Wall Street’s top analyst calls


Apple downgraded, Kroger 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:

  • BMO Capital upgraded Kroger (KR) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $60, up from $58. The stock has pulled back on fear over increasing price investments across the space, but the firm believes these are largely vendor-funded with a smaller component of retailer-funded promotions and believes Kroger’s positioning allows it to continue managing the competitive environment with stable gross margins

  • Goldman Sachs upgraded STMicroelectronics (STM) to Neutral from Sell with a price target of $45.80, up from $35.50. The firm is citing the company’s improving demand conditions in various end markets and year-to-date underperformance relative to its benchmark index and analog semis peers.

  • Citi upgraded Sunoco LP (SUN) to Buy from Neutral with a $65 price target. Following recent underperformance that the firm believes was driven mainly by technical factors, Citi sees over 30% total return upside.

  • Argus upgraded Juniper (JNPR) to Buy from Hold with a $40 price target. The firm cites the pending takeover by HP Enterprise (HPE), while noting that its stance on the deal is “more constructive.”

  • Craig-Hallum upgraded QuinStreet (QNST) to Buy from Hold with a $22 price target. The firm notes that it has spent the last year on the sidelines, waiting for evidence of an auto insurance recovery, as well as a level-setting of estimates., but believes both of these are now in place, which combined with a recent pullback in shares, have created the right entry point.

Top 5 Downgrades:

  • Phillip Securities downgraded Apple (AAPL) to Neutral from Accumulate after considering recent share price movements, while increasing the firm’s price target to $220 from $194.

  • Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded First Solar (FSLR) to Neutral from Buy with a fair value estimate of $260, up from $236. After having recently had the chance to catch up with First Solar management heading into the end of the quarter, the firm thinks its updated valuation construct is “more in line with how the buyside is currently thinking,” adding that it thinks core EPS margin expansion “could be tougher from current levels.”

  • JPMorgan downgraded Sportradar (SRAD) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $12, down from $13, as a different analyst at the firm assumed coverage of the stock. The firm believes the current valuation is “properly incorporating a degree of execution risk” given concerns of data rights cost inflation, a CFO transition, and the effectiveness of the recent strategic realignment.

  • Wells Fargo downgraded Aerovate Therapeutics (AVTE) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $2, down from $35, following the company’s announcement that AV-101 did not meet its primary endpoint for any of the studied doses or show meaningful improvements in the secondary endpoint of change in six-minute walk distance.

  • Oppenheimer downgraded Ovid Therapeutics (OVID) to Perform from Outperform. The firm notes Ovid recently reported that partner Takeda (TAK) failed to hit statistical significance on the primary endpoint in both its pivotal Phase 3 studies of Soticlestat in Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.

Top 5 Initiations:

  • Argus initiated coverage of Pilgrim’s Pride (PPC) with a Buy rating and $41 price target. The firm sees high demand for chicken at both full-service restaurants and fast-food chains due to beef shortages and expectation for low-single-digit supply increases over the next five years.

  • Deutsche Bank resumed coverage of DigitalBridge (DBRG) with a Buy rating with a price target of $17, down from $21. The firm calls DigitalBridge “a thematically unique, underappreciated ‘AI’ story” whose fundamentals reflect an “impressive ramp” in fee earning equity under management, or FEEUM, and fee-related earnings, or FRE.

  • Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of Innoviva (INVA) with an Overweight rating. Innoviva has a unique business model, consisting of a portfolio of royalties and healthcare assets that includes royalties coming from GSK (GSK) respiratory products, a critical care and infectious disease platform known as Innoviva Specialty Therapeutics, and a portfolio of strategic investments in healthcare assets, the firm tells investors in a research note.

  • Northland initiated coverage of Cardlytics (CDLX) with an Outperform rating and $14 price target. Cardlytics has made significant improvements across the business and the firm believes the company is in a position to re-accelerate growth, which it does not think is reflected by the current stock price.

  • Alliance Global Partners initiated coverage of Chromocell Therapeutics (CHRO) with a Buy rating and $8.50 price target. Chromocell’s pipeline includes two lead non-opioid pain-alleviating candidates, CC8464 and CT2000, and the firm’s sum-of-the-parts analysis values CT2000 at $5 per share, CC8464 for idiopathic small fiber neuropathy, or ISFN, at $1.50 per share, and the company’s remaining compounds, underlying technology and cash at $2 per share.

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