Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.
NVIDIA STARTED WITH AN OVERWEIGHT AT PIPER: Piper Jaffray analyst Harsh Kumar started Nvidia (NVDA) with an Overweight rating and $200 price target. The shares are trading at attractive levels given the company's exposure and market positioning in several secular trends, Kumar told investors in a research note. Despite recent headwinds, gaming is "primed for growth" in the second half of the year, and should grow year-over-year from its $1.4B run-rate, said the analyst. He also sees the data center and automotive markets as "two long-term secular growth markets." Further, Nvidia has the opportunity for "significant" margin expansion from levels in the most recent quarter, contended Kumar. He likes the stock's setup at current levels.
CRITEO DOWNGRADED AT MULTIPLE FIRMS: KeyBanc analyst Andy Hargreaves downgraded Criteo (CRTO) to Sector Weight from Overweight without a price target after an Adweek article over the weekend suggested that Google (GOOG, GOOGL) is considering cookie-tracking restrictions in Chrome. The report suggested Google is considering new privacy tools in Chrome that could include diminished third-party tracking similar to Apple's (AAPL) Intelligent Tracking Prevention in Safari and new features in Mozilla's Firefox browser, Hargreaves said. This is likely to create an overhang on Criteo in the near term, Hargreaves contended. As such, the analyst sees uncertainty and level of risk involved in the shares.
SunTrust analyst Matthew Thornton downgraded Criteo to Hold and lowered his price target to $24 from $32, citing uncertainty over potential measures by Google to restrict advertising targeting across its Marketing Platform, including its Chrome browser. The analyst believes that in the most adverse scenario, to which he assigns a 35% probability, Criteo's target could fall to $11, while in the more benign alternative scenario, he estimates a $32 price target. Thornton notes that while the company is executing well, its efforts remain constrained "at every turn" by data privacy headwinds.
Rosenblatt analyst Mark Zgutowicz also downgraded Criteo to Neutral from Buy and cut his price target on the stock to $23 from $35, stating that he is moving to the sidelines until Google makes a definitive statement on third party targeting.
CHEETAH MOBILE CUT TO NEUTRAL AT NOMURA: Nomura Instinet analyst Carson Lo downgraded Cheetah Mobile (CMCM) to Neutral from Buy and cut his price target for the shares to $7 from $12. As a result of the negative publicity accusing Cheetah of engaging in fraudulent click injection, some overseas partners of Cheetah have suspended their businesses with the company, Lo said. The analyst believes it will take Cheetah one-to-two quarters to regain the trust from these third-party advertising platforms. This could put short-term pressure to the overseas utility products revenue growth in the first half of 2019, Lo contended.
VERTEX BOOSTED TO OUTPERFORM AT WILLIAM BLAIR: William Blair analyst Y. Katherine Xu upgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) to Outperform from Market Perform on expectations the company's cystic fibrosis franchise will continue dominating after Proteostasis (PTI) reported disappointing triplet data. Proteostasis' triplet efficacy falls short of the high bar set by the Vertex triples, Xu noted. While Proteostasis is starting a Phase II study of the triplet that would include a higher PTI-808 dose and test a longer duration aiming to optimize response with data out around year-end 2019, the chance of it matching or exceeding Vertex triple efficacy is "very low," contended the analyst. With both Galapagos (GLPG)/AbbVie (ABB) and Proteostasis having shown "subpar data," Xu is upgrading Vertex shares to Outperform and raised her fair value estimate for the shares to $222 from $178. The analyst maintained her high probability of success of a Vertex triple combo reaching the cystic fibrosis market at 90% and ascribe peak sales of $10.2B, up from $8.9B previously.
BED BATH & BEYOND UPGRADED TO STRONG BUY AT RAYMOND JAMES: Raymond James analyst Bobby Griffin upgrading Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) to Strong Buy from Market Perform following a Wall Street Journal report that a group of shareholders plan to wage a campaign to replace the entire board. He said the report coincides with his view that Bed Bath & Beyond may either no longer be public or be on a journey to go private "within the foreseeable future." Griffin said he sees feasibility for a going private push or transaction, either through private equity or at the initiation of an activist, and conjectures that the timing of such an event could happen near or soon after Bed Bath's Q4 earnings report, which is scheduled for April 10. The analyst set a $20 price target on Bed Bath & Beyond shares, which are up 27% to $17.64 at time of writing.
Nvidia
+5.395 (+3.10%)
Criteo
-3.14 (-14.28%)
Alphabet
+0.09 (+0.01%)
Alphabet
-0.43 (-0.04%)
Cheetah Mobile
-0.45 (-6.42%)
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
+4.57 (+2.49%)
Merged into YMTX
+0.02 (+1.52%)
Bed Bath & Beyond
+3.99 (+28.77%)