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

Meta Platforms upgrade, Equity Residential downgrade, and American Airlines resumption 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:

  • JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth upgraded Meta Platforms (META) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $150, up from $115. The shares are down 65% year-to-date as Meta has been impacted by Apple (AAPL) privacy changes, TikTok competition, Reels headwinds, heavy hiring and expense growth, an uncertain build-out of the metaverse, and macro pressures, but some of these pressures will ease heading into 2023, Anmuth tells investors in a research note.
  • BTIG analyst Matthew VanVliet upgraded Agilysys (AGYS) to Buy from Neutral with an $83 price target. The company announced a "game-changing contract win" with Marriott (MAR) to deploy its property management system across U.S. and Canada luxury, premium and select service hotels over the next several years, VanVliet tells investors in a research note.
  • BofA analyst Vivek Arya upgraded Cadence Design (CDNS) and Synopsys (SNPS) to Buy from Neutral. His prior concerns about the impact from China restrictions on electronic design automation, or EDA, demand "have proven to be overly conservative," said Arya, who notes that most U.S. restrictions were focused on the delivery of fab equipment and not EDA.
  • UBS analyst Wei Xiong upgraded Trip.com Group (TCOM) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $41, up from $28. The recent accelerated easing of COVID controls in China, a likely faster-than-expected outbound travel recovery, and continued momentum in overseas markets provides better visibility on improving fundamentals, said Xiong, who raised 2023 and 2024 revenue and earnings estimates for Trip.com.
  • UBS analyst Colin Bristow upgraded Sarepta (SRPT) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $158, up from $100, telling investors that he views it as "highly likely" that accelerated approval is granted for SRP-9001 in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, or DMD, by the PDUFA date of May 29.

Top 5 Downgrades:

  • BMO Capital analyst John Kim downgraded Equity Residential (EQR) to Underperform from Market Perform with a price target of $61, down from $70. The analyst cites the "looming" recession and rising unemployment for the downgrade. He says Equity Residential screens expensive and is cautious on the multifamily sector.
  • RBC Capital analyst Ken Herbert downgraded Mercury Systems (MRCY) to Sector Perform from Outperform with a price target of $54, down from $66. Heading into 2023, the defense supply chain remains a risk for Mercury, one of the most impacted by the supply chain disruptions in the group, Herbert tells investors in a research note.
  • JPMorgan analyst Anthony Paolone downgraded AvalonBay (AVB) to Underweight from Neutral with a price target of $197, down from $206. The analyst is "more constructive" on real estate investment trusts going into next year.
  • Wells Fargo analyst Elyse Greenspan downgraded Prudential Financial (PRU) to Underweight from Equal Weight with an unchanged price target of $101. The analyst cites relative value for the downgrade, saying Prudential’s valuation has expanded relative to MetLife (MET) versus historical levels.
  • Morgan Stanley analyst Thomas Yeh downgraded New York Times (NYT) to Equal Weight from Overweight with an unchanged price target of $37. Recent underperformance in net adds lowers his confidence in capturing the long-term opportunity while growing macro headwinds for advertising revenues "put 2023 expectations at risk," Yeh tells investors.

Top 5 Initiations:

  • Goldman Sachs analyst Catherine O’Brien resumed coverage of American Airlines (AAL) with a Neutral rating and $13 price target. While positive on the backdrop for airlines, the analyst says the economic outlook is uncertain. In this environment, she favors stocks with "idiosyncratic earnings drivers, relatively more recovery tailwinds remaining, or characteristics that reduce downside risk."
  • DA Davidson analyst Rudy Kessinger initiated coverage of CyberArk (CYBR) with a Buy rating and $175 price target. The company has a clear market leadership position in privileged access management, the most critical pillar of identity security, Kessinger tells investors in a research note.
  • JPMorgan analyst Brian Cheng initiated coverage of Senti Bio (SNTI) with a Neutral rating and no price target. Senti is a preclinical-stage biotech company leveraging modified natural killer immune cells to treat blood and solid tumors, Cheng tells investors in a research note.
  • UBS analyst Dennis Geiger initiated coverage of Cracker Barrel (CBRL) with a Neutral rating and $105 price target. Cracker Barrel’s differentiated brands and enhancements to menu, off-premise, and digital highlight improvements in recent years support same-store sales growth, free cash flow generation and capital returns to shareholders, Geiger says in a research note.
  • Barclays analyst Ryan MacWilliams initiated coverage of Atlassian (TEAM) with an Equal Weight rating and $155 price target. The analyst believes the consolidation of broader developer tools is an "attractive value creation opportunity for leading platform players."
Keywords: analyst, analyst calls, upgrades, downgrades, initiations, research, wall street

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