Tesla downgraded, eBay upgraded: Wall Street’s top analyst calls

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:

• Morgan Stanley double upgraded eBay (EBAY) to Overweight from Underweight with a price target of $62, up from $35. The firm expects eBay’s greater emphasis on site-wide innovation and generative artificial intelligence features to flip gross merchandise volume growth from negative to positive while maintaining or expanding adjusted EBIT margin.
• KeyBanc upgraded Zscaler (ZS) to Overweight from Sector Weight with a $220 price target. The firm cites a more constructive view on the company’s competitive landscape, positive channel and survey feedback, catalysts to secure access service edge adoption post-Ivanti, ongoing firewall weakness, and secure access service edge being an increasing priority for the upgrade.
• Rosenblatt upgraded Zoom Video (ZM) to Buy from Neutral with a $75 price target, citing a refocused channel strategy that has yielded partnerships like Avaya as well as “compelling” momentum in Zoom Phone.
• B. Riley upgraded Six Flags (SIX) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $31, up from $30. The firm has continued confidence in the Cedar Fair (FUN) merger approval and sees minimal disruption from any required divestitures of overlapping properties.
• JPMorgan upgraded JetBlue (JBLU) to Neutral from Underweight with a $7 price target. The company is increasingly well-positioned for a modest potential move to the upside based on improving market sentiment, and its upcoming Q2 guide coming next week may exceed consensus, the firm tells investors in a research note.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Deutsche Bank downgraded Tesla (TSLA) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $123, down from $189. The firm cites the “high likelihood” of Model 2 push-out and the company’s change of strategic priority to Robotaxi for the downgrade.
• Morgan Stanley downgraded Etsy (ETSY) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $55, down from $64. The firm says Etsy’s limited frequency growth makes it increasingly bearish on the company’s medium-term growth trajectory.
• Morgan Stanley downgraded Match Group (MTCH) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $37, down from $53. The company “increasingly appears to be a show-me story,” the firm tells investors in a research note.
• Keefe Bruyette downgraded U.S. Bancorp (USB) to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $45, down from $52, following the Q1 report. The firm now believes the stock will likely be challenged in the near term owing to increases in nonperforming assets, negative deposit migration and negative estimate revisions.
• Loop Capital downgraded BJ’s Wholesale (BJ) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $80, down from $85. The firm is concerned the stock “may hit a wall” as investors see evidence of still-high inflationary pressures on the company’s core consumer.

Top 5 Initiations:

• Oppenheimer initiated coverage of Oracle (ORCL) with a Perform rating and no price target. While the firm sees Oracle as a long-term beneficiary of software industry secular trends that include digital transformation and generative AI, it argues that the capex pace needed to “dislodge and surpass the larger hyperscalers may require a heightened level of spending,” resulting in a less cash-efficient model for Oracle.
• Evercore ISI initiated coverage of GE Vernova (GEV) with an Outperform rating and $174 price target. The firm, which continues to believe that the energy transition is a mega theme, sees GE Vernova as “a great way for investors to benefit from the accelerating capital spend on the electrification of everything.”
• Oppenheimer initiated coverage of Sprout Social (SPT) with an Outperform rating and $76 price target. Sprout is well positioned to benefit from a pickup in the second half of 2024 marketing software spending growth and move into customer care, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• Loop Capital initiated coverage of Samsara (IOT) with a Buy rating and $42 price target. The firm views Samsara as a way to play the artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, and internet of things technology themes with a focus on asset-intensive industries like trucks on the road, assets in the field, and production facilities.
• Morgan Stanley resumed coverage of Chart Industries (GTLS) with an Equal Weight rating and $200 price target. The firm says that on its relative ratings drivers, Chart screens inline versus peers.