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

Chevron upgrade, Ambarella downgrade, and Six Flags 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: 

• JPMorgan upgraded Chevron (CVX) to Neutral from Underweight with a price target of $170, up from $161. The stock’s valuation has normalized and the company’s risks are fairly balanced at the current price, the firm tells investors in a research note. [Read more]
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Avis Budget Group (CAR) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $263, up from $239. The upgrade is "primarily valuation-centric," but the company also has a potential catalyst in the form of a likely return to share repurchases in the back half of the year, the firm tells investors in a research note.
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• Baird upgraded Xylem (XYL) to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $135, up from $122. The firm cites estimate upside potential, Evoqua merger cost and revenue synergies, attractive long-term earnings power, and the recent pullback in the shares for the upgrade. [Read more]
• BTIG upgraded Q2 Holdings (QTWO) to Buy from Neutral with a $36 price target. The firm’s recent discussions with the company management has boosted its confidence regarding its "healthy" end market demand and improving financial trends. [Read more]
• Piper Sandler upgraded Akebia (AKBA) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $4, up from $2, after the company received a response from the FDA on a path forward for vadadustat. [Read more]

Top 5 Downgrades:

• KeyBanc downgraded Ambarella (AMBA) to Sector Weight from Overweight without a price target. The firm notes that the company has seen limited design win traction in non-China auto, and while Rivian (RIVN) was a significant win, it was short-lived as Ambarella lost the design. [Read more]
• Seaport Research downgraded PDC Energy (PDCE) to Neutral from Buy following last week’s agreement with Chevron. [Read more]
• Canaccord downgraded GreenLight Bioscences (GRNA) to Hold from Buy with a price target of 30c, down from $4., after the company entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by a group of buyers led by Fall Line Capital in an all-cash transaction valuing GreenLight at $45.5M or 30c per share. [Read more]
• Goldman Sachs downgraded BRF S.A. (BRFS) to Sell from Neutral with a price target of R$6.20, down from R$10.70. The firm states that while lower grain prices are a positive, given the persistently high supply of chicken, increasing local competition and soft demand across core markets, the company’s profitability will remain under pressure. [Read more]
• Goldman Sachs downgraded TIS Inc. (TISNF) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of 4,100 yen, down from 4,300 yen. The firm believes the company’s earnings momentum will "slow rapidly." [Read more]

Top 5 Initiations:

• Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of Six Flags (SIX) with a Sell rating and $26 price target. The firm believes greater uncertainty and execution risk from the company’s turnaround strategy provides a "tough setup" for Six Flags shares. [Read more]
• Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of SeaWorld Entertainment (SEAS) with a Buy rating and $75 price target. Goldman says the company’s high exposure to the growing Orlando market offers admissions pricing power while increasing mobile app penetration and new park investments should support in-park spending per-cap growth going forward. [Read more]
• Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of Cedar Fair (FUN) with a Buy rating and $50 price target. Goldman says a well-invested park portfolio, stable management team and high-repeat customer base from season pass penetration each provides pricing power. [Read more]
• William Blair initiated coverage of Qualys (QLYS) with an Outperform rating and no price target. The firm believes Qualys has a large and growing market opportunity at $64B with attractive financial characteristics. [Read more]
• Mizuho initiated coverage of Five9 (FIVN) with a Buy rating and $100 price target. The pure-play Contact Center-as-a-Service, or CCaaS, vendor should benefit from the migration to the cloud in contact centers and the automation of customer interactions with Generative AI, which should enable Five9 to gain share and incremental revenue, the firm says. [Read more]