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4 Well-Known Blue Chips Top Tuesday's Wall Street Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Lee Jackson

Published: January 16, 2024 8:55 am

Futures traded lower as we open yet another holiday-shortened trading week. The major indices closed mixed last Friday, with the Dow Jones industrials dropping over 100 points to finish at 37,592.98, while the S&P 500 closed at 4,783.83 and the Nasdaq at 14,972.76. With some mega-cap banks’ earnings out of the way, Wall Street will be bracing for an onslaught of results this week. While analysts and financial pundits are cautiously optimistic about the fourth-quarter prints, many are concerned that forward guidance could be very tepid and, in some cases, alarming.

Bonds

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Treasury yields were lower across the board on Friday as ongoing issues in the Middle East combined with more robust economic numbers and surging inflation prints have many in the bond arena pushing expectations for interest rate cuts to the summer at the earliest.

The two-year paper closed Friday at 4.15%, while the benchmark 10-year note was last seen at 3.94%. While the inversions between the two are the tightest in months, some feel a recession later this year remains possible, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.

Commodities

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Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed trading Monday modestly lower, as gasoline prices at the pump have increased over the past two weeks. With the escalation of the war in the Middle East and with the Houthi rebels attacking container ships in the Red Sea, the worries about oil continue. Brent closed at $78.16, while WTI ended the session at $72.50. Natural gas closed down 6.25% at $3.10.

Gold finished slightly higher Monday as the same factor affecting oil has kept a solid bid under the bullion. The February contract closed the day at $2,058.60, up 0.33%. Bitcoin closed Monday at $42,792.20, up 2.62%, as excitement over the newly minted exchange-traded funds for the cryptocurrency has kept solid support in place. (These countries are buying up the world’s gold.)

Here are the top Wall Street analyst calls for Tuesday, January 16, 2024.

Upgrades

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Dollar General (NYSE: DG) from Equal-Weight to Overweight, and the price target increased from $130 to $160, at Morgan Stanley.

DocuSign Inc. (NASDAQ: DOCU) from Underweight to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley, which hiked its $49 price target to $64.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) from Neutral to Overweight, with the price target increased from $311 to $400, at Piper Sandler.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) at Barclays from Equal Weight to Overweight with the $200 price target lifted to $260.

Downgrades

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Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) from Overweight to Equal Weight and the price target cut from $280 to $225 at TD Cowen.

DuPont de Nemours Inc. (NYSE: DD) from Buy to Underperform at BofA Securities, though the price target was raised from $78 to $80.

Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) at Wells Fargo from Overweight to Equal Weight, with the price target increased from $60 to $65.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (NYSE: HPE) from Outperform to Market Perform at Bernstein, which trimmed its price target from $20 to $17.

Other Calls

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Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA) was initiated with a Sell rating and price target of $29 at UBS.

Datadog Inc. (NASDAQ: DDOG) was initiated with an Outperform rating and price target of $140 at BMO Capital Markets.

Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) was initiated with a Buy rating and price target of $142 at Canaccord Genuity.

Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) was initiated with a Buy rating and price target of $210 at UBS.