The futures were trading higher, as we get set to finish a wild trading week across Wall Street. The major indexes finished Thursday positive, after a big afternoon reversal. The Dow Jones industrials led the way, after the venerable index got a massive boost from Salesforce, which posted huge, unexpected results and revenue guidance that was above expectations. The company also announced a new $20 billion stock buyback, and it said it would disband its mergers and acquisitions force, indicating no new acquisitions, after activist investor pressure.
Treasury yields were higher again for the second day, as the 10-year note moved firmly across the 4% threshold to close at 4.07%, while the two-year paper closed at 4.89%, the highest since 2006. Many across Wall Street feel that if the short note hits 5% and higher, there could be a big move by retail investors into the debt for safety in what is increasingly a nervous market.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed modestly higher on Thursday, as market participants began to factor in the Russians cutting oil production by 500,000 barrels in March, which is about 5% of total production, a move that was announced back in February. Natural gas finished lower at $2.73, down almost 3% after a solid move higher this week. Gold and Bitcoin closed slightly lower on the day.
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, March 3, 2023.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD): Raymond James resumed coverage with a Strong Buy rating and a $100 target price. The consensus target is $93.60. The stock closed almost 3% higher on Thursday at $80.44.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL): Jefferies maintained a Buy rating on the technology behemoth and has a $195 target price. That compares with a consensus target of $168.21 and Thursday’s closing print of $145.91.
Array Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRY): Scotiabank initiated coverage with a Sector Outperform rating, but its $26 target price is less than the $27.81 consensus target. Thursday’s $18.86 close was up over 3% on the day after preliminary results were posted.
CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX): Zacks pointed to falling estimates as it selected this auto retailer as the Bear of the Day stock. Shares have traded as high as $106.24 in the past year but closed most recently at $67.86, after retreating more than 14% in the past month.
Celanese Corp. (NYSE: CE): BofA Securities upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy and nudged its target price to $140 from $135. The consensus target is $127.79. Thursday’s close at $123.56 was a one-day gain of over 3% on the upgrade.
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