Loop Capital analyst Jeffrey Kauffman kept his Buy rating and $11 price target on YRC Worldwide, saying the environment in the less-than-truckload market remains healthy. The analyst adds that while the company is struggling in translating those fundamentals as effectively as its competitors, he sees it being capable of "much more". Kauffman also believes that the 5.3-times expected earnings multiple on YRC Worldwide stock is "oversold", even given the "cycle-low valuation ranges".

Loop Capital analyst Jeffrey Kauffman lowered his price target on YRC Worldwide to $11 to reflect the lower relative valuations and his more modest view for tonnage gains in 2019-2020. The analyst also keeps his Buy rating on the shares, raising his Q4 EPS forecast to (1c) from (7c) on "stronger Q4 fundamentals" and expectations of a "modest improvement in operating profits" that should follow the Teamster labor discussions early next year.

In a research earlier today titled "Encroachment Is a 5-Yard Penalty," DA Davidson analyst Tom Forte reiterated an Underperform rating on Wayfair with a $60 12-18 month price target. The stock in morning trading is up 1% to $120.89. Amazon.com (AMZN) announced yesterday that it was launching two private-label furniture brands in the U.K., Forte wrote to investors. The analyst sees the news as "yet another indication" of Amazon's intent to expand its efforts in the home category, including furniture. Yesterday's announcement follows Amazon's decision last December to lower third-party selling fees for the furniture category, the analyst points out. Forte views Amazon's efforts to ramp its sales in the home category as an increasing threat for Wayfair. Further, the analyst is monitoring the potential sale of Overstock's (OSTK) legacy home e-commerce business, as he thinks a sale to a large bricks and mortar retailer could also result in additional competition for Wayfair.

Morgan Stanley analyst James Faucette said the most common question he has gotten for the past several weeks on PayPal (PYPL) has been, "Why is the stock underperforming so much since the beginning of 2019?" He believes PayPal's recent plateauing probably has more to do with other stocks than anything stock-specific, stating that Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) "really have arguably had their best buying opportunities in years" and he would not be surprised to see PayPal "tread water" until those two stocks retake their respective highs. Another common thread in talks has been increasing concern that other digital wallets from Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL) and others may be closing the acceptance gap, though he thinks that "speculation is flatly wrong." Dating back to March 2016, PayPal has had the fastest acceptance growth among all digital wallets, outpacing all the other wallets that he can reliably track, Faucette tells investors. He maintains an Overweight rating and $99 price target on PayPal shares.

Alphabet's (GOOG) Q4 "continues to prove challenging on the bottom line" as the company now had a string of lighter than expected Q4's in terms of operating income and margins, JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth tells investors in a post-earnings research note. While the quarter is seasonally strong for advertising, it also comes with higher content costs for YouTube, more marketing spending, and a spike in low-margin hardware, says the analyst. Overall, though, Anmuth believes Alphabet continues to execute well as evidenced by both the acceleration and long-term stability in its sales growth. He maintains an Overweight rating on the shares, but prefers other FANG names Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN) and Netflix (NFLX) to Google. The analyst lowered his price target for the latter to $1,250 from $1,270.