Wednesday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Block, Caesars, Dollar General, Gilead Sciences, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Ovintiv, Sunnova and More

Investing

Published: July 20, 2022 8:58 am

Last Updated: July 20, 2022 9:07 am

The futures traded lower Wednesday, after a huge risk-on rally Tuesday. This time, unlike Monday, the buyers held their ground until the close. All the major indexes, as well as the transports, stormed higher. Some weakening in the dollar was cited across Wall Street, in addition to the “peak inflation” narrative, which makes the case that we are at, or close to, the highest price increases. Gasoline prices, which still remain high by historical standards, have dropped (at least for the time being) below the $4.50 per gallon average for the first time in nine weeks, which aids the peak inflation crowd’s thesis.

Treasury yields continued their march higher on Tuesday, while the two-year and 10-year note inversion once again held its ground. The two-year yield closed at 3.24%, while the 10-year at 3.02%. The inversion is moving to the benchmark 30-year bond, as it now yields 3.18%.

Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude were modestly higher after Monday’s big 5% increase. Natural gas also took a breather, down almost 3%, after a big move up over the last week. Gold and Bitcoin both closed higher Tuesday, with Bitcoin tacking on almost another 4%.

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, July 20, 2022.

Apollo Global Management Inc. (NYSE: APO): Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight and slashed its $81 price target to $60. The consensus target is $69.45. The stock closed over 3% higher on Tuesday at $53.00.

Asana Inc. (NYSE: ASAN): RBC Capital Markets downgraded the shares to Underperform from Sector Perform and sliced the $21 price objective to $13. The consensus target is $36.45. The stock closed on Tuesday at $17.24.

Block Inc. (NYSE: SQ): Macquarie downgraded the shares to Neutral from Outperform and slashed the $140 price objective to $64. The consensus target is higher at $135.55. Tuesday’s close at $69.26 was almost a 5% gain on the day.