Krispy Kreme upgraded, Altice USA downgraded: Wall Street’s 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:

• Piper Sandler upgraded Krispy Kreme (DNUT) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $20, up from $14, following last week’s announcement of a national partnership with McDonald’s (MCD). The partnership is a “game changer” for the business, says the analyst, who expects to see the narrative around Krispy Kreme start to improve from here.
• Wells Fargo double upgraded Cinemark (CNK) to Overweight from Underweight with a price target of $23, up from $13. The firm says “movies are back!”
• Monness Crespi upgraded American Express (AXP) to Buy from Neutral with a $245 price target. The analyst likes the stock’s setup following yesterday’s selloff heading into the Q1 earnings report.
• Oppenheimer upgraded AngioDynamics (ANGO) to Outperform from Perform with a $12 price target following Thursday’s earlier than expected FDA approval expanding the company’s AlphaVac indication to treat pulmonary embolism.
• Rosenblatt upgraded Snowflake (SNOW) to Buy from Neutral with an $185 price target. The analyst came away from a customer event in Toronto encouraged that broad-based customer interest in the Snowflake platform and the expanding ecosystem around the company “remain very healthy.”

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Wells Fargo downgraded Altice USA (ATUS) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $1, down from $2. The analyst thinks cable trends remain difficult with Altice USA “in the cross-hairs.”
• Wolfe Research downgraded ShockWave Medical (SWAV) to Peer Perform from Outperform without a price target. The potential takeover by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) “is real” but ShockWave’s risk/reward is now unfavorable around $320 per share, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
• BofA downgraded Kimco Realty (KIM) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $20, down from $24. The firm removed Kimco from the analyst’s Top Pick list, and while BofA walked away from its annual NYC Retail REIT Executive Summit last week with incremental new positives from several retail REITs, “we can’t say the same” for Kimco, which was disappointing.
• Truist downgraded Scotts Miracle-Gro (SMG) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $75, up from $65. With the stock is now trading at 21-times its fiscal 2025 earnings estimates, the firm believes much of the near term good news is reflected in Scotts Miracle-Gro’s valuation.
• Citi downgraded Plug Power (PLUG) to Sell from Neutral with a price target of $2, down from $3.25. The analyst believes the company’s “limited” liquidity, relatively high-cost structure, dilution from capital raises and “tough” competition should continue to weigh on the stock.

Top 5 Initiations:

• Mizuho last night initiated coverage of Wolfspeed (WOLF) with a Neutral rating and $30 price target. With the silicon carbide market growing at an estimated 30% annually, competition from new and existing suppliers in the U.S., Europe and China could pressure supply, pricing and margins against a slowing electric vehicle market, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
• Wedbush last night initiated coverage of Ovid Therapeutics (OVID) with an Outperform rating and $8 price target. The analyst believes small molecule central nervous system agents offer an advantage in targeting certain disease states.
• Oppenheimer initiated coverage of Vertiv Holdings (VRT) with an Outperform rating and $96 price target. The firm is positive on the company as a leading AI infrastructure player with sustainable competitive differentiation in data center power and thermal management and sees it well positioned for growth and wallet share gains as compute density increases, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
• Leerink initiated coverage of Ardelyx (ARDX) with an Outperform rating and $14 price target.
• Brookline initiated coverage of Immunic (IMUX) with a Buy rating and $10 price target. The firm says that compared to currently available treatments, IMU-838 is more potent and has an improved safety profile.