Plug Power downgraded, Arm initiated – Wall Street top analyst calls.
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:
- Baird upgraded Toast (TOST) to Outperform from Neutral with an unchanged price target of $18. While the stock “was a bit burnt to a crisp” on the Q3 earnings report, Baird appreciates Toast’s “strong” growth profile, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
- Gordon Haskett upgraded BJ’s Wholesale (BJ) to Buy from Hold with an $80 price target. The firm believes that getting more constructive adds to its “arsenal of more defensively postured retailers poised for upward earnings revisions” and turnaround potential in 2024.
- Wolfe Research last night double upgraded Southwestern Energy (SWN) to Outperform from Underperform with an $8 price target. Since the winter, the natural gas rig count collapsed and gas demand has been supported by power, industrial recovery, and higher liquified natural gas imports, the analyst says.
- William Blair upgraded Dentsply Sirona (XRAY) to Outperform from Market Perform without a price target following the investor meeting. The company has made “meaningful progress,” having delivered upside to earnings guidance for the first three quarters of 2023, even when currency and macro headwinds impacted sales in Q3, says the analyst.
- DA Davidson upgraded Diebold (DBD) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $29, up from $25. The company maintains a healthy backlog with inbound orders and demand while seeing material improvements in Product gross margins and healthy OpEx control, and its Services margins are likely to move higher looking ahead, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
Top 5 Downgrades:
- JPMorgan downgraded Plug Power (PLUG) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $6, down from $10. The analyst says the Q3 earnings report illustrated the “numerous near-term challenges” the company is facing. Shares were also downgraded at RBC Capital, Oppenheimer and Northland.
- Wells Fargo downgraded Hawaiian Electric (HE) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $8.50, up from $8. The analyst says that while some positive developments o the Maui wildfires have “infused some optimism” into Hawaiian Electric shares, there is still risk of a $0 equity value should the company be held liable.
- Canaccord downgraded Illumina (ILMN) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $120, down from $210. The analyst says the company’s near-term outlook “appears soft amid Grail merger noise.”
- Exane BNP Paribas downgraded American Airlines (AAL) to Neutral from Outperform with a $12 price target. The analyst sees cost headwinds for the airlines that will be difficult to counter.
- Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded 2U (TWOU) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $1.50, down from $5.30. Management not disclosing before last quarter that its full-year revenue guidance included a large one-time payment from university partners that are terminating specific degree programs, coupled with 2U’s inability to generate positive free cash flow, has resulted in more investors asking questions about 2U’s looming debt maturities and its ability to repay or refinance those obligations, the analyst says.
Top 5 Initiations:
- Morgan Stanley initiated coverage of Arm (ARM) with an Equal Weight rating and $55 price target. The analyst says artificial intelligence-related themes are driving sales and margin growth for intellectual property and and design in the global semiconductors sector.
- Piper Sandler initiated coverage of Korro Bio (KRRO) with an Overweight rating and $180 price target. The company has a “differentiated” Opera platform technology and target-specific editing strategies to generate multiple RNA editing candidates in large common diseases, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
- JPMorgan assumed coverage of Patterson Companies (PDCO) with a Neutral rating and $34 price target. The analyst says the company has to manage through potential softness in dentist demand and any lower volumes of companion animal visits.
- BofA initiated coverage of Weatherford (WFT) with a Buy rating and $120 price target. The company has staged a “remarkable turnaround” from a Chapter 11 restructuring in 2019 to generating very strong adjusted EBITDA margin, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
- JPMorgan assumed coverage of Henry Schein (HSIC) with a Neutral rating and price target of $69, down from $83. The analyst balances the company’s positive acquisitions and easing COVID-19 comps with the current uncertainty around the impacts of the recent cybersecurity event.
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Plug Power downgraded, Arm initiated – Wall Street top analyst calls. source