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

Apple upgrade and downgrade, and Coinbase initiation among today’s top calls on Wall Street

Institutional investors and professional traders rely on The Fly to learn which companies the best analysts on Wall Street are saying to buy and sell.

Research analysts at Wall Street’s largest banks issue recommendations on whether a stock should be bought, held, or sold. The Fly’s team of financial market experts scours hundreds of research notes daily to uncover the best trading ideas. Check out today’s top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.

Top 5 Upgrades:

• Rosenblatt analyst Barton Crockett upgraded Apple (AAPL) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $189, up from $160. His survey of over 1,100 U.S. adults was constructive and shows "substantial interest" in the company’s new iPhone 14 Pro Max and Ultra watch.
• Wolfe Research analyst Peter Supino upgraded Charter (CHTR) to Peer Perform from Underperform despite lowering his fair value range estimate to $300-$400 from a prior price target of $434. With cable stocks trading at similar multiples to telcos, he thinks today’s cable multiples are "generous," but valuations "seem fair."
• UBS analyst Cody Ross upgraded Kraft Heinz (KHC) to Neutral from Sell with an unchanged price target of $34. The analyst believes pricing and inflationary concerns are priced in with the shares down 15% over the last four months.
• Oppenheimer analyst Ken Wong upgraded Wix.com (WIX) to Outperform from Perform with a $110 price target. The analyst believes Wix has the potential to operate more efficiently to drive meaningful shareholder value.
• Evercore ISI analyst Sean Morgan upgraded First Solar (FSLR) to Outperform from In Line with a price target of $150, up from $88, citing his view of the Inflation Reduction Act as a positive catalyst to increase domestic production and perhaps begin to shift the consumption patterns of utility solar module supply in the U.S.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• BofA analyst Wamsi Mohan downgraded Apple to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $160, down from $185, noting that shares have outperformed significantly year-to-date as the stock has been perceived as a "relative safe haven." The analyst sees risk to this type of outperformance continuing over the next year given he expects material negative estimate revisions to be driven by weaker consumer demand, first for services followed by products.
• Citi analyst Arren Cyganovich double downgraded Sunlight Financial (SUNL) to Sell from Buy with a price target of $2, down from $4. The analyst has concerns with potentially lower revenue coming from platform fee rate due to interest rate volatility and potential for lost production as Sunlight loses its largest installer. Roth Capital analyst Philip Shen also downgraded Sunlight Financial to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $2.50, down from $10.
• Piper Sandler analyst Korinne Wolfmeyer downgraded Olaplex Holdings (OLPX) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $12, down from $19. The analyst’s work revealed that "competition and misinformation pose growing risks to the company."
• Craig-Hallum analyst Alex Fuhrman downgraded MillerKnoll (MLKN) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $20, down from $50. Just as MillerKnoll’s post-COVID renaissance is finally hitting its stride, a recession could be poised to dent momentum, the analyst argued.
• Maxim analyst Jason McCarthy downgraded Kintara Therapeutics (KTRA) to Hold from Buy. The analyst cited capital concerns as Kintara ended fourth quarter with $11.8M in cash on its balance sheet.

Top 5 Initiations:

• Wells Fargo analyst Jeff Cantwell initiated coverage of Coinbase (COIN) with an Underweight rating and $57 price target. The analyst sees a "challenged environment" keeping the company’s operating results under pressure.
• Deutsche Bank analyst Gianmarco Conti initiated coverage of Synopsys (SNPS) and Cadence Design (CDNS) with Buy ratings and price targets of $420 and $200, respectively. Cadence and Synopsys are both leaders in the electronic design automation and intellectual property software market, Conti argued.
• Cowen analyst Shaul Eyal initiated coverage of CyberArk Software (CYBR) with an Outperform rating and $195 price target. The analyst views the company as well positioned to sustain over 20% revenue growth and double-digit profitability in the coming years.
• Wells Fargo analyst Jeff Cantwell initiated coverage of Riot Blockchain (RIOT) with an Equal Weight rating and $7 price target. The analyst believes lingering impacts from "crypto winter" and a weaker macro environment going forward will "weigh heavily" on the price of bitcoin and constrain more material revenue and earnings expansion by Riot Blockchain.
• HSBC analyst Daniel Yang initiated coverage of JinkoSolar (JKS) with a Buy rating and $76 price target. The analyst calls the company a leading solar producer in shipments, overseas networks, and vertical integration.

Keywords: analyst, analyst calls, upgrades, downgrades, initiations, research, wall street