Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.
SNAP WELL POSITIONED, TWITTER GROWTH MORE DIFFICULT: Piper Sandler analyst Thomas Champion initiated coverage of Snap (SNAP) with an Overweight rating and $66 price target. Snap appears well positioned with a "mobile first, visual and video product experience that has been embraced by Millennials and Gen Z's," Champion contended. The analyst expects continued "strong" revenue growth and improving EBITDA margins.
Champion also initiated coverage of Twitter (TWTR) with a Neutral rating and $45 price target. Twitter boasts "decent scale and punches above its weight in consumer relevance," but has had difficulty growing at the rate of digital advertising overall and its financial results have been "mixed," he argued. While acknowledging Twitter as an important communication and broadcast platform, the analyst noted that the company's share of total digital ad spend has fallen to an estimated 1.0% in 2020.
BUY PAYPAL: BTIG analyst Mark Palmer upgraded PayPal (PYPL) to Buy from Neutral with a $300 price target. The analyst expects the company's growth story to be sustained amid a shift toward digital payments, which has been accelerated by the pandemic. Palmer added that PayPal's long-term growth trajectory has steepened with the announcement that its 333M active users would be able to buy, hold and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies using their PayPal digital wallets.
'VERY ATTRACTIVE POSITION': Barrington analyst James Goss initiated coverage of FuboTV (FUBO) with an Outperform rating and $40 price target. FuboTV offers a streamed multichannel video programming distributor option featuring a complete programming package and "exceptionally intense" sports focus, Goss told investors in a research note. Further, the analyst believes the company's positioning offers a "very attractive proposition, especially for sports fans." Goss also noted that while FuboTV remains unprofitable, its management is taking a "measured approach to the steps necessary" to achieve EBITDA and free cash flow breakeven and move into positive territory.
'VALUABLE NICHE: Stifel analyst John Egbert initiated coverage of Pinterest (PINS) with a Buy rating and $85 price target. Pinterest has "carved out a valuable niche in social media" that Egbert views as both sustainable and "potentially more broadly appealing over time." The analyst forecasts a 33% compound annual growth rate for Pinterest's revenue from 2020-2025 and thinks the company's user-generated content with low marginal costs should eventually lead to "robust" adjusted EBITDA margins at scale.
Meanwhile, Piper Sandler analyst Thomas Champion also started coverage of Pinterest with a Neutral rating and $70 price target. The analyst has "some concern" over the company's current concentration in the U.S. and notes that the stock concluded 2020 with a "fantastic run." After a 250% one-year return and consensus reflecting continued 30%-40% sales growth, the Pinterest story "appears well understood," Champion told investors in a research note. He believes the shares look fairly valued.
BULLISH ON ALPHABET, MORE CAUTIOUS ON FACEBOOK: Piper Sandler analyst Thomas Champion assumed coverage of Alphabet (GOOGL; GOOG) with an Overweight rating and $2,056 price target. Citing his firm's survey work, the analyst noted that Alphabet's Google is "a near-ubiquitous digital ad provider," with dominant position in Search. The company, while still innovating in the core business, also has "powerhouse adjacent franchises" in Mobile Apps, Video and Cloud, Champion added.
The analyst also assumed coverage of Facebook (FB) with a Neutral rating and $275 price target. While Facebook's scale as a network is "undeniable," its monetization is reliant on North America where user growth has stalled, Champion told investors in a research note. The analyst added that the core Facebook produce "is no longer favored among teens." His valuation work suggests "modest upside for a well understood name."
FuboTV
+3.14 (+10.42%)
Snap
+1.79 (+3.43%)
-0.05 (-0.11%)
PayPal
+0.41 (+0.17%)
+0.44 (+0.61%)
Alphabet
+41.67 (+2.22%)
Alphabet
+37.86 (+2.01%)
Ticker changed to META
+1.87 (+0.70%)