Q3 Earnings Season Kicks Off: Analysts Upgrade or Downgrade Delta Air Lines, Micron Technology and More

Markets pulled back on Friday after a fairly strong rebound in Thursday’s session, despite a relatively disappointing consumer price index (CPI) print. While CPI was relatively close to analysts’ predictions, the core CPI was at its worst level in 40 years, and many thought this spelled doom and gloom for the markets.

In Friday’s session, the Nasdaq led the charge lower, down about 1.4% on last look. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrials were down 1.0% and 0.3%, respectively.

All this comes with the kickoff of the third-quarter earnings reporting season. Major banks started reporting Friday morning, with JPMorgan and Wells Fargo each posting better than expected results. Be on the lookout for more major bank earnings on Monday, and then even more earnings throughout next week and beyond.

Here, 24/7 Wall St. is reviewing additional analyst calls seen on Friday. We have included the latest call on each stock, as well as a recent trading history and the consensus targets among analysts. Note that analyst calls seen earlier in the day were on Apple, Marathon Petroleum, Mastercard, Meta Platforms, Nike and more.

Alkermes PLC (NASDAQ: ALKS): BofA Securities upgraded the stock to Neutral from Underperform and cut the $27 price target to $25. Shares have traded as high as $32.79 in the past year but traded near $23 on Friday.

AppLovin Corp. (NASDAQ: APP): Wedbush initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $26 price target. The stock was last seen trading near $18, in a 52-week range of $16.79 to $116.09.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL): Cowen’s upgrade was from Market Perform to Outperform with a $54 price target. Shares traded near $31 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $27.20 to $46.27.

Enviva Inc. (NYSE: EVA): Citigroup lifted its Neutral rating to Buy but cut the $79 price target to $62. The shares traded near $52 on Friday. The 52-week range is $45.88 to $91.06.

Harmony Biosciences Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: HRMY): Janney’s upgrade to Buy from Neutral included a price target hike to $61 from $57. Also, Jefferies upgraded it to Buy from Hold, and it raised its $57 price target to $61. The 52-week trading range is $31.54 to $57.13. Shares changed hands near $49 apiece on Friday.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU): Loop Capital started coverage with a Buy rating and a $70 price target. The 52-week trading range is $48.45 to $98.45, and the share price was near $53 on Friday.

Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC): J.P. Morgan downgraded the shares to Neutral from Overweight and has a $490 price target. Shares were last seen trading near $480. The 52-week range is $345.90 to $515.49.

Stanley Black & Decker Inc. (NYSE: SWK): when Credit Suisse cut its Outperform rating to Neutral, it also lowered its $125 price target to $79. Shares traded near $76 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $70.24 to $199.20.

While the technology sector is taking it on the chin now, it will be back. Eight blue-chip tech stocks pay dependable dividends, and their stocks have extremely high bounce-back potential and could be the first to take off in the coming market rally.

One key analyst has named five outstanding alternative asset management stocks.

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