Monday’s Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Coca-Cola, Harley-Davidson, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Nike, Tesla and More

The futures were higher Monday, as we get ready for another trading week with the potential for some big volatility as third-quarter earnings start to kick into high gear. All the major indexes closed down Friday, after the big banks reported mixed results and the follow-through rally attempt from Thursday’s massive gains bit the dust by midday. The Nasdaq led the pullback, down a whopping 3.08%.

With yet another white-hot inflation report last week, the odds of a 75-basis-point hike in the federal funds rate in November is now right at 100%. The bullish narrative remains that we are close to the peak inflation levels, and some of the components in the consumer price index report, like transportation and medical care, might be ready to taper down some next month.

Treasury yields were up across the curve on Friday, as the yield on the 10-year note closed above the 4% level for the first time since October of 2008. Despite the higher yield, the inversion with the two-year note stayed well in place, as the short government note closed at 4.49%. As we have noted, this ongoing inversion is a recession signal to bond traders, and the spread really widened out late last week.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude were both hammered Friday, with the former closing down 3.35% and the latter at 3.93% as traders continued to chip away at the gains from the OPEC production cut announcement last week. Natural gas also was down to the tune of 4%. Gold and Bitcoin ended the week down as well.

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 Monday, October 17, 2022.

AZEK Co. Inc. (NYSE: AZEK): Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to Neutral from Outperform and lowered its $29 target price to $18. The consensus target is $25.37. The stock closed almost 6% lower on Friday at $16.24, likely on the downgrade.

Braze Inc. (NASDAQ: BRZE): Needham reiterated a Buy rating but chopped its $70 price objective to $50. The consensus target is $51.92. Friday close at $28.07 was down almost 5% on the day.

Carlisle Companies Inc. (NYSE: CSL): Credit Suisse raised its Neutral rating to Outperform with a $363 target price. The consensus target is $337.50. Friday’s close was at $281.62.

Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO): Deutsche Bank reiterated a Hold rating but lowered its $64 price target to $59. The consensus target is $67.02, and the stock closed on Friday at $54.98.

Datadog Inc. (NASDAQ: DDOG): Goldman Sachs lowered its price target on the Buy-rated shares to $188 from $214. The consensus target is $139.04. Friday’s final trade came in at $75.69, down over 6% for the day.

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