iQIYI upgraded to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley with liquidity overhang removed

As previously reported, Morgan Stanley analyst Rebecca Xu upgraded iQIYI to Equal Weight from Underweight with a price target of $5.10, up from $2.80. Two recent capital raisings, including a $500M convertible bond issuance and 76.5M ADS offering, should largely remove the overhang related to cash liquidity concerns, Xu argues. With that gone, "it is time for the market to focus on" earnings growth as iQIYI enters an up-cycle, the analyst contends.