4 big analyst cuts: Home Depot unlikely to outperform short term, says Telsey

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Here is your Pro Recap of the biggest analyst cuts you may have missed since yesterday: downgrades at Home Depot, Alteryx, International Flavors & Fragrances, and Willis Towers Watson.

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Home Depot cut to Market Perform ahead of Q2

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) shares were recently down more than 1% premarket today after Telsey downgraded the company to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $315.00 ahead of Q2/24 earnings report on August 15.

The analysts say they "expect Home Depot to experience a slightly steeper slowdown related to the weak housing market trends."

They also anticipate "consumers remaining cautious with spending, especially on big ticket items and projects, and continued normalization from the strong COVID-19 and government stimulus related gains from past three years," adding:

While the stock likely reflects much of the negative news and challenging operating environment, including a bottoming housing market, we don't expect it to outperform the market in the near term, given the run it has had since May 2023 (up ~17% since May 16) and the current valuation.

Shares were lately changing hands at $329.17 in the premarket.

Alteryx slashed to Neutral following Q2

Piper Sandler downgraded Alteryx (NYSE:AYX) to Neutral from Overweight and cut its price target to $30.00 from $68.00 following the company’s reported Q2 earnings, which resulted in a share price drop of more than 25% premarket today.

We are lowering our estimates and rating on AYX to Neutral as the Q2 ARR shortfall ($14M miss driven by a shift in customer behavior that has made standalone expansions challenging) has clouded visibility into the growth trajectory going forward.

2 more downgrades

Stifel downgraded International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) to Hold from Buy and cut its price target to $85.00 from $123.00.

Shares plunged more than 22% premarket today after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 results and cut its guidance.

The miss and lowered guidance largely reflects ongoing customer destocking, hurting volumes and resulting in more significant manufacturing absorption costs related to improving inventories/cash flow.

Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ:WTW) shares fell 1% premarket today after BMO Capital downgraded the company to Underperform from Market Perform and cut its price target to $205.00 from $230.00, as reported in real time on InvestingPro.

Following 2Q’s EPS miss and guidance cut, our 2024 EPS estimates fall ~5% below consensus, predicated on our view that Willis will continue to re-invest much of its expense program’s savings in talent to re-gain lost market share.

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