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

Helen of Troy upgrade, Fate Therapeutics downgrade and Cooper Companies initiation among today’s top calls on Wall Street

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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:

• DA Davidson analyst Linda Bolton Weiser upgraded Helen of Troy (HELE) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $126, up from $115. The analyst believes that an "inflection point" for the stock has arrived as IRI data suggests a "possible beat" when the company reports earnings next month.
• DNB Markets analyst Joachim Gunell upgraded HMS Networks (HMNKF) to Buy from Hold with a price target of SEK 375, up from SEK 310. Order deceleration is priced in and the investment community will "increasingly look for signs of a recovery and the next growth phase," Gunell tells investors in a research note.
• Citi analyst Andrezj Powierza upgraded Kruk (KRKKF) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of PLN 319, up from PLN 244. The company’s "good earnings momentum" could continue in 2023, supported by cash collections repeatedly beating estimates, Powierza tells investors in a research note.
• DA Davidson analyst Christopher Brendler upgraded Sezzle (SEZNL) to Buy from Neutral with an unchanged price target of A$1 after what he calls "another encouraging monthly update," highlighted by "an impressive pivot to profitability" that leaves him "increasingly optimistic" on Sezzle.
• Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Tobias Lukesch upgraded Erste Group Bank (EBKDY) to Buy from Hold with a EUR 39 price target.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Oppenheimer analyst Matthew Biegler downgraded Fate Therapeutics (FATE) to Perform from Outperform as part of a broader downgrade on the NKcell therapy space. The analyst believes Fate is "in a tricky spot right now."
• Oppenheimer analyst Matthew Biegler downgraded Celularity (CELU) to Perform from Outperform as part of his broader downgrade of the NK-cell therapy space. The analyst had hoped that the company could use 2022 as an opportunity to further differentiate its CYNK-001 treatment for AML, using the early but encouraging data the company shared in December 2021, but that has yet to happen.
• Oppenheimer analyst Matthew Biegler downgraded Nkarta Therapeutics (NKTX) to Perform from Outperform without a price target. The analyst says updated data from Nkarta’s NKX019 program, presented earlier in December, "looked encouraging but not encouraging enough to reinvigorate investor interest in the field of NK-cell therapy."
• Keefe Bruyette analyst Michael Brown downgraded Jefferies Financial Group (JEF) to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $37, down from $38. The analyst reduced forward estimates to reflect a declining advisory pipeline and says that within the capital markets space, there are better ways to play the potential equity capital markets rebound than Jefferies.
• Danske Bank analyst Viktor Trollsten downgraded SSAB AB (SSAAY) to Sell from Hold, citing the deteriorating U.S. plate steel market.

Top 5 Initiations:

• Mizuho analyst Anthony Petrone initiated coverage of Cooper Companies (COO) with a Buy rating and $375 price target. The company’s lead positioning in the $9.8B contact lens market "should serve as a durable recession hedge," Petrone tells investors in a research note.
• Mizuho analyst Anthony Petrone initiated coverage of Alcon (ALC) with a Buy rating and $85 price target. The analyst cites Alcon’s lead positioning in global eye care segments, "which can act as a recession hedge," and its "long global runway" for AT-IOL product cycles for the Buy rating.
• Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Robert Farnam initiated coverage of Markel (MKL) with a Buy rating and $1,550 fair value estimate. Markel’s principal business is providing specialty insurance products to "a variety of niche markets that are largely ignored or overlooked by other insurers," said Farnam.
• Mizuho analyst Anthony Petrone initiated coverage of Glaukos (GKOS) with a Neutral rating and $48 price target. The analyst’s estimates through 2025 are 1% below consensus, reflecting Glaukos’s U.S. Glaucoma inflection toward the second half of next year coupled with continued elevated R&D spend. Petrone also started Boston Scientific (BSX) with a Neutral rating and $52 price target.
• BofA analyst Jason Kupferberg resumed coverage of DLocal (DLO) with a Buy rating and $18 price target after the company refuted key allegations that were made against it in a short report published on November 16 and also announced a $100M share buyback authorization and proposed share buy from "prominent shareholders," including General Atlantic.

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