Target upgrade, Comcast downgrade and eBay 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:
- Wells Fargo analyst Edward Kelly upgraded Target (TGT) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $195, up from $155. Target's selloff provides the opportunity to pick up "a proven share gainer into an underappreciated earnings recovery at the right price," the analyst argued.
- Bank of America analyst Julien Dumoulin-Smith upgraded First Solar (FSLR) to Neutral from Underperform with a price target of $104.50, up from $63, citing the company's exposure to favorable policy catalysts and an improved 2025 profitability outlook.
- Wells Fargo analyst Chris Carey upgraded Colgate-Palmolive (CL) to Equal Weight from Underweight with a price target of $80, up from $71. His premise over the last several years that margins would be under pressure has "effectively played out," Carey said.
- Wolfe Research analyst Steve Fleishman upgraded Eversource (ES) to Outperform from Peer Perform with a $96 price target. The analyst likes the stock's risk/reward into the company's offshore wind sale.
- Wedbush analyst Peter J. Winter upgraded Cullen/Frost (CFR) to Neutral from Underperform with a price target of $141, up from $134. Cullen/Frost is "firing on all cylinders," leading to very strong net interest income growth, driven by higher rates and organic growth, the analyst argued.
Top 5 Downgrades:
- Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar downgraded Comcast (CMCSA) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $42, down from $48. The cable companies are "likely past peak growth," Venkateshwar said, adding that cable providers could see flat growth in 2023, and potentially negative after that. The analyst also downgraded Charter Communications (CHTR) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $388, down from $436.
- Atlantic Equities analyst Steve Chesney downgraded AbbVie (ABBV) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $162, down from $178. The analyst believes that "incremental weakness" across the company's core franchises hints at a slowing pace of upward estimate revisions.
- Wells Fargo analyst Joseph O'Dea downgraded Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $105, down from $130. Stable demand from here and execution on cost out sets up good 2023 earnings power, but it's too early, in his opinion, to call for stable demand trends.
- Jefferies analyst Ashley Helgans downgraded Deckers Brands (DECK) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $300, down from $350, after assuming coverage of the name. The analyst has a "more tempered view" of sustained pandemic-driven growth for the company and sees slowing margins due to macro risk.
- Jefferies analyst Brent Thill downgraded Bumble (BMBL) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $39, up from $30. The analyst noted that while his third part data checks show an acceleration in the second quarter revenue and downloads for the Bumble App, he still sees "several reasons to be cautious at current levels."
Top 5 Initiations:
- Needham analyst Anna Andreeva initiated coverage of eBay (EBAY) with a Hold rating. While she is "encouraged" by the innovative initiatives of the company's new management team, the analyst believes regaining consumer mind share lost to niche vertical platforms domestically will take time, especially given today's consumer discretionary backdrop.
- Cowen analyst Jonna Kim initiated coverage of Victoria's Secret (VSCO) with a Market Perform rating and $40 price target. While defensiveness and "robust" cash flow generation should protect the downside, Kim is cautious on the second half of the year given the lack of catalysts and a combination of waning consumer demand, normalization in promotional activities, and elevated input costs.
- Wolfe Research analyst Joshua Tilton initiated coverage of Palo Alto Networks (PANW) with an Outperform rating and $700 price target. Palo Alto is a "consensus long" as investors look to hide out in security names that can deliver both growth and free cash flow margins at an attractive valuation, Tilton told investors in a research note.
- Morgan Stanley analyst Cecilia Furlong initiated coverage of Embecta (EMBC) with an Equal Weight rating and $33 price target. The spinoff of Embecta from Becton Dickinson (BDX) created a "pure-play, profitable, global diabetes company," but near-term drivers of top-line acceleration appear limited despite Embecta being better positioned to invest for growth following the split, Furlong noted.
- H.C. Wainwright analyst Yi Chen initiated coverage of Belite Bio (BLTE) with a Buy rating and $58 price target. The analyst noted that the company has a unique approach for a rare juvenile-onset retinal disorder.
Symbols:
TGT FSLR CL ES CFR CMCSA CMCSK CHTR ABBV SWK DECK BMBL EBAY VSCO PANW EMBC BLTE Keywords: analyst, analyst calls, upgrades, downgrades, initiations, research, wall street