Street Wrap: Today’s Top 15 Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations

Coinbase upgrade, Workday downgrade, and Datadog resumption 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: 

• Daiwa upgraded Coinbase (COIN) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $65, up from $58, after a change in analyst coverage. The firm believes the current share price has largely priced in the U.S. regulation uncertainty but underestimates Coinbase’s recovering profitability, accelerating global expansion and crypto-native innovations. [Read more]
• Stifel upgraded Snowflake (SNOW) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $185, up from $145. Recent commentary from Microsoft (MSFT) as well as other third party consumption models suggest optimization headwinds the group has felt over the last nine months are stabilizing, the firm says. [Read more]
• JPMorgan upgraded American Airlines (AAL) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $29, up from $26. American is now 60% of its way to reducing its total debt by $15B by the end of 2025, which is ahead of expectations, yet the stock currently resides 35% below when its debt peaked in Q2 of 2021, the firm says. [Read more]
• BofA upgraded Fortinet (FTNT) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $75, up from $66. A premium to cyber peers’ multiple is warranted given the company’s "strong" fundamentals, says the firm, which also highlights "continued strong execution" despite a challenged environment. [Read more]
• BMO Capital upgraded Peloton Interactive (PTON) to Market Perform from Underperform with an unchanged price target of $9.50. The firm believes the shares already reflect concerns and the risk/reward has shifted. [Read more]

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Stifel downgraded Workday (WDAY) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $200, down from $210. Channel checks pointed to a "lackluster" Q1 finish for Workday as partners noted North America demand weakened quarter-and-quarter and Europe only incrementally improved on the heels of aggressive pricing action, the firm says. [Read more]
• JPMorgan downgraded Southwest Airlines (LUV) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $39, down from $64. JPMorgan harmonized its discounter target multiples with those of the larger airlines, which results in rating downgrades to Neutral for Frontier (ULCC) and Southwest. [Read more]
• Wolfe Research downgraded Qualys (QLYS) to Underperform from Peer Perform with a $100 price target. The company reported Q1 revenue in line with guidance, but billings that missed Street expectations its reaffirmed guidance looks aggressive, the firm noted. [Read more]
• Loop Capital downgraded LivePerson (LPSN) to Sell from Hold with a price target of $3, down from $4. The firm warns that the recent Starboard matter disclosed on Friday is likely to drag out for several months, becoming increasingly negative to sentiment and an overhang on the stock. [Read more]
• JPMorgan downgraded Cogent Communications (CCOI) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $70, down from $72. The company reported weaker than expected Q1 results with softer EBITDA, higher capex, decelerating Net-Centric and Corporate down 20 basis points sequentially with no sign of improvement, the firm says. [Read more]

Top 5 Initiations:

• William Blair resumed coverage of Datadog (DDOG) with an Outperform rating and no price target. The firm believes the company has significant growth opportunities in the observability and security markets. [Read more]
• Evercore ISI reinstated coverage of Post Holdings (POST) with an Outperform rating and $105 price target following the closing of the Pet acquisition from Smucker. While Post‘s Foodservice division profit should begin to normalize, there is ongoing upside from higher pricing net of commodity inflation and improving supply chain costs and capacity, the firm says. [Read more]
• BofA resumed coverage of Public Storage (PSA) with a Buy rating and $365 price target as the firm remains positive on Public Storage. [Read more]
• BofA resumed coverage of Extra Space Storage (EXR) with a Buy rating and $189 price target. The firm believes Extra Space is well positioned for continued growth. [Read more]
• Rosenblatt initiated coverage of Pegasystems (PEGA) with a Buy rating and $56 price target. The firm believes the stock currently trades at "an undue discount" due to the company’s recent litigation issue. [Read more]