Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.
OPCO NAMES STARBUCKS 'ACTIONABLE BUY IDEA': Oppenheimer analyst Brian Bittner raised the firm's price target on Starbucks (SBUX) to $101 from $85 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The analyst also named the stock an "actionable buy idea." The stock closed Friday down 17c to $86.57. The "attractive earnings power" that accompanies a sales recovery at Starbucks is now underappreciated by investors, Bittner tells investors in a research note. The analyst also believes the company has "powerful self-help catalysts" for accelerating same-store-sales and market share gains, which drives his more bullish stance on the stock's current risk/reward. Market expectations now properly discount near-term risks related to Starbucks' fiscal Q4 results on October 29.
AT&T DOWNGRADED TO UNDERWEIGHT: KeyBanc analyst Brandon Nispel downgraded AT&T (T) to Underweight from Sector Weight with a $25 price target. The firm's Key First Look Data suggests deterioration in DirecTV subs and ARPU in August and that AT&T wireless postpaid ARPU is declining month-over-month, suggesting trade down and limited service revenue improvement in Q3. Nispel sees AT&T as secularly and competitively challenged where 2020/2021 expectations high across most segments.
REGENERON BOOSTED TO OVERWEIGHT: Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Alethia Young upgraded Regeneron (REGN) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $690, up from $624. Regeneron shares have outperformed the broader biotech sector, but Young believes investors are still underappreciating Dupixent as a growth driver in both the near and long-term. Additionally, Young thinks REGN-COV2 could be another unappreciated near-term revenue driver in 2021 after seeing early data, though the regulatory path remains uncertain.
ALTICE USA UPGRADED: Bernstein analyst Peter Supino upgraded Altice USA (ATUS) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $34 price target. The analyst believes the company's underlying fundamentals bottomed earlier in 2020 and he sees its investments expanding in 2021. At the same time, Altice USA's absolute and relative valuation multiples stand at all-time lows, Supino tells investors in a research note. The analyst views Altice as a "durable and important portfolio" of digital infrastructure assets which are net beneficiaries of the secular trends in the cable sector.
MORGAN STANLEY UPGRADES INTUIT: Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss upgraded Intuit (INTU) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $400, up from $315. A shift in strategic focus from customer base growth to "a formula more heavily weighted towards growth in revenue per customer" should not change the long-term growth profile of the company but should unlock material margin expansion, Weiss argues. The shift in strategy towards higher value solutions such as "Live" offerings, premium attached services, and going move upmarket should pave the way for faster EPS growth over the next few years, the analyst added.
Starbucks
+ (+0.00%)
AT&T
+ (+0.00%)
Regeneron
-0.96 (-0.17%)
Altice USA
+ (+0.00%)
Intuit
-0.06 (-0.02%)