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

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

The most talked about and market moving research calls around Wall Street are now in one place. Here are today’s research calls that investors need to know, as compiled by The Fly.

Top 5 Upgrades: 

• Argus upgraded Meta Platforms (META) to Buy from Hold with a $270 price target. The company’s deep cost cuts should boost its profitability even in an uncertain macro uncertainty, the slowdown in digital advertising, and the impact of Apple‘s (AAPL) ad tracking policy, the firm says. [Read more]
• Raymond James upgraded UnitedHealth (UNH) to Strong Buy from Outperform with a price target of $630, up from $615. Following the stock’s underperformance year-to-date, the firm is more constructive on the shares. [Read more]
• Raymond James upgraded Cigna (CI) to Strong Buy from Outperform with an unchanged price target of $350. The setup going forward is more favorable as many of the policy overhangs are behind the company and Cigna is well positioned to have a strong 2023, the firm says. [Read more]
• UBS double upgraded First Citizens (FCNCA) to Buy from Sell with a price target of $1,206, up from $538. The tangible book value per share accretion from the SVB (SIVB) deal should be a positive catalyst for further re-rating, the firm says. [Read more]
• Edward Jones upgraded Accenture (ACN) to Buy from Hold and added the shares to the firm’s Stock Focus List and Equity Income Buy List. [Read more]

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Argus downgraded AbbVie (ABBV) to Hold from Buy. The company has worked hard to diversify its revenue in advance of the introduction of biosimilar competition in the U.S. for Humira, but the drug still represents over 40% of AbbVie’s sales, the firm notes. [Read more]
• Oppenheimer downgraded Ascendis Pharma (ASND) to Perform from Outperform. Following discussions held with consultants since Monday morning’s update on TransCon PTH’s NDA review, the firm believes the outcome will be a complete response letter, or CRL, on/around the April 30 PDUFA. [Read more]
• BofA downgraded Steel Dynamics (STLD) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $123, down from $140. The firm is shifting its preference in steel on the view that prices for HRC, Steel Dynamics’ primary product, are nearing a peak. [Read more]
• BofA downgraded Albemarle (ALB) to Underperform from Neutral with a price target of $195, down from $262. Lithium carbonate prices in China continue to contract, which creates earnings risk for Albemarle, the firm says. [Read more]
• Raymond James downgraded Bloom Energy (BE) to Outperform from Strong Buy with a price target of $25, down from $29. The Strong Buy rating had been predicated, in part, on 2023 being the first year with meaningful electrolyzer sales, and that expectation "has turned out to be quite a bit too optimistic," the firm says. [Read more]

Top 5 Initiations:

• Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage of SolarEdge (SEDG) with a Buy rating and $351 fair value estimate. The firm likes that SolarEdge has the most geo-market and end-market diversification among the U.S.-listed solar OEM providers and notes that its core European markets are seeing significant growth in 2023. [Read more]
• Deutsche Bank initiated coverage of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (WH) with a Buy rating and $79 price target. The recent underperformance in the shares is overdone and primarily related to regional banking concerns on funding availability for development growth, the firm says. [Read more]
• Mizuho initiated coverage of VICI Properties (VICI) with a Buy rating and $35 price target. The firm expects VICI to outperform in the current macro environment given its "high-quality portfolio as investors look for defensive names." [Read more]
• Craig-Hallum initiated coverage of Vita Coco (COCO) with a Buy rating and $25 price target as it sees room for shares to double in the coming years. [Read more]
• William Blair initiated coverage of CymaBay Therapeutics (CBAY) with an Outperform rating and no price target. The firm views the company’s seladelpar as one of the most de-risked late-stage assets in the biopharmaceutical space. [Read more]