Yahoo Finance Adobe and Apple 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:
JPMorgan upgraded Adobe (ADBE) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $580, up from $570, following last night's results. Over the last four years, Adobe shares have been fairly flattish, but there is now "smoother sailing ahead" on new product and pricing tailwinds as well as generative artificial intelligence monetization, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
Erste Group upgraded Apple (AAPL) to Buy from Hold, saying the company benefits from a very high level of customer loyalty.
Keefe Bruyette upgraded Bank of America (BAC) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $46, up from $37. Bank of America offers "strong: capital, deposits and credit, but the main driver of the upgrade is an expected inflection in the bank's Q4 net interest income 5% above Q2, driven by back book repricing and improved commercial and industrial yields, the analyst says.
Evercore ISI upgraded Shopify (SHOP) to Outperform from In Line with a $75 price target. The recent pullback in the stock has created an attractive entry point to own a "best-in-class" e-commerce platform business, Evercore says.
UBS upgraded Permian Resources (PR) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $21, up from $20. The analyst sees two positive catalysts in the second half of 2024 to drive shares higher: upside to fiscal UBS's 2024 oil production forecast, driven by improved operations, along with an increase to the $225M synergies from the Earthstone Energy acquisition.
Top 5 Downgrades:
Morgan Stanley downgraded Twilio (TWLO) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $60, down from $70. The analyst cites a lack of next 12 months sales catalysts and the majority of the company's of near-term operating leverage having been achieved for the downgrade.
Piper Sandler downgraded Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) to Underweight from Neutral with a price target of $11.50, down from $13.50. While Piper has no concerns on "major issues" such as risk or capital, it feels the stock is in for a period of underperformance following a stronger start to the year.
Erste Group downgraded Intuit (INTU) to Hold from Buy, saying the majority of the company's customers are smaller companies and self-employed persons, where competitive pressure represents a long-term risk.
Monness Crespi downgraded Datadog (DDOG) to Sell from Neutral with a $98 price target. Datadog's valuation "was already rich, and this month's rally further exacerbated the excess," argues the analyst, who believes the market "will not support software stocks with excessive valuations."
Evercore ISI downgraded APA Corp. (APA) to In Line from Outperform with a price target of $39, down from $52. Filling a near-term portfolio gap via an acquisition while Egypt has disappointed and the North Sea is likely more an ongoing question of liability management has created little incremental value, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
Top 5 Initiations:
Macquarie initiated coverage of Roblox (RBLX) with an Outperform rating and $46 price target. Roblox is a highly scaled gaming platform poised to deliver a double-digit revenue growth over the next three years, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
Bernstein last night initiated coverage last night of MicroStrategy (MSTR) with an Overweight rating and $2,890 price target, which represents 80% upside. The company has transformed from a small software company to the largest bitcoin holding company, owning 1.1% of world's bitcoin supply worth $14.5B, according to the analyst.
BofA reinstated coverage of ConocoPhillips (COP) with a Buy rating and $147 price target. The current M&A cycle has reshaped the competitive landscape in U.S. E&P to the benefit of names with size and growth, says BofA.
Erste Group reinstated coverage of Arista Networks (ANET) with a Buy rating following a period of under review. Erste says Arista is on its way to creating a cross-vendor ecosystem that enables control and coordination between artificial intelligence networks and AI computing infrastructure.
BofA reinstated coverage of Five Below (FIVE) with a Neutral rating and $125 price target. The firm models a low double-digit sales compound annual growth rate driven by store growth, but thinks the current comparable store sales weakness is "more than just a macro issue," the analyst tells investors.
