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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

Domino’s Pizza upgrade, Microsoft downgrade, and Adobe 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:

  • Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Harbour upgraded Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $430, up from $370, after assuming coverage of the name. Domino’s Pizza is better positioned to handle a downturn than in the past and with an attractive multiyear opportunity to continue to consolidate the carryout market, Harbour tells investors in a research note. Gordon Haskett analyst Jeff Farmer also upgraded Domino’s Pizza to Buy from Hold with a $385 price target.
  • Morgan Stanley analyst Simeon Gutman upgraded Wayfair (W) to Equal Weight from Underweight with a price target of $35, up from $30, as he believes risk/reward is balanced at stock current price.
  • Morgan Stanley analyst James Faucette upgraded Global Payments (GPN) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $135, up from $124. The analyst cites a more favorable competitive backdrop, attractive valuation, the company’s "better recession resilience than feared" and its consistent execution on strategic acquisitions for the upgrade.
  • Morgan Stanley analyst Simeon Gutman upgraded Kroger (KR) to Equal Weight from Underweight with a price target of $46, up from $44. A "stable" backdrop for food at home in 2023, with moderating inflation and steady underlying demand, should be positive for Kroger, Gutman tells investors in a research note.
  • Wells Fargo analyst Andrew Nowinski upgraded Check Point Software Technologies (CHKP) to Equal Weight from Underweight with an unchanged price target of $130, citing a shift in investor sentiment toward profitability, coupled with improving demand trends in Q4.

Top 5 Downgrades:

  • Guggenheim analyst John DiFucci downgraded Microsoft (MSFT), Workday (WDAY), and Cloudflare (NET) to Sell from Neutral with price targets of $212, $142, and $36, respectively. While stating that his call on the software sector "hasn’t really changed" since he launched coverage in August, he believes "numbers still have to come down for many" in the group. The analyst also downgraded Zscaler (ZS), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), and Splunk (SPLK) to Neutral from Buy.
  • Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Harbour downgraded Chipotle (CMG) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $1,664, down from $1,847, after assuming coverage of the name. While Chipotle’s status as a marquee long term growth asset stands, in our minds, traffic headwinds and fewer sales catalysts may make outperformance harder this year, Harbour tells investors in a research note. The analyst also downgraded Shake Shack (SHAK) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $47, down from $50.
  • JMP Securities analyst Andrew Boone downgraded Snap (SNAP) to Market Perform from Outperform without a price target. The analyst reduced estimates again citing declining U.S. time spent on Snap, and says he now prefers shares of Meta (META) and Google (GOOG. GOOGL) over Snap as both have more mature short-form video products, which he expects to attract more user time over the next few years.
  • Wells Fargo analyst Mohit Bansal downgraded Pfizer (PFE) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $50, down from $54. Bansal thinks an earnings down-revision cycle is coming in the near-term and sees margin pressure on the core business due to increased investments in new launches.
  • Raymond James analyst Brian Vaccaro downgraded Texas Roadhouse (TXRH) to Outperform from Strong Buy with a price target of $110, down from $115. Intensifying beef inflation headwinds cloud the company’s 2023 margin outlook, partially offsetting the firm’s very positive view of the company’s impressive market share gains during the pandemic and long-term EPS potential, Vaccaro tells investors in a research note.

Top 5 Initiations:

  • William Blair analyst Jake Roberge initiated coverage of Adobe (ADBE) with an Outperform rating. While acknowledging Adobe is already at a large scale, he believes the company’s addressable market is significant and he sees numerous drivers of growth, Roberge added.
  • Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Olivia Brayer initiated coverage of Bristol-Myers (BMY) with an Overweight rating and $95 price target. The setup for this stock is the best seen since the 2019 Celgene deal, and Brayer believes that Bristol-Myers has one of the best 2023 growth profiles of the U.S. Pharma group.
  • Credit Suisse analyst Benjamin Chaikin initiated coverage of Boyd Gaming (BYD) with an Outperform rating and $82 price target. The owner/operator of land-based casino assets has a growing opportunity in iGaming, said Chaikin, who points to what he sees as Boyd’s unappreciated growth and "compelling" valuation as the "two main pillars" of his Outperform rating on the shares.
  • Atlantic Equities analyst Peter Sazel re-initiated coverage of Synopsys (SNPS) with an Overweight rating and $390 price target. Cadence Design (CDNS) and Synopsys command over 60% market share in the electronic design automation, or EDA, market, noted Sazel, who sees both EDA companies benefiting from a sustainable advantage in economies of scale and predictable, highly-recurring subscription revenues.
  • JMP Securities analyst Jordan Bender initiated coverage of Churchill Downs (CHDN) with an Outperform rating and $273 price target. The company continues to demonstrate its ability to grow the portfolio, generating substantial levels of free cash flow, Bender tells investors in a research note.
Keywords: analyst, analyst calls, upgrades, downgrades, initiations, research, wall street

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