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

Roku upgrade, Caterpillar downgrade, and UPS initiation among today’s top calls on Wall Street

Want to get stock-moving news before everyone else? Sign up today for The Fly.

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

Top 5 Upgrades: 

• Susquehanna upgraded Roku (ROKU) to Positive from Neutral with a $75 price target. Despite "near-term noise," the long-term connected TV opportunity remains intact and Roku will be a "prime beneficiary of the secular shift of linear budgets," the firm tells investors in a research note. [Read more]
• UBS upgraded Pinterest (PINS) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $35, up from $27, representing 27% upside. The firm views Pinterest as an "event-driven positive catalyst and an estimate revision opportunity." [Read more]
• SVB Securities upgraded Regeneron (REGN) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $976, up from $834. Although the stock has traded up 14% year-to-date versus the BTK index -3%, the firm believes shares can continue to outperform over the next year. [Read more]
• Argus upgraded J.M. Smucker (SJM) to Buy from Hold with a $170 price target. Smucker is gaining market share as at-home consumption of food and beverages continues to exceed pre-pandemic levels, the firm says. [Read more]
• BMO Capital upgraded Equinix (EQIX) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $785, up from $755. The firm views data centers as "generally well-positioned to weather a challenged" macro environment. [Read more]

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Baird downgraded Caterpillar (CAT) to Underperform from Neutral with a price target of $185, down from $230. A 2024 slowdown in U.S. nonresidential construction was already on the horizon but now is increasingly likely given ongoing regional bank "turmoil and their sizable participation in commercial construction lending," the firm notes. [Read more]
• UBS downgraded Dish (DISH) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $10, down from $27. The firm is more cautious on shares ahead of funding needs in 2024 with subscriber losses continuing, wireless dilution ramping, and wireless M&A less likely in the near-term. [Read more]
• Citi downgraded Ollie’s Bargain Outlet (OLLI) to Sell from Neutral with a price target of $49, down from $52. Even through the company’s comp sales beat in Q4, merchandise margin dollars came in weaker than expected and implied guidance, the firm notes. [Read more]
• BMO Capital downgraded Digital Realty (DLR) to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $100, down from $121. The firm believes the company’s leverage is "too high" at 7.1-times and its plans to lower leverage and fund a $3.9B development pipeline via $2B of dispositions and capital raises execution and pricing risk in a backdrop of tighter lending, high rates, and macro pressures. [Read more]
• Baird downgraded United Rentals (URI) to Underperform from Neutral with a price target of $300, down from $425.  The firm expects multiple compression for United Rentals "to the low end of the range." [Read more]

Top 5 Initiations:

• Melius Research initiated coverage of UPS (UPS) with a Buy rating and $225 two-year price target.  Changes at UPS allow for the network to flex up and down based on the environment, which "should allow for margins to hold up better during a downturn than in the past," the firm contends. [Read more]
• Melius Research initiated coverage of FedEx (FDX) with a Hold rating and $240 two-year price target. The firm believes there is "credibility to the FedEx cost story," but sees risk in timing to achieve the cost goals set for FY25. [Read more]
• R.F. Lafferty initiated coverage of Lion Electric (LEV) with a Buy rating and $7 price target. Lion is "a North American leader in zero-emission transportation" with over ten years of experience in electric vehicle research and development, said the firm. [Read more]
• Craig-Hallum initiated coverage of Backblaze (BLZE) with a Buy rating and $8 price target. The current valuation does not reflect the likelihood Backblaze can durably grow revenues and return to cash flow generation, the firm says. [Read more]
• Berenberg resumed coverage of Halozyme (HALO) with a Buy rating and $58 price target. Halozyme has licensed its ENHANZE drug delivery platform technology, which allows for the subcutaneous delivery of IV drugs, to large biopharma commercial partners and the firm calls out this platform as "the main high-growth revenue driver," with a potential conversion rate of greater than 80%.  [Read more]

For real-time alerts on the news moving stocks as it breaks, try The Fly at no charge for 14 days. Find all top-rated stocks by the best-rated analysts on TipRanks.