Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.
EARNINGS GROWTH STORY: Piper Sandler analyst Christopher Donat initiated coverage of PayPal (PYPL) with an Overweight rating and $210 price target. The analyst believes PayPal is one of the best positioned companies to take advantage of changes in consumer purchasing behavior due to the pandemic. Further, he views the company as one of the better earnings growth stories in the payments space and recommends building positions at current share levels.
OVERLY EXPOSURE TO AT-RISK COMPANIES: Piper Sandler analyst Christopher Donat initiated coverage of Square (SQ) with a Neutral rating and $131 price target. The analyst told investors that while Square is one of the best growth stories in the payments space, he believes its growth with small businesses who were underserved by traditional payments companies has left it "overly exposed to at-risk companies" during the pandemic. This has negative implications for not just Square's payment volumes but also credit costs, the analyst added.
ON THE SIDELINES: JPMorgan analyst Cory Carpenter assumed coverage of IAC (IAC) with an Overweight rating with a $155 price target. Carpenter noted that IAC's current share price essentially equals the value of its Angi Homeservices (ANGI) stake plus its $4B cash position, with investors receiving all of IAC's non-Angi's businesses for less than $200M. IAC has a strong track record rebuilding after prior spins, and with $4B cash plus a strong core of existing businesses, the analyst has “no reason to believe this time will be any different."
DIVESTITURES, PIPELINE CANCELLATION: Credit Suisse analyst Michael Weinstein downgraded Dominion Energy (D) to Neutral from Outperform with an unchanged price target of $75. The analyst cited valuation following the company's divestitures and pipeline cancellation. Dominion is not backfilling lost investment opportunity from the cancelled pipeline, but instead intends to grow the remaining, mostly-utility earnings at 6.5% after 2021 off a lower baseline, Weinstein pointed out. The analyst sees the current sale of gas assets at a 9.6-times multiple as "possibly locking in the missed upside from a highly stimulated economic recovery."
Mizuho analyst Anthony Crowdell also downgraded Dominion Energy to Underperform from Neutral with a $68 price target following the company's divestitures, cancelled pipeline and dividend reduction. The analyst argued that Dominion's reduced earnings power yields a lower valuation.
GROWTH OPPORTUNITY REFLECTED IN SHARES: Goldman Sachs analyst Alexandra Walvis downgraded Yeti Holdings (YETI) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $40, up from $31. The analyst believes the company's "strong" brand momentum and growth opportunity is now better understood by investors and reflected in the shares. Yeti has significantly outperformed the coverage group, and its valuation now more appropriately reflects its near-term growth opportunity, the analyst added.
PayPal
+2.41 (+1.37%)
Block
+6.205 (+5.22%)
IAC
-1.98 (-1.61%)
Angi Inc.
+0.26 (+1.73%)
Dominion
-1.515 (-2.06%)
Yeti
-0.09 (-0.21%)