AmEx downgraded, Keurig Dr Pepper upgraded: Wall Street's top analyst calls
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:
Morgan Stanley upgraded Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) to Overweight from Equal Weight with an unchanged price target of $36. After the stock's "pronounced" underperformance, the firm views the valuation as "too low" and sees an "opportune entry point." [Read more]
BofA upgraded Aptiv (APTV) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $140, up from $130. The firm is taking a more constructive view on auto suppliers given improving industry dynamics and notes that is supplier estimates are 5%-10% above consensus on average over the time frame of 2023 to 2025. [Read more] BofA also upgraded BorgWarner (BWA) [Read more] and Magna (MGA) [Read more]
BofA upgraded Sweetgreen (SG) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $17, up from $9. The firm, which sees multiple traffic drivers for Sweetgreen, cites increasing foot traffic and the prospects that same-store sales growth with see sustained momentum for its higher estimates and rating. [Read more]
UBS upgraded Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA) to Neutral from Sell with a price target of $8, up from $7. The firm says its prior Sell-thesis on disappointment from generic Humira and the management transition has played out. [Read more]
Wolfe Research upgraded Simon Property Group (SPG) to Outperform from Peer Perform with a $127 price target. The company's internal growth should be "relatively stable" as share is taken from closing malls, and it is a "cash engine" at just a 70% adjusted funds from operations payout ratio, which will likely be used to fund external growth, particularly buybacks, the firm says. [Read more]
Top 5 Downgrades:
Baird downgraded American Express (AXP) to Neutral from Outperform with an unchanged price target of $185. The stock's risk/reward is more balanced following the significant outperformance, the firm says. [Read more]
Piper Sandler downgraded HubSpot (HUBS) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $520, up from $482. The stock's risk/reward appears balanced after the 80% year-to-date move higher, the firm says. [Read more]
Piper Sandler downgraded Affirm (AFRM) to Underweight from Neutral with an unchanged price target of $11. The firm expects persistently higher interest rates to pressure operating margins, saying Affirm needs to hold more loans on its balance sheet. [Read more]
Raymond James downgraded Horizon Bancorp (HBNC) to Market Perform from Outperform without a price target. The firm also reduced the bank's earnings outlook, while maintaining a negative bias to estimates given Horizon's recent deposit flow and mix trends. [Read more]
Jefferies downgraded Amedisys (AMED) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $101, up from $98, after the definitive agreement for UnitedHealth (UNH) to acquire the company in a $101 per share all-cash transaction. [Read more]
Top 5 Initiations:
Citi initiated coverage of TransDigm (TDG) with a Buy rating and $1,042 price target. The firm is constructive on the company's revenue and earnings visibility, saying global air traffic is set to move beyond 2019 levels, production rates for new aircraft are poised to move significantly higher, and defense budgets continue to grow given the perceived threat environment. [Read more]
Citi initiated coverage of Textron (TXT) with a Buy rating and $90 price target. The firm is constructive on the company's revenue and earnings visibility given recent backlog growth, particularly in its Aviation and Bell segments. [Read more]
Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of Sprout Social (SPT) with a Buy rating and $61 price target. The firm believes Sprout's significant technology investments, in addition to the platform's single code-base and light implementation model, separates the company from peers and should drive meaningful share gains in the social media management software. [Read more]
UBS initiated coverage of Qualys (QLYS) with a Neutral rating and $135 price target. The firm says recent turnover in Qualys' go-to-market leadership is a concern and also sees more competitive risks with mid-market customers, where Qualys expects VMDR to resonate. [Read more]
UBS initiated coverage of Rapid7 (RPD) with a Neutral rating and $50 price target. The firm thinks "mounting competitive pressures" from endpoint and cloud security vendors could disproportionally challenge Rapid7. [Read more]
