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

Warner Bros. Discovery upgrade, Commerce Bancshares downgrade, and Carvana reinstatement 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: 

• Barrington upgraded Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) to Outperform from Market Perform and set an $18 price target on the shares. The firm argues that management is "making impressive progress in moving the company to a sounder financial footing," while being diligent with content investments.
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• Gordon Haskett upgraded Expedia (EXPE) to Buy from Hold with a $30 price target. The firm believes investors are failing to appreciate Expedia’s "solid fundamentals and tailwinds that should come with the completion of the tech stack migration and loyalty program launch." [Read More]
• Argus upgraded Royal Caribbean (RCL) to Buy from Hold with an $88 price target. The company’s high cruise occupancy in Q1 suggests demand recovery and should result in stronger than anticipated revenue and earnings, the firm says. [Read more]
• Wells Fargo upgraded Novocure (NVCR) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $104, up from $70, ahead of the LUNAR data at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting on June 6. The firm believes LUNAR will show relatively balanced PDL-1 status and says missing data will not significantly affect data interpretation, paving the way for a bigger opportunity for Novocure in first-line non-small cell lung cancer. [Read more]
• BMO Capital upgraded Gilead Sciences (GILD) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $100, up from $90. The firm believes Gilead has a "best-in-class" cell therapy franchise, supported by strong manufacturing capabilities, as well as an improving solid tumor oncology business, anchored by Trodelvy.
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Top 5 Downgrades:

• Morgan Stanley downgraded Commerce Bancshares (CBSH) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $48, down from $50. The downgrade is a "relative valuation" call, given how much the rest of the midcap bank group has de-rated, the firm says. [Read more]
• Morgan Stanley downgraded Prosperity Bancshares (PB) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $60, up from $58.  While a valuation premium is justified for the stock, the current valuation gap is too wide, given the decline seen at peers, Morgan Stanley contends. [Read more]
• Raymond James downgraded NeoGenomics (NEO) to Market Perform from Outperform without a price target. The stock has moved through the firm’s prior $19 price target and Raymond James does not see major upside catalysts in the near-term to justify a step function higher. [Read more]
• Morgan Stanley downgraded Cullen/Frost (CFR) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $121, down from $127, citing valuation. [Read more]
• H.C. Wainwright downgraded Xenetic Biosciences (XBIO) to Neutral from Buy without a price target post the Q1 results. The company’s second reverse-split in four years, combined with a lack of catalysts "to shore up the shares," could continue to erode the stock following the reverse, the firm says. [Read more]

Top 5 Initiations:

• Morgan Stanley reinstated coverage of Carvana (CVNA) with an Equal Weight rating and $12 price target. The stock "still offers a wide range of potential outcomes," but the firm now has more confidence in a faster path to break-even EBITDA and management’s ability to mitigate operational cash burn while navigating "the worst of used car market dislocation." [Read more]
• BofA resumed coverage of Western Alliance (WAL) with a Buy rating and price target of $42, down from $48. A recent conversation with management and updates from the bank suggest the impact from the stock volatility has been manageable, the firm says. [Read more]
• JonesResearch initiated coverage of Vor Bio (VOR) with a Buy rating and $18 price target. The company’s lead clinical asset is trem-cel, a CD33-deletion eHSCT product being tested in acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, and its approach has the potential to substantially improve outcomes for AML patients seeking the only potentially curative therapy available, the firm says. [Read more]
• BofA resumed coverage of First Horizon (FHN) with a Buy rating and $14 price target following the termination of the bank’s merger with TD Bank (TD). [Read more]
• Truist initiated coverage of Rayonier (RYN) with a Hold rating and $33 price target to reflect weaker wood and timber demand, higher rates, Pacific northwest profitability concerns and worries about excess U.S. South sawtimber. [Read more]