JPMorgan upgraded, JetBlue downgraded: 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:
Jefferies upgraded JPMorgan (JPM) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $165, up from $149. U.S. banks continue to face "multiple uncertainties," including negative earnings revisions, normalization of credit, and finalization of regulatory rules, but the upgrade reflects the bank's "better insulation" from capital burdens and provisions, the analyst tells investors in a research note. [read more]
Piper Sandler upgraded Zillow Group (ZG) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $62, up from $42. The analyst likes the setup for Zillow driven by continued Premier Agent share gains, product optionality and new initiatives, and a bottoming in the housing macro environment with sequential improvements forecast through 2024. [read more]
BofA upgraded U.S. Bancorp (USB) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $40, up from $38. The firm believes investor focus on capital build has "distracted attention away from what is among the highest quality franchises" in the U.S. banking industry, adding that the bank's EPS defensibility is "underappreciated." [read more]
Truist upgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro (SMG) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $80, up from $65. The analyst believes the post-pandemic reversion of the U.S. consumer segment has "finally ended." [read more]
Needham upgraded Everbridge (EVBG) to Buy from Hold with a $35 price target. The firm sees the company's normalized growth rate coming in higher than expectations, with a return to double-digit growth as early as 2024 and strong profitability improvements pushing the stock price higher. [read more]
Top 5 Downgrades:
Evercore ISI downgraded JetBlue (JBLU) to Underperform from In Line with an unchanged price target of $8. JetBlue is up 37% in one month following "an obviously negative fundamental outcome" in its lost Northeast Alliance, or NEA, ruling, says the firm, which adds that it believes the Spirit Airlines (SAVE) acquisition "ultimately gets done" while the premium JetBlue is paying for Spirit continues to expand as Spirit's fundamentals continue to moderate. [read more]
Wolfe Research downgraded Alcoa (AA) to Underperform from Peer Perform with a $25 price target. The analyst cites the firm's more cautious 12-month aluminum price outlook for the downgrade. [read more]
Jefferies downgraded Truist Financial (TFC) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $32, down from $37. U.S. banks continue to face "multiple uncertainties," and the downgrade centers mostly on downward net interest income revisions, with "limited differentiating catalysts" for the shares. [read more]
Morgan Stanley downgraded Toyota (TM) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of 2,400 yen, up from 2,200 yen. While Toyota's announcement on June 13 regarding multiple new technologies for next-gen BEVs eased concern about the company lagging in that area, the firm says that competition in the BEV era "still looks challenging" and it questions if the strength of the Toyota brand and its suppliers hold in the BEV era. [read more]
Baird downgraded VeriSign (VRSN) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $245, down from $265. The analyst sees less upside to shares in the near-term due to weaker domain growth trends, which the firm says are now running below the company's guided range and could drive a further reduction in domain guidance for the year. [read more]
Top 5 Initiations:
UBS initiated coverage of Commercial Metals (CMC) with a Buy rating and $63 price target. As a pure long steel player and the largest rebar producer in the U.S., Commercial Metals is well positioned to benefit from infrastructure investment growth, the analyst tells investors in a research note. [read more]
KeyBanc initiated coverage of Murphy Oil (MUR) last night with an Overweight rating and $47 price target. The analyst has a favorable view of Murphy's diversified production base, oily skew, deleveraging plans, and exploratory upside. [read more]
Jefferies initiated coverage of Toast (TOST) with a Buy rating and $28 price target. The company has established itself as a leading tech platform on which restaurants can build and run their business, the analyst tells investors in a research note. [read more]
Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of XPeng (XPEV) with a Buy rating and $18.10 price target. In the near-term, the firm expects the company's vehicle delivery volume to regain momentum with the latest G6 model launch and forecasts margins to improve on larger vehicle delivery scale together with a decline in battery pricing, the analyst tells investors. [read more]
Citi resumed coverage of Corebridge (CRBG) with a Neutral rating and price target of $19, up from $18, following a period of restriction. The analyst continues to model relatively flat forward portfolio yields, reflecting the firm's expectation for asset management partnerships and portfolio redeployment to help offset out-year yield pressures from Federal Reserve rate cuts. [read more]
