Brookfield upgrade, Capital One downgrade and Warner Bros. Discovery initiation among today's top calls on Wall Street Institutional investors and professional traders rely on The Fly to learn which companies the best analysts on Wall Street are saying to buy and sell.
Research analysts at Wall Street's largest banks issue recommendations on whether a stock should be bought, held, or sold. The Fly's team of financial market experts scours hundreds of research notes daily to uncover the best trading ideas. Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.
Top 5 Upgrades:
- Credit Suisse analyst Andrew Kuske upgraded Brookfield (BAM) to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $71.50, up from $68. The analyst cited recent stock performance, catalysts on the horizon, ongoing alternative asset manager trends and valuation.
- Wells Fargo analyst Daniel Politzer upgraded Rush Street Interactive (RSI) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $10, down from $11. With shares down 63% year-to-date and sentiment vacillating between negative and apathetic, Politzer believes Rush Street Interactive's risk/reward skews favorably.
- JPMorgan analyst Jeffrey Zekauskas upgraded Ecolab (ECL) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $190, down from $191. Zekauskas notes that Ecolab shares tend to perform well at the end of economic cycles because its earnings are viewed as generally stable under normal recessionary conditions. The analyst also upgraded Avery Dennison (AVY) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $195, down from $215, following the first quarter results.
- Bank of America analyst Heather Balsky upgraded Robert Half (RHI) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $133, up from $123. The demand for the company's contract staffing business should remain "robust" given the tight labor market, the analyst argued, adding that "strong" project pipeline also bodes well for its Protiviti business.
- HSBC analyst Abhishek Kumar upgraded Halliburton (HAL) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $41.60, up from $36.60. The higher oil price and current geopolitical situation have led to a much improved medium-term outlook for the company, Kumar told investors in a research note. The analyst also upgraded Schlumberger (SLB) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $44.20, up from $40.60.
Top 5 Downgrades:
- Piper Sandler analyst Kevin Barker downgraded Capital One (COF) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $143, down from $164. The analyst cited headwinds from expense inflation and credit costs for the downgrade.
- Bank of America analyst Christopher Nardone double downgraded Carter's (CRI) to Underperform from Buy with a price target of $82, down from $120. The analyst sees risk to the company's margins from a more normalized promotional environment.
- JPMorgan analyst Vivek Juneja downgraded BNY Mellon (BNY) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $51.50, down from $59. The analyst also removed the shares from the firm's Analyst Focus List. BNY Mellon's asset sensitivity to higher interest rates, including the large benefit from lower fee waivers, is likely to be partly offset by the restructuring of its securities portfolio and shrinkage of deposits due to pressure on capital, Juneja contended.
- Raymond James analyst Savanthi Syth downgraded SkyWest (SKYW) to Market Perform from Outperform without a price target. The analyst believes a pushout in block hour recovery expectations is likely to meaningfully reduce 2023 earnings expectations following the company's earnings report.
- RBC Capital analyst Paul Quinn downgraded PotlatchDeltic (PCH) to Sector Perform from Outperform with a price target of $60, down from $65 after the company reported first quarter results that were in-line with his estimate.
Top 5 Coverage Initiations:
- Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar initiated coverage of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) with an Equal Weight rating and $24 price target. Despite "headline valuation cheapness," the stock may be range bound for a while due to the company's "nonlinear integration path of newly merged assets and lack of visibility on legacy media trends," Venkateshwar argued.
- Goldman Sachs analyst Kevin Kumar initiated coverage of WalkMe (WKME) with a Buy rating and $23 price target. The analyst likes the company due to its category leadership in the "rapidly growing" digital adoption platform market as well as several near-term catalysts that could drive both recurring revenue acceleration and improving unit economics.
- RBC Capital analyst Sabahat Khan initiated coverage of Aecom (ACM) with an Outperform rating and $91 price target. The company is well-positioned to capitalize on the elevated infrastructure spend included in the U.S. infrastructure bill given its strong track record of execution over the recent years, significant improvement in its profitability, and its strong footing in the U.S. market, the analyst told investors in a research note.
- RBC Capital analyst Sabahat Khan initiated coverage of Jacobs (J) with an Outperform rating and $173 price target. The analyst is positive on the company's outlook for organic growth being at the high end of its peer group, with expectation for good free cash flow growth and margin expansion over the forecast horizon.
- Goldman Sachs analyst Kevin Kumar initiated coverage of Appian (APPN) with a Buy rating and $70 price target. The analyst likes the company due to its expanding low-code platform and growing community of developers and partners, which he says is catalyzing more adoption and improved unit economics.
Symbols:
BAMBrookfield Asset Management
RSI ECL AVY RHI HAL SLB COF CRI BNYBlackRock New York Municipal Income Trust
SKYW PCH WBD WKME ACM J APPN Keywords: analyst, analyst calls, upgrades, downgrades, initiations, research, wall street