The futures were higher Wednesday, after a decent rally in which all the major indexes closed Tuesday with gains. It is a given that Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell will announce a 50-basis-point hike in the federal funds rate and lay the groundwork for a series of additional hikes for the rest of this year, and perhaps next year as well. Most on Wall Street feel the ultimate target by the end of 2023 will be 3.35%, which is 300 basis points higher than the current rate.
In addition, Powell likely will announce a Federal Reserve balance sheet runoff to begin in June and quickly ramp to $95 billion per month to lower the staggering $8.5 trillion amount that resides on the books at the Fed. Interest rates fell across the treasury curve Tuesday, after both the 20-year and 30-year bonds moved to and over the 3% level this week.
Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed lower, while natural gas continued its parabolic move, closing at $7.82 a large 4.6% jump. Gold also ended the day modestly higher.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding fresh 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 Wednesday, May 4, 2022.
Academy Sports & Outdoors Inc. (NASDAQ: ASO): Goldman Sachs lowered its price target on the popular retailer to $49 from $61 while keeping a Buy rating on the shares. The consensus target is $58. The final trade on Tuesday was reported at $38.95.
Amresco Inc. (NYSE: AMRC): Baird reiterated an Outperform rating after the company posted solid first-quarter results. The analyst trimmed the $73 target price to $70. That compares with an $80.31 consensus target. The stock closed over 12% higher on Tuesday at $58.32.
Arista Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: ANET): Oppenheimer maintained a Perform rating despite a beat-and-raise first-quarter earnings report. The analyst cited valuation and has a $305 price target. The consensus target is $150.82, and the stock closed on Tuesday at $114.03.
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