The most talked about and market moving research calls around Wall Street are now in one place. Here are today's research calls that investors need to know, as compiled by The Fly.
Top 5 Upgrades:
- Wedbush upgraded Zillow (Z) to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $80, up from $50. In addition to the potentially positive catalyst of lower mortgage rates for Zillow's core brokerage business, the firm sees Zillow's software and services initiatives adding to potential upside risk to its estimates.
- Evercore ISI upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM) to Outperform from In Line with a price target of $120, up from $96. The firm cites the company's "comp and margin levers" for the upgrade following a meeting with management.
- JPMorgan upgraded BioNTech (BNTX) to Neutral from Underweight with a price targetof $125, up from $91. The company presented multiple updates on its oncology pipeline and JPMorgan is "particularly impressed" by some of the Phase II and Phase I/II data that has been coming out for BNT327/PM8002, the anti-VEGF-A/PD-L1 bispecific.
- Truist upgraded Builders FirstSource (BLDR) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $220, up from $165. The firm believes the recent falling interest rates should spark single family housing activity in 2025 and says the multi-family drag is at least mostly factored into the company's results through the first half of 2025.
- Citi upgraded Entegris (ENTG) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $130, up from $119. Citi believes Entegris' wafer starts driven business is less cyclical than the wafer fab equipment market with 75% of the revenue is unit-driven, and that the company is in a good position to benefit from the leading-edge growth in 2025.
Top 5 Downgrades:
- Wells Fargo downgraded Colgate-Palmolive (CL) to Underweight from Equal Weight with an unchanged price target of $100. Wells expects Colgate's growth to normalize toward peers that are now trading at "steep valuation discounts."
- Citi downgraded MKS Instruments (MKSI) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $120, down from $145. The company is well positioned to benefit from a recovery in photonics business and AI-driven design activities in advanced packaging substrates, but the downgrade reflects the push out of NAND market recovery, which it is over-indexed to, and the continued softness in the non-semi business including PCs and smartphones, the firm says.
- Citi downgraded Nova (NVMI) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $224, down from $273. The firm continues to expect the company's growth to outperform process control, but worries about the sustainability of the outperformance and the stock's valuation.
- BTIG downgraded Synchrony Financial (SYF) to Neutral from Buy without a price target. Following "cautious management updates" last week from Synchrony and other prime lenders, BTIG is "broadly stepping away" from recommending shares in any of the prime credit cards.
- BTIG downgraded Ally Financial (ALLY) to Neutral from Buy without a price target. The firm says it is "uncomfortable" recommending investors buy Ally shares, even after last week's 17% selloff, as it does not anticipate positive catalysts for the rest of 2024.
Top 5 Initiations:
- BofA initiated coverage of Yelp (YELP) with an Underperform rating and $30 price target. The firm believes declining usage, coupled with increasing competitive pressure on the Restaurant, Retail and Other segment that makes up about one-third of revenue, will continue to weigh on the growth outlook.
- Barclays initiated coverage of GE Vernova (GEV) with an Overweight rating and $250 price target. The firm thinks strong price, ongoing productivity efforts, and volume leverage should drive "very strong" earnings and free cash flow for growth GE Vernova.
- Citi initiated coverage of Eaton (ETN) with a Buy rating and $348 price target. Given "robust" data center power demand growth and Eaton's ability to benefit from its diversified power management portfolio as well as durable secular tailwinds across much of its portfolio, the company is well positioned to deliver multi-year mid-to-high single digit organic growth despite a mixed macro environment in the near-term, the firm tells investors in a research note.
- Jefferies initiated coverage of Biohaven (BHVN) with a Buy rating and $57 price target. Biohaven's pipeline isn't being fully appreciated at a $3.6B market cap, contends the firm, which sees long-term upside for BHV-1300 in I&I, BHV-7000 in epilepsy and potentially in MDD, and other programs like taldefgrobep alfa that offer optionality.
- ThinkEquity initiated coverage of Better Choice Company (BTTR) with a Buy rating and $10 price target. The acquisition of SRx Health Solutions is transforming Better Choice into a global health and wellness company, the firm tells investors in a research note.
