Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.
JMP BOOSTS SNAP TO OUTPERFORM: JMP Securities analyst Ronald Josey upgraded Snap (SNAP) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $20 price target. The analyst is "incrementally confident" in Snap's ability to grow its user base, increase engagement, and improve overall monetization as the service attracts more advertisers and share of advertising budgets. Snap "is now more stable than it was when entering 2019," Josey told investors in a research note. Further, looking into 2020, Snap is well positioned to continue to add daily active users and "close the monetization gap" with other major social networks as its sales force reorganization is done and it launches new advertising products, contended the analyst.
CREDIT SUISSE UPGRADES REGENERON, CUTS GILEAD: Credit Suisse analyst Evan Seigerman upgraded Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) to Outperform from Neutral with an increased price target of $400. The analyst also made the company his top pick in U.S. Biotechnology for 2020. Reports of Eylea's demise are "somewhat exaggerated," Seigerman told investors in a research note. He thinks Eylea execution and progress on Regeneron's oncology platform will drive "outsized outperformance" relative to peers in 2020. Seigerman remains positive on the Biotechnology sector heading into 2020.
Seigerman also downgraded Gilead Sciences (GILD) to Underperform from Neutral with a price target of $63, down from $67. The company's setup for 2020 "remains challenging" with an "unclear" strategy from new management, Seigerman told investors in a research note. The analyst remained concerned about Gilead's earnings and revenue growth.
JPMORGAN CUTS PATTERSON-UTI, OIL STATES TO UNDERWEIGHT: JPMorgan analyst Sean Meakim downgraded Patterson-UTI (PTEN) to Underweight from Neutral with a price target of $6, down from $7, in conjunction with his 2020 Oil Services outlook. The analyst thinks the company is disadvantaged in terms of customer mix and geography across both pumping and drilling in a declining activity environment. Patterson-UTI is above average in drilling but "middle of the pack" in pumping, said the analyst, who noted that he struggles to get to consensus expectations.
Meakim also downgraded Oil States International (OIS) to Underweight from Neutral with a price target of $12, down from $14, in conjunction with his 2020 Oil Services outlook. With the shares rallying 40% in two month, they now trade towards the upper-end of equipment peers, despite downside risks to U.S. Wellsite Services results in 2020 and uncertainty regarding Downhole Technology's recently commercialized suite of integrated perforating systems, Meakim said. With the "bar raised" into 2020, risk to Oil States shares is skewed lower, contended the analyst.
MULTIPLE ANALYSTS BOOST SAREPTA TARGETS: H.C. Wainwright analyst Debjit Chattopadhyay raised his price target for Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT) to $260 from $160 after the FDA reversed course and approved Vyondys 53. The analyst expects the stock to "churn higher into 2021." Today's move "could be just a harbinger," Chattopadhyay said. Given the FDA's course correction, the follow-on approval of casimersen now becomes a high probability outcome, and translates into a nearly $700M topline for Sarepta during 2021, prior to any material gene therapy revenue, added Chattopadhyay. The analyst kept a Buy rating on Sarepta.
RBC Capital analyst Brian Abrahams raised his price target on Sarepta to $215 and kept his Outperform rating after FDA announced the approval of Vynodys 53 injection to treat DMD, saying the decision is a "big win" for the company, giving it a "second market product" and a "a foundation of revenues" for its gene therapy offerings.
SVB Leerink analyst Joseph Schwartz raised his price target for Sarepta Therapeutics to $216 from $186 and reiterated an Outperform rating, after the FDA granted accelerated approval to Sarepta's Vyondys53 for Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients amenable to exon 53 skipping, marking the second product from DMD exon-skipping portfolio to be granted AA in the U.S. Schwartz said the news came as a "surprise," but it did confirm his theory that Vyondys53's complete response letter was "merely a bump in the road" towards approval with the FDA leaving Sarepta to "twist in the wind" for a short while before ultimately approving the drug.
Snap
+0.33 (+2.28%)
Regeneron
+4.22 (+1.13%)
Oil States
-0.965 (-5.47%)
Patterson-UTI
-0.33 (-3.18%)
Sarepta
+33.45 (+33.32%)
Gilead
-1.59 (-2.35%)