Tuesday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Bed Bath & Beyond, Dick's Sporting Goods, Etsy, Plains All-American Pipeline, Truist Financial and More

Investing

Published: August 16, 2022 8:54 am

Last Updated: August 16, 2022 9:04 am

The futures were trading flat Tuesday, after a positive start to the trading week Monday when all the major indexes closed higher. Most of the move higher last week (the fourth straight up week, the longest stretch since early November) was attributed to some major hedge fund short covering and a pickup in corporate buybacks as earnings season will conclude this week, plus the added presence of the retail army’s return to action. Lower dog days of summer volume also has helped to contribute to the month-long melt-up.

Treasury yields were down across the curve on Monday, as recession worries have moved investors back to the safety of U.S. government securities. The two-year and 10-year inversion remained in place, with the former closing at 3.20% and the latter at 2.79%, perhaps adding to the recession concerns.

The big news Monday was the big drop in the energy complex, with both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closing down, but well off the intraday lows. Saudi oil giant Aramco said it could increase production, which combined with disappointing economic data from China brought out the sellers. Gold and Bitcoin both ended the day modestly lower.

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 Tuesday, August 16, 2022.

Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD): BMO Capital Markets upgraded the stock to Outperform from Market Perform and raised the $298 price target to $321. The consensus target is $287.76, and the stock ended trading on Monday at $274.11 a share.

American Equity Investment Life Holding Co. (NYSE: AEL): Evercore ISI downgraded the shares to In line from Outperform and bumped up the $42 price target to $44. The consensus target is $42.56. The stock closed on Monday at $41.54.