Activision Blizzard upgrade, Snap downgrade and InterDigital 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:
- MoffettNathanson analyst Clay Griffin upgraded Activision Blizzard (ATVI) to Outperform from Market Perform with an unchanged price target of $95. The merger arb spread has been wide ever since Microsoft (MSFT) agreed to buy Activision for $95 per share, noted Griffin, who would push back on the "notion that Microsoft will be closing on Activision any day now," but sees "strong rationale for why it ultimately should."
- Raymond James analyst C. Gregory Peters upgraded Travelers (TRV) to Strong Buy from Market Perform with an $185 price target. The stock has outperformed year-to-date, and Peters believes Travelers could be positioned to continue outperforming on a relative basis considering the stock's current valuation is attractive relative to its 5-year average and peers.
- Seaport Global analyst Glenn Chin upgraded AutoNation (AN) to Buy from Neutral with an $180 price target. The analyst sees a "prolonged outsized earnings cycle" for AutoNation saying industry sales are already at recessionary levels and there is "deep pent-up demand" with sparse inventories.
- Loop Capital analyst Alan Gould upgraded WWE (WWE) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $90, up from $59, as he sees a greater likelihood that the company is sold following the announced retirement of CEO Vince McMahon. Gould further cites WWE having been one of the best performing stocks with a 34% year-to-date run-up as the value of its sports rights continues to increase while speculating about "Comcast (CMCSA), Disney (DIS), Amazon (AMZN), and even possibly Netflix (NFLX)" as becoming its potential suitors.
- Evercore ISI analyst John Pancari upgraded SVB Financial (SIVB) to Outperform from In Line with a $430 price target. Expectations are now "reset" following SVB's "challenging" second quarter results, Pancari told investors in a research note.
Top 5 Downgrades:
- Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak double downgraded Snap (SNAP) to Underweight from Overweight with a price target of $8, down from $17. The analyst argued that Snap's "disappointing" second quarter results, third quarter trends to date and its company-specific challenges leave him more cautious about its forward revenue and profit outlook. Wolfe Research analyst Deepak Mathivanan also downgraded Snap to Peer Perform from Outperform. The analyst has a lack of conviction in forward estimates following the company's second quarter results.
- Susquehanna analyst Christopher Stathoulopoulos downgraded United Airlines (UAL) to Neutral from Positive with a price target of $35, down from $43. While the updates to 2022-2023 guidance for air carriers that have reported thus far "admittedly came earlier” than he expected, and the updates to capacity guides "thus far look reasonable," Stathoulopoulos does not believe they are one-and-done and thinks 2023 estimates are not fully de-risked.
- Macquarie analyst Frederick Havemeyer downgraded Twilio (TWLO), Pegasystems (PEGA) and 2U (TWOU), all to Neutral from Outperform, with price targets of $96, $54 and $11, respectively, as he made "deep cuts" to his calendar year 2023 and 2024 forecasts to reset expectations for macro risks and model in a likely recession.
- Barclays analyst Blayne Curtis downgraded Lam Research (LRCX) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $450, down from $625. The memory market has already seen corrections but there remains an additional 30%-40% downside to earnings estimates, Curtis told investors in a research note.
- Morgan Stanley analyst James Faucette downgraded Open Lending (LPRO) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $8, down from $14. The analyst sees "meaningful risk" to consensus estimates due to volume headwinds and deteriorating auto credit performance.
Top 5 Initiations:
- Bank of America analyst Tal Liani initiated coverage of InterDigital (IDCC) with an Underperform rating and $60 price target. The analyst expects solid 5G growth, but remains cautious on the long-term runway, arguing that valuation and long-term growth catalysts remain concerns.
- Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina initiated coverage of Ivanhoe Electric (IE) with a Buy rating and $13.50 price target. The exploration and development company has the potential to become a large, low-cost, U.S.-based, ESG-friendly copper producer, LaFemina contended. BMO Capital analyst Andrew Mikitchook also started coverage of Ivanhoe Electric with an Outperform rating and $15 price target.
- Canaccord analyst Kyle Mikson initiated coverage of 10x Genomics (TXG) with a Buy rating and $55 price target. 10x Genomics has historically show "impressive execution" in its single cell analysis business and the analyst believes 10x will continue to generate solid growth in its single cell segment as its spatial biology and in situ businesses accelerate.
- Seaport Global analyst Walt Liptak initiated coverage of BlueLinx (BXC) with a Buy rating and $100 price target. The analyst thinks BlueLinx has started on a path toward sustainable profits throughout the cycle and likes the story due to the management team and his view "that a new level of culture and business strategy is being applied" to the company's assets.
- Morgan Stanley analyst Drew Ranieri initiated coverage of Integra LifeSciences (IART) with an Equal Weight rating and $59 price target. The current valuation reflects a "balanced picture" of the company's multiple growth opportunities and execution risks, Ranieri told investors in a research note.
Symbols:
ATVI MSFT TRV AN CMCSA CMCSK DIS AMZN NFLX SIVB - $377.90 /
+16.43 (+4.55%)
SNAP UAL TWLO PEGA TWOU LRCX IDCC IE TXG BXC IART LPRO WWE Keywords: analyst, analyst calls, upgrades, downgrades, initiations, research, wall street