Thursday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Blackstone, FedEx, Home Depot, Poshmark, Take-Two Interactive, Twitter and More

Investing

Published: October 6, 2022 8:53 am

Last Updated: October 6, 2022 9:38 am

The futures were lower on Thursday after investors fought back against a wall of selling early Wednesday. By the close, all three major indexes were in the red. The two-day rally that started the week was chalked up to very oversold conditions and a massive short-covering play by big institutions.

Many across Wall Street are once again hoping for a Federal Reserve pivot, after the Royal Bank of Australia came in with a smaller hike than expected this week, but the Fed governors and Chairperson Powell are determined to stay with the raise-and-hold plan to get the terminal funds rate to 4.6% by the first quarter of 2023. It also means that higher-for-longer status could very well stay in place, likely through all of next year as well.

Interest rates across the Treasury curve shot higher Wednesday, as profit takers showed up to take gains after a huge rally across the complex this week. The five-year, 10-year and the benchmark 30-year bond all saw yields go up on Wednesday. The inversion of the two-year and 10-year remained in place, with the short paper closing at 4.18% and the other at 3.76%. The inversion signals the recession we are in now.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both climbed higher after the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee of the OPEC+ group recommended on Wednesday that the alliance cut 2 million barrels per day of production starting in November. This is the deepest cut in production since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Both benchmarks closed up well over 1% on the day. Natural gas had a solid day, closing up 2% at just shy of the $7 level. Gold and Bitcoin both closed lower, surrendering some of the gains posted during the week’s early rally.

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 Thursday, October 6, 2022.

Blackstone Inc. (NYSE: BX): BofA Securities reiterated a Buy rating on the Wall Street heavyweight and has a $125 target price. That compares with a $116.75 consensus target and Wednesday’s closing print of $92.04.

Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CG): BofA Securities reiterated an Underperform rating on the private equity and asset managing giant. Its $34 price objective is much less than the $48.50 consensus target. Wednesday’s close was at $28.33.

Church & Dwight Co. Inc. (NYSE: CHD): Though Deutsche Bank lifted its Hold rating to Buy, it also lowered its $90 price target to $85. The consensus target is $86.18. Wednesday’s close was at $72.51.