SoFi downgraded, Kohl’s upgraded: Wall Street’s top analyst calls

Kohl’s upgrade, SoFi downgrade, and MSCI initiation among today’s top calls on Wall Street

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: 

• TD Cowen upgraded Kohl’s (KSS) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $30, up from $23. After meeting with Tom Kingsbury, who was officially appointed Kohl’s CEO in early February and was the former CEO of Burlington Stores (BURL) from 2008 to 2019, the firm sees the executive leveraging his experience to "drive positive change" and make "pragmatic edits to the store." [Read more]
• Stifel upgraded Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $350, up from $320. The firm believes that over the next 12 months, the company will stabilize delivery sales and continue growing carryout sales to new record levels. [Read more]
• Piper Sandler upgraded Accenture (ACN) to Neutral from Underweight with a price target of $316, up from $250. Piper Sandler expects Accenture to continue to see bookings and revenue growth trends in its managed services business and could start to see stabilization in its consulting business. [Read more]
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Allegiant Travel (ALGT) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $145, up from $110. The firm expects a "significant improvement" in the company’s return on invested capital over the next three years. [Read more]
• BofA upgraded Esperion (ESPR) to Buy from Underperform with a price target of $4, up from $1.25, citing increasing confidence in the potential for a settlement with partner DSE. [Read more]

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Oppenheimer downgraded SoFi Technologies (SOFI) to Perform from Outperform without a price target. The firm’s bullish thesis is unchanged over the longer term but with the shares up 105% year-to-date, it thinks the stock now largely reflects its raised 2024 revenue outlook and the credit the management deserves for execution and diversifying the business. [Read more]
• Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded Zions Bancorp (ZION) to Neutral from Buy with a $35 fair value estimate, citing expectations for lower-than-expected spread income and margins given accelerating funding costs. [Read more]
• Piper Sandler downgraded Redwood Trust (RWT) to Neutral from Overweight with an unchanged price target of $7. With the stock now trading at a tangible book value ratio in line with peers and a dividend yield near the low-end of the peer group, the firm believes the stock is fairly valued relative to peers. [Read more]
• Barclays analyst Steve Valiquette downgraded Bright Health (BHG) to Underweight from Overweight with a price target of $8, up from $4. The firm sees heightened liquidity risk as the company attempts to sell its MA business to bolster liquidity positioning, while also navigating a number of major strategic shifts in the overall business model. [Read more]
• Deutsche Bank downgraded Gol Linhas (GOL) to Hold from Buy and keeps a $5 price target on the shares following the stock’s strong year-to-date performance. [Read more]

Top 5 Initiations:

• BofA analyst initiated coverage of MSCI (MSCI) with an Underperform rating and $470 price target. The company has benefited from a first mover advantage in ESG scores and data, but that sales engine is slowing and data competition is escalating, the firm says. [Read more]
• BofA reinstated coverage of FactSet (FDS) with a Neutral rating and $450 price target as it believes the stock’s risk/reward is balanced. [Read more]
• BofA initiated coverage of Moody’s (MCO) with a Buy rating and $400 price target. Market data companies have always offered highly recurring revenues and strong free cash flow, but what makes them especially attractive investments over the mid-term is their ability to accelerate growth by investing into increasing demand for digitized data and analytics, the firm says. [Read more]
• Jefferies initiated coverage of AeroVironment (AVAV) with a Buy rating and $115 price target. The firm forecasts FY24 to be "another year" of double-digit growth, with revenues seen expanding 17% coupled with ongoing expansion in backlog. [Read more]
• Wells Fargo initiated coverage of CubeSmart (CUBE) with an Overweight rating and $50 price target. The firm believes CubeSmart’s high-quality portfolio of population-dense markets, favorable leverage/liquidity, and potential to partake in consolidation create attractive risk/reward. [Read more]