a mixed start on Monday, as investors are still cautious over ongoing inflation concerns and more potential Russian sanctions. This mixed performance was in part due to rising oil prices, along with other commodities.

Morgan Stanley recently reiterated the bearish sentiment that the rebound in equities markets seen over the past couple of weeks may be over. Chief U.S. Equity Strategist, Michael Wilson, wrote to clients Monday morning that “The bear market rally is over,” among other things. He was also quick to note that the coming economic slowdown will be the result of a flurry of factors, none of which it seems will be able to be fixed in the near term.

Overall, Morgan Stanley’s thesis points to a “payback in demand from last year’s fiscal stimulus, demand destruction from high prices, food and energy price spikes from the war that serve as a tax, and inventory builds that have now caught up to demand.” The bottom line is that these headwinds ultimately will take their toll on investors and the economy in general.

While Morgan Stanley has solidified itself as one of the biggest bears currently on Wall Street, there are those taking the other side of the trade. Of course, none of this is written in stone and some firms are even lifting their targets.

24/7 Wall St. is reviewing additional analyst calls seen on Monday. We have included the latest call on each stock, as well as a recent trading history and the consensus targets among analysts. Note that analyst calls seen earlier in the day were on AMD, Dollar General, Nio, PayPal, Walgreens and many more.

Blend Labs Inc. (NYSE: BLND): William Blair downgraded the stock to Market Perform from Outperform. The 52-week trading range is $4.45 to $21.04, and shares were trading near $5 apiece on Monday.

Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX): Loop Capital’s downgrade to Hold from Buy included a price target cut to $80 from $150. The stock traded near $75 on Monday. The 52-week trading range is $66.50 to $183.88.


Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.