Friday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Danaher, First Majestic Silver, First Solar, Illumina, KB Home, NetApp, Nvidia, Salesforce, Snowflake and More

Investing

Published: August 26, 2022 8:50 am

Last Updated: August 26, 2022 9:01 am

The futures were lower, after a solid risk-on day Thursday when all the major indexes closed higher. Wall Street is more than ready for Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell to deliver the highly anticipated keynote speech at the economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Financial pundits are mixed across the banks and brokerage firms we cover, as some feel that Powell may signal a reduction in the size of the rates increases, while others feel he will keep a very hawkish tone. The likely result is that he will wait for more inflation data in September before making a choice between an increase of 50 or 75 basis points in the federal funds rate.

Yields were down across the Treasury curve, as buyers returned after yields had hit two-month highs, possibly adding positions in the safe-haven government securities in anticipation of the aforementioned more hawkish tone from the Fed chair. The inversion between the two-year and 10-year notes remained in place, with the latter closing at a 3.03% yield while the former closed at 3.38%. The spread between the two has narrowed over the past few weeks but still signals recession, which the second look at gross domestic product for the second quarter on Thursday confirmed at −0.6%.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed flat on Thursday, after a strong showing this week that pushed Brent briefly back over the $100 level. Natural gas was modestly higher at $9.36, after hitting the highest level since 2008 earlier this week. Both gold and Bitcoin closed somewhat higher Thursday.

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 Friday, August 26, 2022.

Avis Budget Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CAR): Zacks named this car rental leader as its Bull of the Day. The analyst pointed out that earnings momentum is accelerating as the stock consolidates. The shares most recently closed at $185.68. Reaching the consensus price target of $229.33 would be a gain of more than 23%.

BioMarin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRN): Baird reiterated an Outperform rating with a $112 target price. The consensus target is $113.10. The stock closed on Thursday at $93.30.

ChampionX Corp. (NASDAQ: CHX): Benchmark started coverage with a Buy rating and a $32 target price objective. That compares with a $28.88 consensus target and Thursday’s close at $23.22.