Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.
FACEBOOK CUT TO HOLD AT STIFEL: Stifel analyst Scott Devitt downgraded Facebook (FB) to Hold from Buy and maintained a $150 price target on shares. The analyst believes that Facebook has made too many enemies, including politicians, regulators, technology leaders, consumers, and employees, to not experience "long-term negative ramifications on its business." Devitt added that the political and regulatory blowback could lead to restrictions on how can Facebook operate.
BRISTOL-MYERS UPGRADED TO OUTPERFORM AT BMO: BMO Capital analyst Alex Arfaei upgraded Bristol-Myers (BMY) to Outperform from Market Perform and raised his price target to $60 from $56, saying the risk-reward on the stock at current price "seems attractive." The analyst noted that a number of R&D setbacks have reduced expectations for the company's immuno-oncology franchise, raising his forecasts on Opdivo to reflect the "low" street consensus. Arfaei added that the Street is modeling flattish gross margins, but his forecast calls for a 2% improvement by 2021 with Opdivo revenue expectations coming about 10%-15% above consensus. The analyst also raised his FY19 EPS view to $4.18 from $3.93 to reflect the more optimistic Opdivo targets.
ACTIVISION BLIZZARD UPGRADED TO OVERWEIGHT AT JPMORGAN: JPMorgan analyst Alexia Quadrani upgraded Activision Blizzard (ATVI) to Overweight while lowering her price target for the shares to $66 from $72. The stock is down 45% from an all-time high in early October, and now trades at 16.5 times forward consensus earnings, compared to 25.5 times and 23.0 times on average over the prior one and three year periods, Quadrani noted. The analyst thinks investors are now overly focused on short term execution and growth, creating an attractive entry point "for what remains a compelling long-term story driven by a secular shift to digital, extension of core IP to mobile, an expanding console and player base and continued innovation in live services." She also believes the current valuation gives Activision little credit for options such as King advertising, Esports expansion and revenue growth, or new mobile titles.
JPMORGAN ADDS CISCO TO FOCUS LIST: JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee removed Ciena (CIEN) from his firm's Analyst Focus List following the year-to-date share price performance of 48%. The analyst, however, kept an Overweight rating on the shares as he still sees 24% upside from current levels. Heading into 2019, he added Overweight-rated Cisco Systems (CSCO) to the Analyst Focus List as a value idea. Cisco is now his top pick within his Networking Equipment/IT Hardware coverage given its "accelerating" product momentum, secular transformation to software and recurring revenue, and potential for "greater upside from re-rating of the shares.
GUGGENHEIM INITIATES SOCIAL MEDIA STOCKS: Twitter (TWTR) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) were initiated with a Buy at Guggenheim, while Snap (SNAP) and Facebook were initiated with a Neutral. Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris initiated Twitter with a Buy and $39 price target, saying it is a industry leader in social media. Morris initiated Alphabet with a Buy and $1,330 price target saying it has a unique combination of intellectual property, employee talent and financial resources that position it well for global growth beyond implied expectations. Morris initiated Facebook with a Neutral and $150 price target, saying he expects challenges related to privacy, regulation, and operations monetization to continue to weight on investor sentiment and limit multiple expansion.
Ticker changed to META
-2.14 (-1.55%)
Bristol Myers
+ (+0.00%)
acquired by MSFT
+0.43 (+0.92%)
Ciena
-0.4 (-1.27%)
Cisco
-0.71 (-1.50%)
-1.2 (-3.69%)
Alphabet
-14.71 (-1.40%)
Alphabet
-13.04 (-1.23%)
Snap
-0.31 (-4.99%)