Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.
BOFA BOOSTS ERICSSON TO BUY: BofA Merrill Lynch analyst Tal Liani upgraded Ericsson (ERIC) to Buy from Neutral, citing its 5G leadership and potential for longer-term share gains as well as the U.S. pressures on Huawei, which he thinks may add to Ericsson share gains. Additionally, the T-Mobile (TMUS) and Sprint (S) merger, if approved, may help accelerate the 5G timeline, Liani told investors. The analyst, who added that he had a bullish visit to Ericsson's headquarters last Friday, raised his price target on the ADRs to $11.40 from $10.40.
STEPHENS CUTS ACTIVISION BLIZZARD TO EQUAL WEIGHT: Stephens analyst Jeff Cohen downgraded Activision Blizzard (ATVI) to Equal Weight from Overweight and lowered his price target for the shares to $52 from $57. Recent reporting from Kotaku about issues in the Call of Duty pipeline have begun to make bull case for Activision shares "look like less of a certainty," Cohen said. According to Kotaku, Call of Duty 2020 is in trouble and development is now being led by Treyarch. This breaks the three developer rotation that Activision has maintained since 2011 and gives Treyarch only around two years to develop Black Ops 5, which could impact the game's quality, added Cohen. As such, the analyst sees more risk to his 2020 upside case for the Activision Blizzard shares and does not anticipate having any additional visibility into Blizzard's pipeline until BlizzCon in November.
JEFFERIES CUTS MALLINCKRODT TO HOLD: Jefferies analyst Anthony Petrone downgraded Mallinckrodt (MNK) to Hold from Buy and lowered his price target for the shares to $15 from $25. The company's risk profile "continues to heighten" given Medicare's reduced funding for Acthar, unknowns around opioid litigation, and its balance sheet health, Petrone said. After three years of behind the scenes negotiations with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency decided to roll back the base date average manufacturer price on Acthar from the rate established in 2012 and used since to 2013 to a base date prior to Mallinckrodt's acquisition of Questcor, Petrone added. His understanding is that the shift will "substantially raise" the calculated rebate such that the net realized price on Acthar sales to Medicaid beneficiaries will fall from the current $30,000 per vial to "dollars" per vial. With Medicaid representing ~10% of Acthar sales, the analyst believes the shift, if put into effect, would impact Mallinckrodt's annual sales by ~$100M per year.
CITI CUTS TESLA PRICE TARGET TO $191: Citi analyst Itay Michaeli lowered his price target for Tesla (TSLA) to $191 from $238 and maintained a Sell rating on the shares. Tesla's risk/reward "still appears negatively skewed" despite the recent capital raise and stock pullback, mainly on lingering demand and free cash flow concerns, Michaeli told investors in a research note. The analyst reduced his reduced estimates for Tesla through 2021 to reflect the recent capital raise and the company's Q1 results.
GUGGENHEIM NAMES AB INBEV SECTOR BEST IDEA: Guggenheim analyst Laurent Grandet named Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) his sector Best Idea, replacing Coca-Cola (KO), citing his increased conviction in its U.S. growth following an investor seminar hosted by the company. The analyst, who also sees untapped "premiumization" opportunities and significant potential in emerging markets, raised his FY19, FY20 and FY21 EPS estimates for AB InBev but kept an unchanged price target of $103 on the stock with a Buy rating.
Ericsson
+0.29 (+2.99%)
T-Mobile
-0.56 (-0.73%)
SentinelOne
-0.275 (-3.81%)
acquired by MSFT
-0.03 (-0.07%)
Mallinckrodt
-0.4 (-4.05%)
Tesla
-4.3 (-2.10%)
AB InBev
+0.58 (+0.72%)
Coca-Cola
+0.54 (+1.11%)