Uber downgraded, Pinterest 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:

• Wells Fargo upgraded Pinterest (PINS) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $34, up from $23. The firm says the company’s Amazon (AMZN) partnership going live ahead of the 2023 holidays, improving engagement trends and higher advertising load will allow Pinterest to deliver “accelerating and above-consensus” revenue growth. (Read more)
• KeyBanc upgraded Lincoln Electric (LECO) to Overweight from Sector Weight with a $232 price target. The company’s move toward automation and electric vehicle charging stations has resulted in an increasing total addressable market, accelerating revenue growth and margin expansion, the firm says. (Read more)
• Wedbush upgraded Beazer Homes (BZH) to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $32, up from $20. The firm believes the stock’s book value discount is unwarranted. (Read more)
• Truist upgraded Boise Cascade (BCC) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $100, up from $66. The U.S. housing market – particularly single-family starts – is poised for a recovery, and investors will be best positioned in this stock given its high beta and greater exposure to single-family home construction, the firm says. (Read more) Truist also upgraded Louisiana-Pacific (LPX) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $82, up from $49, as part of a broader research note. (Read more)
• Wells Fargo upgraded California Water Service (CWT) to Equal Weight from Underweight with a price target of $56, down from $58. The stock’s current 13%-15% price-to-earnings discount to water peers on 2024 and 2025 estimates “is too steep,” the firm says. (Read more)

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Daiwa downgraded Uber Technologies (UBER) to Outperform from Buy with a price target of $51, up from $42. The firm cites valuation for the downgrade following the stock’s recent strength but remains “constructive” on the name. (Read more)
• Canaccord downgraded Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $720, down from $953, following the Complete Response Letter for high dose Eylea that could suggest non-trivial inspection issues, requiring a six-month review, longer than investor and company expectations. (Read more)
• Morgan Stanley downgraded Veeva Systems (VEEV) to Underweight from Equal Weight with an unchanged price target of $181. The firm expects Veeva’s “lock” on the life sciences customer relationship management market to be tested by Salesforce (CRM), representing its “most formidable threat yet.” (Read more)
• B. Riley downgraded Coherent (COHR) to Neutral from Buy with an unchanged price target of $47. Coherent and other optical stocks have moved up meaningfully post Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings report, but Riley’s initial study indicates that external optical vendors will most likely sit out as Nvidia will use their own Mellanox solutions. (Read more)
• Citi downgraded Delek Logistics Partners (DKL) to Sell from Neutral with an unchanged price target of $47 following the stock’s recent outperformance. (Read more)

Top 5 Initiations:

• RBC Capital initiated coverage of Workday (WDAY) with an Outperform rating and $275 price target. The firm believes there is a “long runway” of 20%-plus subscription growth for Workday, driven by the continued displacements of legacy solutions, a large expansion opportunity following a successful evolution into a multi-product platform, and an “underappreciated M&A engine,” coupled with a clear path to 30%-plus margins long term. (Read more)
• Canaccord initiated coverage of Deere (DE) with a Buy rating and $530 price target. Innovations across Ag inputs and equipment should provide key pillars for necessary change, and while Deere is a leading incumbent within the conventional farming system, it is also a Precision Agriculture leader, and its innovations are helping drive a transition to sustainable agricultural production, the firm says. (Read more)
• William Blair resumed coverage of Snowflake (SNOW) with an Outperform rating and no price target. Industry checks support the view that Snowflake is the easiest to use data warehousing platform, says the firm. (Read more)
• William Blair initiated coverage of Paycom Software (PAYC) with an Outperform rating and no price target. The firm says the company has expanded its addressable market and targets businesses with 50 to 10,000 employees, and believes Paycom is only 4% penetrated in its addressable market, leaving plenty of room for the company to increase revenue 20%-plus over the next five years. (Read more)
• Needham initiated coverage of ZoomInfo (ZI) with a Buy rating and $35 price target. The current valuation presents “an attractive entry point” for investors willing to wait for a recovery in broader demand trends for the company’s solutions, the firm said. (Read more)