The futures were trading lower Wednesday, after another big risk-off day rally Tuesday that followed up Monday’s big gains. All the major indexes closed higher once again, with the Nasdaq leading the way with a 3.37% gain, as investors scooped up battered mega-cap technology shares. Some cited the Royal Bank of Australia only raising interest rates by 25-basis-points and the ongoing hope by many that the Federal Reserve is ready to pivot from the big interest rate increases. With the September nonfarm payrolls on Friday and the consumer price index ready to be released next week, the Federal Reserve will have plenty of data prior to its November meeting, where many anticipate another 75-basis-point hike.

Interest rates were modestly lower across the Treasury curve, as buyers returned like Monday, but not nearly as aggressively with rates having plummeted. The 10-year bond, which was recently flirting with a 4% handle, closed at 3.62%, keeping the inversion with the two-year note in place after it ended trading Tuesday at 4.10%. The inversion is considered a recession indicator.

Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude followed up Monday’s gains in a big way, with both benchmarks up well over 3%. The announcement by OPEC that it is considering a massive 1 million barrel per day production cut (and some on Wall Street said Tuesday the number could be as high as 2 billion barrels) was all the oil complex needed to move higher. Natural gas also closed up, by almost 6%, after trading down over the past two weeks. Both gold and Bitcoin closed up big as well, with the cryptocurrency giant pushing back across the $20,370 level.

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, October 5, 2022.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD): Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating while lowering its $112 target price on the chip leader to $88. The consensus target is up at $121.72. The last trade for Tuesday hit the tape at $67.90, which was up close to 3% for the day.

AES Corp. (NYSE: AES): Goldman Sachs kept a Buy rating and lifted the $27 target price to $30. The consensus target is $29. The stock closed over 7% higher on Tuesday at $25.27.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating on the technology giant and has a $165 target price. The consensus target is $170.84. Tuesday’s close at $121.09 was a gain of over 4% on the day.

Archaea Energy Inc. (NYSE: LFG): Wells Fargo began coverage with an Overweight rating and a $25 target. The consensus target is $29.86. The last trade for Tuesday was reported at $19.86, up over 4% for the day on the coverage.
CommScope Holding Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: COMM): Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to Outperform from Buy and raised the $11 price target to $17. The consensus target is $10.33. The stock closed on Tuesday at $11.20, up a stunning 17% for the day on the big upgrade.

CyberArk Software Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYBR): BofA Securities raised its $170 target price on the Buy-rated stock to $185. The consensus target is $181.23. Tuesday’s close of $157.06 was up over 5% on the day.

DexCom Inc. (NASDAQ: DXCM): The Zacks Bull of the Day stock has had stellar top-line growth and its addressable market (diabetes) is massive, says the analyst. Shares last closed at $90.97, and the $99.79 consensus price target represents upside of almost 10%.

DHI Group Inc. (NYSE: DHX): Barrington Research initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $12 target. The consensus target is $10.38. The stock closed almost 5% higher on Tuesday at $5.89 due to the initiation.

Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR): Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating with a $110 target price. The consensus target is $100.95. The closing share price on Tuesday was $78.25.

Euronet Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: EEFT): Truist Financial reiterated a Buy rating but lowered the $130 target price to $100. The consensus target is $135.56. The stock closed up 6% on Tuesday at $82.28, after the company announced an expansion of its ATM network into Southeast Asia.

Glaukos Corp. (NYSE: GKOS): Needham started coverage with a Buy rating and a $66 target price. The consensus target is $59.17. The shares closed Tuesday at $56.36, a 6% gain on the day.

HEICO Corp. (NYSE: HEI): Jefferies maintained a Buy rating with a $180 target. The consensus target is just $161.07. The final trade for Tuesday was at $150.87 a share.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC): Goldman Sachs lowered its $30 target price on the legacy semiconductor giant to $24 while keeping a Sell rating. The consensus target is $37.51. The stock closed on Tuesday at $27.70, which was up close to 3% for the day.

KBR Inc. (NYSE: KBR): Stifel reiterated a Buy rating with a $65 price target. The consensus figure is $63.00. The stock closed Tuesday at $47.58, up just over 5% for the day.

Leslie’s Inc. (NASDAQ: LESL): MKM Partners started coverage on the pool supply and furniture giant with a Neutral rating and a $14 target price. The consensus target is $18.58. The shares closed at $15.37 on Tuesday.

L3Harris Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LHX): Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating with a $300 price target after the company acquired Viasat’s Link 16 Tactical Data Links business, which provides secure voice, text and data communications for an installed base of over 20,000 aircraft, ships and ground systems, for $1.96 billion. The stock closed trading Tuesday at $224.12.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating for the legacy software and technology giant. Its $275 target is less than the $332.03 consensus target. Tuesday’s close at $248.88 was up over 3% for the day.
Mister Car Wash Inc. (NYSE: MCW): Baird started coverage with a Neutral rating and an $11 target price. The consensus target is $14.00. Tuesday’s close at $9.13 was a 5% gain on the day.

Papa John’s International Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA): Citing tough headwinds, Zacks selected this pizza delivery powerhouse as its Bear of the Day stock. Shares have traded as high as $140.68 in the past year but closed most recently at $75.56. That is more than 43% lower year to date.

Paramount Global (NASDAQ: PARA): Wells Fargo’s Overweight rating was cut to Equal Weight, and the $40 price target was slashed to $19. The consensus target is $27.70. Tuesday’s close was at $20.07.

Prologis Inc. (NYSE: PLD): Citigroup resumed its coverage with a Buy rating and a $120 target price. That compares with a $155.60 consensus target and Tuesday’s close at $105.99.

Rivian Automotive Inc. (NASDAQ: RIVN): Truist Financial reiterated a Buy rating on the electric vehicle stock. Its $65 target price is well above the consensus target of $53.13. The shares ended Tuesday trading at $36.30, up close to 14% after the company boosted production and sales numbers.

Rocket Companies Inc. (NYSE: RKT): Goldman Sachs trimmed its $8.25 target price on the mortgage giant to $7.25 while maintaining a Neutral rating. The consensus target is $8.39. The stock closed over 9% higher on Tuesday at $7.18 on no news we could source.

Steelcase Inc. (NYSE: SCS): Sidoti raised its Neutral rating to Buy with an $11 target, the same as the consensus target. The stock closed on Tuesday at $7.31, up over 6% on the upgrade.

TFI International Inc. (NYSE: TFII): Wells Fargo initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and a $111 target price. The consensus target is $123.17. Tuesday’s close was at $99.56, up over 4% for the day, likely on the coverage and strong tape.

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Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Ally Financial, CarMax, Dominion Energy, Dynatrace, Exelon, GigaCloud Technology, Gilead Sciences, Intuit, KKR, Lowe’s Companies, Morgan Stanley and Tesla. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Bank of New York Mellon, Butterfly Network, Etsy, Ginkgo Bioworks, Illumina, Poshmark and more.

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