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:
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Truist upgraded Walmart (WMT) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $89, up from $76. Walmart continues to gain share across income levels, due to its focus on price, convenience and assortment, the firm tells investors in a research note.
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Oppenheimer upgraded Lowe’s (LOW) to Outperform from Perform with a price target of $400, up from $345, suggesting upside potential of more than 15% from current levels. The firm is assuming a “somewhat more constructive stance” on the shares of the leading home improvement retail chains.
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Piper Sandler upgraded Salesforce (CRM) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $325, up from $268. The firm sees a favorable risk/reward profile for the shares given the potential for Salesforce’s free cash flow per share to double to $20 by 2028 from $9.65 in 2023, even if its sales growth “remains at subdued levels” of 8%-9%.
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Morgan Stanley upgraded BioNTech (BNTX) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $145, up from $93. The firm added sales of BNT327 for cancer into the model, saying building data “suggests this could be the next important category for immuno-oncology.”
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Maxim upgraded Mesoblast (MESO) to Buy from Hold with a $12 price target. The firm is positive on the company’s opportunity for Ryoncil, or remestemcel-L, in acute pediatric graft vs. host disease, GvHD, as the PDUFA approaches on January 7, 2025.
Top 5 Downgrades:
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Truist downgraded Costco (COST) to Hold from Buy with an unchanged price target of $873. Costco’s “key catalysts are in the rearview mirror and the stock’s valuation leaves little room for error,” contends the firm.
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Jefferies downgraded Starbucks (SBUX) to Underperform from Hold with a price target of $76, down from $80. While the new CEO “suggests necessary strategic change is now on the table,” the company’s execution will be challenged as issues like operations, culture, value perception and technology take time to fix, the firm tells investors.
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Leerink downgraded Regeneron (REGN) to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $1,077, down from $1,175. The trigger for the downgrade, the firm says, was a negative Eylea 2 mg biosimilar preliminary injunction ruling, which creates uncertainty about prospects for the U.S. Eylea franchise.
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Wells Fargo downgraded Nutrien (NTR) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $50, down from $62. The downgrade of Nutrien reflects increased risks across its segments from lower crop prices, the firm tells investors in a research note.
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Baird downgraded McKesson (MCK) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $531, down from $603. The firm says a “wall of worry may mount” into the company’s November reporting.
Top 5 Initiations:
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Oppenheimer initiated coverage of Pinterest (PINS) with an Outperform rating and $45 price target. The firm says the company is the fastest-growing digital advertising platform excluding Meta Platforms (META).
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Guggenheim initiated coverage of GE Vernova (GEV) with a Buy rating and $300 price target. The firm forecasts gas turbine growth as electricity demand rises in the U.S., both in the “near term as growing service revenues” and “over the longer term as additional equipment revenue as bookings translate to revenue several years out,” calling GE Verona “an attractive way for investors to participate in electricity load growth in the U.S.”
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Morgan Stanley resumed coverage of Sirius XM (SIRI) with an Underweight rating and $23 price target. The firm sees continued risk to subscriber growth expectations.
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KeyBanc initiated coverage of Dayforce (DAY) with an Overweight rating and $70 price target. The firm believes Dayforce is well positioned to continue driving share gains in human capital management against legacy and point-solution providers in its core mid-market segment, as well as in enterprise as it continues to strengthen its international capabilities.
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TD Cowen initiated coverage of Protagonist Therapeutics (PTGX) with a Buy rating and $65 price target. The firm says the company’s rusfertide has at least $3B of sales potential in polycythemia vera, with $1B going to Protagonist, and JNJ-2113 can address the 5M plaque psoriasis and ulcerative colitis patients seeking an oral option.
