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:
- Leerink upgraded AbbVie (ABBV) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $206 price target. The firm recommends taking advantage of the emraclidine setback and election-related downdraft to purchase shares, and tells investors in a research note that while its financial projections are roughly in line with consensus, Leerink sees the potential for continued strong execution to drive upside.
- RBC Capital upgraded Flowserve (FLS) to Outperform from Sector Perform with a price target of $69, up from $57. The company has reported eleven consecutive quarters of $1B-plus bookings, which demonstrates go-to-market and order momentum, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
- Baird upgraded Elastic (ESTC) to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $135, up from $95. The firm says Elastic's "significant unexpected turnaround" in execution, evident in the Q2 results, highlighted by strong commitments, healthy consumption, improved win-rates and generative artificial intelligence inflection are validating of its medium and long-term thesis.
- China Renaissance upgraded XPeng (XPEV) to Buy from Hold with a $16.70 price target.
- Seaport Research upgraded Sonic Automotive (SAH) to Buy from Neutral with a $74 price target. Valuation multiples for the franchise auto retailers "are too low," the analyst tells investors in a research note.
Top 5 Downgrades:
- Barclays downgraded Baidu (BIDU) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $83, down from $115. The firm says the move to generative artificial intelligence exacerbates the pressure on Baidu's advertising.
- Phillip Securities downgraded Nvidia (NVDA) to Accumulate from Buy with a price target of $160, up from $155, following the Q3 report. The firm cites the recent movement in the shares for the downgrade.
- HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks (PANW) to Reduce from Hold with a price target of $291, down from $304. At current trading levels, the firm considers the stock expensive.
- BofA downgraded Grab Holdings (GRAB) to Underperform from Buy with an unchanged price target of $4.90. The firm believes the stock's risk/reward is now skewed to the downside as it sees a slower pace of margin uptake ahead.
- Piper Sandler downgraded Sunrun (RUN) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $11, down from $23. The firm sees the potential for Sunrun to generate cash in 2025 with the potential for some safe harbor to extend higher credits into 2026, but a potential return to the pre-Inflation Reduction Act subsidy progression suggests the company would need to significantly reduce costs through the end of the decade while increasing pricing to generate levered cash, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
Top 5 Initiations:
- UBS initiated coverage of Roku (ROKU) with a Neutral rating and $73 price target. The firm sees Roku as a key enabler of the streaming ecosystem, positioning the company to capture ad spend migrating from traditional TV, but says the stock's risk/reward is balanced at current levels.
- Needham initiated coverage of Nike (NKE) with a Buy rating and $84 price target. While Nike has "clearly been off their game in recent years," the firm believes that the worst may nearly be over and that the biggest catalyst of change is the recent CEO transition to well-respected Nike veteran Elliott Hill.
- Wells Fargo initiated coverage of Arm (ARM) with an Overweight rating and $155 price target. The firm thinks Arm can deliver upside to consensus estimates, driven by a transition to v9 with higher royalty rates, coupled with modest share gains Arm-based CPUs.
- Piper Sandler assumed coverage of PayPal (PYPL) with a Neutral rating and $88 price target. While encouraged by the early results and company's shift in strategy, Piper looks for continued execution and further progress against its goals before becoming more constructive on the stock.
- Jefferies initiated coverage of UGI Corporation (UGI) with a Buy rating and $28 price target. The firm expects a sharper focus on the core Nat Gas franchise under new leadership and with the "attractive" Pennsylvania-focused utility representing about 90% of the stock price.