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

Meta Platforms upgrade, GoDaddy downgrade, and BioMarin initiation among today’s top calls on Wall Street

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Check out today’s top analyst calls from around Wall Street:

Top 5 Upgrades: 

• Morgan Stanley upgraded Meta Platforms (META) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $250, up from $190, citing Meta‘s "structural pivot" to focusing on efficiency and return on invested capital, improving revenue and engagements trends, "surging" Reels monetization and "further revenue call options" in artificial intelligence, subscriptions, and click-to-message. [Read more]
• Evercore ISI upgraded Foot Locker (FL) to Outperform from In Line with a price target of $60, up from $32, following the company’s Investor Day. [Read more] Citi also upgraded Foot Locker to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $50, up from $47. [Read more]
• Piper Sandler upgraded Wix.com (WIX) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $120, up from $99. The firm now favors growth software names over value stocks. [Read more]
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Harley-Davidson (HOG) to Overweight from Equal Weight with an unchanged price target of $50, citing confidence in the Hardwire strategy, "containment" of electrification risks and a pullback in the shares that has made the valuation "attractive" under $40 per share. [Read more]
• Raymond James upgraded FleetCor (FLT) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $254 price target. D.E. Shaw’s involvement and corresponding strategic review skews the risk/reward favorably, and the firm’s math suggests that separating the Corporate Payments business through a sale or spin off would create significant shareholder value. [Read more]

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Piper Sandler downgraded GoDaddy (GDDY) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $88, down from $100. The firm believes GoDaddy’s compression to mid-single-digit growth has put the company’s ability to produce $8 of free cash flow per share by 2024 in jeopardy, which limits the stock’s upside. [Read more]
• Redburn downgraded InterContinental (IHG) to Sell from Neutral. The firm is more cautious on hotels, saying travel demand stayed "belligerently strong" yet the sector’s 2022 results highlighted disappointing net unit growth guidance. [Read more]
• Deutsche Bank downgraded Armstrong World Industries (AWI) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $77, down from $91, citing its non-residential exposure as the firm believes tightening financial conditions will impact each of its verticals. [Read more]
• Maxim downgraded Cyclo Therapeutics (CYTH) to Hold from Buy with no price target. Given the operating expense of about $4M-$5M per quarter and rising as its trials move forward, Cyclo will likely need to raise capital again, the firm states, adding that while the stock’s valuation is near 52-week low, there aren’t "significant" near-term catalysts ahead. [Read more]
• Jefferies downgraded Profound Medical (PROF) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $10, up from $5.50. The firm cites the stock’s "full valuation," a lack of a category 1 code to drive adoption, and competition for the downgrade. [Read more]

Top 5 Initiations:

• Bernstein initiated coverage of BioMarin (BMRN) with an Underperform rating and $81 price target. The firm believes Roctavian will be approved and drive some short-term performance of the stock, but says it will significantly underperform commercial expectations. [Read more]
• Bernstein initiated coverage of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) with an Outperform rating and $344 price target. The firm believes the Exa-cel launch will outperform based on a survey of 30 hematologists specializing in sickle cell, and models $2.7B in peak sales. [Read more]
• Bernstein initiated coverage of Alnylam (ALNY) with an Outperform rating and $243 price target. The firm is a "big believer" in the ATTR Amyloidosis growth story. [Read more]
• Goldman Sachs resumed coverage of Simon Property (SPG) with a Buy rating and $150 price target. The firm expects Simon’s occupancy and rental rates to increase as a result of continued store openings, especially in high quality properties. [Read more]
• Bernstein initiated coverage of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) with an Underperform rating and $31 price target. The company’s ASO technology appears to underperform RNAi on knockdown depth and/or dosing frequency, the firm says. [Read more]

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