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

Ford upgrade, Target downgrade, and NetEase 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: 

• Citi upgraded Ford (F) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $16, up from $12.80, following the firm’s 2023 U.S. Vehicle Density Survey. The proprietary tool pointed to a "surprisingly strong density outlook" that suggest recent auto demand resilience "reflects a genuine increase in wallet share," Citi says. [Read more]
• Seaport Research upgraded Dominion Energy (D) to Buy from Neutral with a $59 price target. The firm finds the risk/reward attractive at current share levels given Dominion’s earnings upside from asset sales and artificial intelligence-driven load growth. [Read more]
• JPMorgan upgraded Valley National Bancorp (VLY) to Overweight from Neutral with a $10 price target after conducting an analysis into the commercial real estate loan risks to regional banks. Following the analysis of loan portfolios at regional banks, the firm believes concerns over CRE are "overblown" for regional banks at this stage. [Read more]
• Odeon Capital upgraded Comerica (CMA) to Buy from Hold with a $47.24 price target. The company "basically ticks off every potential negative facing the banking industry," but the valuation has fallen to a level "which makes it attractive," the firm argues. [Read more]
• Raymond James upgraded Blackbaud (BLKB) to Outperform from Market Perform with an $88 price target. The stock’s risk/reward looks attractive at current levels as the company’s recent pricing initiatives should add a few hundred basis points to its sales growth in coming years, including an acceleration through 2023, the firm tells investors in a research note. [Read more]

Top 5 Downgrades:

• KeyBanc downgraded Target (TGT) to Sector Weight from Overweight without a price target. The firm still believes in the company’s margin recovery story, but is moving to the sidelines on increasing consumer headwinds over the next 12-18 months. [Read more]
• Oppenheimer downgraded Estee Lauder (EL) to Perform from Outperform without a price target. Following the company’s report in early May, recent developments on the consumer and beauty fronts, and another leg down in shares, the firm sees a less favorable risk/reward scenario. [Read more]
• Morgan Stanley downgraded Dollar General (DG) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $180, down from $235. The firm sees "too many uncertainties" on macro environment as well as Dollar General’s market share, investments, execution, capital allocation and near-term earnings power to recommend the stock. [Read more]
• BofA downgraded Royal Gold (RGLD) to Underperform from Neutral with a price target of $130, down from $149. The firm is now applying a lower net asset value multiple given what it sees as heightened operational and execution concerns around key assets in Royal Gold’s portfolio, notably the Mount Milligan project where 2023 gold production guidance was recently tempered. [Read more]
• SVB Securities downgraded Blueprint Medicines (BPMC) to Underperform from Market Perform with a price target of $43, down from $48. Based on data at ASCO, in the near-term BLU-945 appears too toxic both for the 1L and for use in combination with Tagrisso, calling into question the efficiency of the R&D engine and pressuring the shares, the analyst tells investors in a research note. [read more]

Top 5 Initiations:

• Bernstein initiated coverage of NetEase (NTES) with an Outperform rating and $120 price target. The firm expects generative artificial intelligence growth to represent a "massive productivity boost" for video game development, driving efficiency gains in game production and enabling richer gaming experiences. [Read more]
• UBS initiated coverage of Cloudflare (NET) with a Sell rating and $55 price target. In light of the stock’s 70% rally in May, the firm thinks too much near-term AI benefit is being priced in, and while Cloudflare’s distributed edge can play a role in the GenAI ecosystem longer-term, near-term expectations are being conflated with the opportunities of companies more directly tied to centralized compute. [Read more]
• BofA reinstated coverage of Aflac (AFL) with a Buy rating and $77 price target. The firm believes Aflac’s "superior and consistent" value creation, along with its capital return and longer term potential revenue growth, are being mispriced by the market. [Read more]
• RBC Capital initiated coverage of GoDaddy (GDDY) with a Sector Perform rating and $80 price target. RBC finds GoDaddy’s valuation attractive, but needs more evidence of its web building gaining traction before getting more constructive. [Read more]
• Deutsche Bank initiated coverage of RPM (RPM) with a Hold rating and $90 price target, which represents upside of 7%. The firm has "high confidence" in RPM‘s ability to ultimately deliver results, but is nonetheless cautious on the shares in the near-term. [Read more]