Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.
MONSTER UPGRADED TO BUY AT SUNTRUST: SunTrust analyst William Chappell upgraded Monster Beverage (MNST) to Buy from Hold and raised his price target to $65 from $50, stating that after the recent declines in input costs and the "successful U.S. pricing actions", consensus expectations for the stock are too low, while the concerns over its partnership with Coca-Cola (KO) and challenges around growth in China are "overblown." After an 11% correction following Q3 earnings, Chappell believes that Monster Beverage shares offer an "attractive entry" opportunity.
MOLINA UPGRADED AT JPMORGAN, MUFG: JPMorgan analyst Gary Taylor upgraded Molina Healthcare (MOH) to Overweight from Neutral and raised his price target for the shares to $150 from $127. The analyst said that for the second year in a row, he is upgrading Molina following CEO Joe Zubretsky's "bullish" presentation at his firm's conference. Last year Zubretsky laid out the earnings turnaround case, this year he laid out the case for sustainability of earnings power and further upside, Taylor said. In a research note partially titled "MOH Wows at JPM Again," Taylor laid out a path for Molina shares to get to $150.
MUFG analyst Jason Twizell also upgraded Molina Healthcare to Overweight from Neutral and raised his price target to $142 from $135, citing his view of management's "strong" operational execution, the company's opportunity to further expand Medicaid margins, and an attractive risk/reward profile. Twizell believes Molina has the right team in place to generate sustainable Medicaid pretax margins that are in-line with its peers.
JPMORGAN CUT TO HOLD AT JEFFERIES: Jefferies analyst Ken Usdin downgraded JPMorgan (JPM) to Hold from Buy and lowered his price target on the stock to $110 from $130, as he believes continued outperformance of the best performer among large cap banks in 2018 "may be more governed" in 2019 as he expects negative EPS revisions and believes that revenues could fall short of consensus expectations for both NII and fees. Among large cap banks, Usdin also downgraded SunTrust (STI) and U.S. Bancorp (USB), both to Hold, this morning.
UNION PACIFIC UPGRADED AFTER COO HIRING: Cowen analyst Jason Seidl upgraded Union Pacific (UNP) to Outperform from Market Perform following the announcement of the hiring of Jim Vena as COO. The analyst said the hire gives him more confidence in the company's ability to successfully implement its version of Precision Scheduled Railroading and he expects the results to meaningfully take hold in the second half of 2019. Seidl raised his price target to $178 from $153 on Union Pacific shares.
RBC Capital analyst Walter Spracklin upgraded Union Pacific to Outperform from Sector Perform and raised his price target to $179 from $151 and Seaport Global analyst Mark Levin upgraded Union Pacific to Buy from Neutral after the company announced that it had hired Jim Vena. "While Vena may not be Hunter Harrison," the pioneer of PSR, his addition at Union Pacific significantly increases the likelihood of a successful transformation to PSR, Levin said.
FRONTIER CUT TO UNDERPERFORM AT WELLS: Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche downgraded Frontier Communications (FTR) to Underperform from Market Perform and lowered her price target for the shares to $1.75 from $5.00. The analyst also downgraded the Rural Local Exchange Carrier sector to Underweight from Market Weight. Frontier has reportedly been working with an advisor on how it might handle upcoming debt maturities, Fritzsche said. The debt seems to be pricing in a looming restructuring, which "could cause a scar on the RLEC industry," added the analyst. Fritzsche remains concerned about Frontier's near term balance sheet obligations and believe "this is very much a debt story at this point."
JPMORGAN CALLS FACEBOOK BEST INTERNET IDEA FOR 2019: JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth names Facebook (FB) a best idea for 2019 along with Amazon.com (AMZN) and Twitter (TWTR). Facebook experienced significant volatility in 2018 and closed the year down 2%, underperforming Internet peers which were up 7% market cap-weighted and flat on average, Anmuth said. He believes investor sentiment on Facebook "remains negative here" in early 2019. However, Anmuth thinks the core Facebook business is "stickier than many think." Further, he believes the company's revenue deceleration is manageable and its earnings growth should accelerate into the mid-teens in 2020. Lastly, the stock's valuation is "compelling" at current levels, argued Anmuth. He kept an Overweight rating on Facebook with a $195 price target.
Monster Beverage
+2.86 (+5.75%)
Molina Healthcare
+9.12 (+7.74%)
JPMorgan
-0.605 (-0.60%)
Union Pacific
+11.35 (+8.19%)
Frontier Communications
+0.005 (+0.18%)
Ticker changed to META
+3.46 (+2.51%)
Coca-Cola
+0.34 (+0.72%)
Solidion
-0.31 (-0.57%)
U.S. Bancorp
-0.21 (-0.45%)
Amazon.com
+19.8 (+1.22%)
-0.06 (-0.19%)