Uber upgrade, Caterpillar downgrade and W. R. Berkley 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:
- Raymond James analyst Aaron Kessler upgraded Uber Technologies (UBER) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $38 price target following the "strong" second quarter results.
- SMBC Nikko analyst Andrew Bauch upgraded PayPal (PYPL) to Neutral from Underperform with a price target of $100, up from $90, telling investors that second quarter earnings call did several things to change his view on the trajectory of shares, even though he still believes navigating an "unprecedented operational overhaul" will be challenging.
- Wolfe Research analyst Scott Group upgraded Atlas Air Worldwide (AAWW) to Peer Perform from Underperform without a price target. The shares are up 15% in the two days since the Wall Street Journal reported that the company is in talks to be acquired by a group led by Apollo Global (APO), Group told investors in a research note.
- Citi analyst P.J. Juvekar upgraded Mosaic (MOS) and CF Industries (CF) to Buy from Neutral with price targets of $61 and $117, up from $57 and $99, respectively. The analyst expects agriculture stocks to outperform in a slowing economic environment.
- RBC Capital analyst Arun Viswanathan upgraded Sealed Air (SEE) to Outperform from Sector Perform with a price target of $70, up from $66. The stock sold off by 9% as its second quarter EBITDA missed expectations, but the company is managing supply chain challenges and should continue to see strong equipment and systems sales, the analyst argued.
Top 5 Downgrades:
- Bernstein analyst Chad Dillard downgraded Caterpillar (CAT) to Market Perform from Outperform with a $195 price target. Several signs point to order growth markedly slowing in the second half of 2022 then turning negative in 2023 and Caterpillar has become "too reliant in the current environment on pricing to drive growth," Dillard argued.
- Macquarie analyst Erica Chen downgraded XPeng (XPEV) to Neutral from Outperform with a $25 price target after cutting her fiscal 2022, 2023, and 2024 sales volume and revenue estimates to reflect slower BEV sales growth in the midsize high-tier market.
- Stephens analyst Tommy Moll downgraded Cognex (CGNX) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $45, down from $80, after the company reported "essentially in-line" second quarter results and gave "disappointing" third quarter revenue guidance.
- Guggenheim analyst Michael Schmidt downgraded Incyte (INCY) to Neutral from Buy and removed his price target following the company's second quarter earnings report. Evercore ISI analyst Gavin Clark-Gartner also downgraded Incyte to In Line from Outperform with a price target of $78, down from $90.
- Credit Suisse analyst Judah Frommer downgraded Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR) to Underperform from Neutral with a price target of $6, down from $7. The company's second quarter results underscored the "continued modest sequential growth" in the bempedoic acid franchise in the U.S., Frommer told investors in a research note.
Top 5 Initiations:
- Argus analyst John Staszak initiated coverage of W. R. Berkley (WRB) with a Buy rating and $72 price target. The company stands to benefit from continued healthy demand for property/casualty insurance, while the Fed rate hikes are set to boost the fixed-income portfolio as maturing bonds and insurance premiums are invested at higher rates, the analyst told investors in a research note.
- Alliance Global Partners analyst C. K. Poe Fratt initiated coverage of Eagle Bulk Shipping (EGLE) with a Buy rating and $85 price target. The analyst has a positive view on Eagle Bulk based on its "consistent value-added" commercial strategy, shift to a "clear and simple" dividend policy, and favorable intermediate term outlook for dry bulk market. The analyst also started coverage of Genco Shipping (GNK), Grindrod Shipping (GRIN) and Pangaea Logistics (PANL) with Buy ratings.
- Goldman Sachs analyst Chris Shibutani initiated coverage of Kymera Therapeutics (KYMR) with a Buy rating and $40 price target. The analyst sees Kymera as "uniquely positioned" as a leading player in the emerging field of targeted protein degradation.
- H.C. Wainwright analyst Edward White initiated coverage of Valneva (VALN) with a Buy rating and $34 price target. The analyst argued that Valneva is a "promising specialty vaccine company with a solid cash position."
- DA Davidson analyst Rudy Kessinger initiated coverage of FiscalNote (NOTE) with a Buy rating and $8.50 price target. The company is addressing the growing threat of regulatory and policy issues with a market-leading, AI-enabled platform consisting of the most expansive library of global regulatory and policy data on the market, the analyst noted.
Symbols:
UBER AAWW APO MOS CF SEE CAT XPEV CGNX INCY ESPR WRB EGLE GNK GRIN PANL KYMR VALN NOTE Keywords: analyst, analyst calls, upgrades, downgrades, initiations, research, wall street