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

International Paper upgrade, Boeing downgrade, and Herbalife Nutrition 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.

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Top 5 Upgrades:

• UBS upgraded International Paper (IP) to Neutral from Sell with a price target of $43, up from $31. The firm believes near-term downside risk is priced in and is increasingly confident on a  demand trough in Q1, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
• Gordon Haskett upgraded Nordstrom (JWN) to Hold from Reduce with a $22 price target after the Wall Street Journal reported activist investor Ryan Cohen is taking a sizeable stake in the retailer with the intention of refreshing the board and aligning costs with a lower sales trajectory. The analyst keeps a negative thesis on the fundamental side of Nordstrom’s business, but says a refresh at the board level "is arguably long overdue."
• Baird upgraded Cardinal Health (CAH) to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $94, up from $87. Cardinal has showed over the last couple quarters that it deserves to be part of a positive drug distributor sector call, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Neurocrine (NBIX) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $130, up from $120. The analyst believes Neurocrine is well positioned for share appreciation with multiple data readouts expected this year.
• Citi upgraded H.B. Fuller (FUL) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $85, up from $72. The analyst cites the stock’s valuation gap relative to peers and the company’s improving margins for the upgrade. H.B. Fuller’s valuation has come off and now trades at a discount to comparables, the analyst tells investors in a research note.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• RBC Capital downgraded Boeing (BA) to Sector Perform from Outperform with an unchanged price target of $225. The analyst says ongoing supply chain execution challenges will cap any upside to deliveries in the near term and will impact investor sentiment.
• HSBC downgraded Meta Platforms (META) to Reduce from Hold with an unchanged price target of $110. The company’s Q4 results showed higher engagement, but revenue was still down, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
• Deutsche Bank downgraded Ford (F) to Sell from Hold with a price target of $11, down from $13. The "large" miss and "new aggressive" 2023 guidance showcase Ford’s "considerable operational shortfalls and suggest meaningful downside risk to earnings trajectory," the analyst tells investors in a research note.
• Credit Suisse downgraded Lightspeed (LSPD) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $18, down from $21, after the company guided to FY23 gross revenue now being toward the lower end of the previous range on a degree of consumer spending pressure impacting payments revenues that make up more than half of total gross revenue.
• Oppenheimer downgraded Synaptics (SYNA) to Perform from Outperform without a price target. The company’s fiscal Q2 results significantly lagged Street estimates and management sees the inventory correction being sustained for two quarters for PC and Mobile, but lacks the visibility for timing the internet of things recovery, the analyst tells investors in a research note.

Top 5 Initiations:

• BofA initiated coverage of Herbalife Nutrition (HLF) with an Underperform rating and $14 price target. The "largest risk" to operations is the company’s multi-level marketer, or MLM, business model, BofA contends, arguing that visibility into the sales channel of direct sellers is more limited that for retail-based counterparts.
• Oppenheimer initiated coverage of Day One Biopharmaceuticals (DAWN) with a Perform rating and no price target. While stating "there’s a lot to like about this story," including management and data to date, but "lost in the hype, in our view, lie real risks," the analyst tells investors in a research note.
• Piper Sandler initiated coverage of Agios Pharmaceuticals (AGIO) with an Overweight rating and $41 price target. The analyst believes the company’s lead asset, Pyrukynd, has novel mechanism of action to address hemolytic anemia in several rare diseases.
• Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage of Enphase Energy (ENPH) with a Neutral rating and $238 fair value estimate.
• Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of Privia Health (PRVA) with a Buy rating and $32 price target. Privia is a value based care enablement company that has a "compelling" value proposition to physicians, the analyst tells investors in a research note.

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