Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.
'FAVORABLE OUTLOOK': Baird analyst Colin Sebastian raised the firm's price target on Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) to $2,000 from $1,725, while keeping an Outperform rating on the shares. The company benefited from "strong" e-commerce trends through much of the holiday shopping season and there is improving visibility for digital advertising in 2021, Sebastian told investors in a research note, citing positive end-of-year channel checks. The analyst also pointed out that Alphabet faces easier year-over-year comparisons next year, and should benefit from an expected recovery in travel, recreation and automotive ads. Overall, he sees a "favorable outlook for 2021," and does not expect "game changing" penalties to be put on the company from regulation. His valuation analysis against Apple (AAPL) indicates Alphabet could be worth $3,000 per share longer term.
BETTER-THAN-EXPECTED HOLIDAY BUSINESS: Keeping a Neutral rating on the shares, Wedbush analyst Jen Redding raised the firm's price target on Nordstrom (JWN) to $35 from $17. The analyst issued a POSITIVE data signal on shares of Nordstrom, given better-than-expected holiday business, according to her proprietary data, raising estimates in her financial model, and taking her price target 13% above current levels. Redding's data shows Nordstrom running above-consensus gross margin, and net sales through fourth-quarter to-date.
PALO ALTO TARGET UPPED: BTIG analyst Gray Powell raised the firm's price target on Palo Alto Networks (PANW) to $419 from $370, and kept a Buy rating on the shares as part of a broader research note on the security and analytics software sector. The analyst stated that his new price target models an enterprise value multiple of 25-times expected 2022 free cash flows and 7.7-times sales, with both assumptions "reasonable" since similar security companies with mid-teen growth rates have comparable multiples of 40-times and 7.6-times respectively.
'VERY HIGH DEGREE' OF CONFIDENCE: BTIG analyst Gray Powell raised the firm's price target on Crowdstrike (CRWD) to $236 from $206, while keeping a Buy rating on the shares as part of a broader research note on the security and analytics software sector. Heading into 2021, the analyst has a "very high degree of confidence" in the company's growth profile in terms of its core endpoint target market and its opportunities that include Cloud Workload Protection, vulnerability management, and IT Ops.
The analyst also raised his price target for
PRICING POWER MOMENTUM: Truist analyst Ki Bin Kim raised the firm's price target on Public Storage (PSA) to $233 from $205, while maintaining a Hold rating on the shares as part of a broader research note on self-storage REITs. The analyst cited the continued momentum in the sector's pricing power during December, with net rents rising 19.7% relative to last year and improving on the 3-month average of 16.7%. Ki Bin Kim expects same-store revenue growth to peak at about 4% by the summer of 2021 before returning to a more normal rate of about 2% in 2022.
The analyst also raised his price target for
APPLE SUPERCYCLE: Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said the firm's Asia supply chain checks on iPhone 12 5G demand point to a trajectory that now exceeds his "bull case scenario" for units in FY21, contending that it appears the iPhone 12 supercycle "reality is meeting the initial hype" so far. While the Street is forecasting roughly 217M iPhone units for FY21, based on the current trajectory and in a bull case, Apple has the potential to sell more than 240M units and "250M could be in the cards," added Ives, who keeps an Outperform rating and $160 price target on Apple shares with a "bull case" target of $200.
Alphabet
+12.52 (+0.72%)
Alphabet
+13.87 (+0.80%)
Apple
-0.43 (-0.32%)
Nordstrom
+0.36 (+1.14%)
Palo Alto Networks
+1.885 (+0.53%)
Crowdstrike
+3.18 (+1.51%)
Taken Private
-0.83 (-0.61%)
Check Point
-0.94 (-0.70%)
Public Storage
+1.43 (+0.62%)
National Storage
+0.18 (+0.51%)
Life Storage
-0.24 (-0.20%)
Extra Space Storage
+0.32 (+0.28%)
CubeSmart
+0.895 (+2.73%)