The most talked about and market moving research calls around Wall Street are now in one place. Here are today’s research calls that investors need to know, as compiled by The Fly.
Top 5 Upgrades:
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Morgan Stanley upgraded Fiserv (FI) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $175, up from $154. The firm views the stock as an “attractive earnings compounder” with opportunity to keep delivering modest upside to results and benefiting from consistent management execution and strong long-term investor support.
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Baird upgraded Henry Schein (HSIC) to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $92, up from $81. Baird says Henry Schein looks like a safer “core” dental name to own into 2025.
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JPMorgan upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $194, up from $167. With the shares down 20% since Q1 earnings, the firm upgrades Abercrombie as its fieldwork and management access points to continued broad-based demand at the Abercrombie brand, a Hollister brand inflection only in the “middle innings,” and brand momentum building internationally.
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Stifel upgraded IFF (IFF) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $115, up from $95. The firm views the company’s 2024 guidance as conservative and lifted 2024-2025 sales and adjusted EBITDA estimates to 1.5% and 4.4% above the high-end of the company’s expectations.
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BofA upgraded C.H. Robinson (CHRW) to Buy from Underperform with a price target of $99, up from $76. The upgrade is led by truckload brokerage margin upside from depressed spot rates, near-term rate upside in ocean forwarding and structural cost improvements, says the firm, which increased Q2, FY24 and FY25 EPS estimates.
Top 5 Downgrades:
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Scotiabank downgraded Crowdstrike (CWRD) to Sector Perform from Outperform with a price target of $300, down from $393. While calling CrowdStrike “a top software company, possibly one of the greatest of all time,” the firm is stepping aside as it analyzes the impacts on the company’s “previously unblemished record” from last week’s outage incident. BTIG and Guggenheim also downgraded Crowdstrike to Neutral ratings.
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Bernstein downgraded American Airlines (AAL) to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $12, down from $18. The firm believes there’s enough working against American at present to give Bernstein pause in under-writing a longer-term investment case.
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Raymond James double downgraded Estee Lauder (EL) to Market Perform from Strong Buy without a price target. A slower recovery in China and travel retail and heavy competition in the U.S. dampen prior expectations for a more significant rebound in fiscal 2025, the firm tells investors in a research note.
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Morgan Stanley downgraded FIS (FIS) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $79 price target. The firm says most of the expected price upside related to better banking growth, cost actions, management communication, and Worldpay sale have been priced into the shares.
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Goldman Sachs downgraded Lennar (LEN) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $174, down from $180. The firm see less upside in Lennar shares versus others in the homebuilder group when considering the operating environment over the coming quarters.
Top 5 Initiations:
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Melius Research initiated coverage of both Uber Technologies (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT) with Hold ratings and price targets of $77 and $15, respectively. The firm says that while growth accelerating from autonomous vehicles “is certainly possible,” with Tesla (TSLA) now seemingly set on entering the market with its own robotaxis, “a new overhang has arrived.”
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TD Cowen initiated coverage of Berkshire Hathaway class B shares (BRK.B) with a Hold rating and $465 price target. The company’s “old-school conglomerate structure” has faced challenges in a number of key areas of late despite being powered by an insurance business that “continues to shine,” the firm tells investors in a research note.
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Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of Webtoon (WBTN) with a Buy rating and $62 price target. The firm views Webtoon as “positively levered” to a number of long-term secular growth themes within the web-comics market as well as the creator economy. Evercore ISI and Deutsche Bank also started coverage of the stock with Buy-equivalent ratings. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley initiated the name with an Equal Weight rating.
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BMO Capital initiated coverage of Driven Brands (DRVN) with a Market Perform rating and $14 price target. The firm cites ongoing car wash headwinds and the company’s underperformance for the rating, saying it is in early innings in its newly integrated glass business.
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UBS initiated coverage of EVgo (EVGO) with a Neutral rating and $4 price target. The firm sees the company’s positive attributes balanced by several near- and medium-term risks, which drives its more cautious view on the shares. UBS prefers to wait for a better entry point.
