Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.
GE CUT TO NEUTRAL AT UBS: UBS analyst Damian Karas downgraded General Electric (GE) to Neutral from Buy and lowered his price target to $11.50 from $13, saying that a "notable" decline in interest rates and the continued weakness in the power market combine toward a "more balanced" upside with downside. The analyst stated, however, that after the 20% relative year-to-date outperformance in the stock price, General Electric will continue its multi-year turnaround and transformation, with the Power segment becoming increasingly more important to investor sentiment given the concerns around China demand and Siemens' (SIEGY) intended listing of their Gas & Power unit.
L BRANDS CUT TO NEUTRAL AT CITI: Citi analyst Paul Lejuez downgraded L Brands (LB) to Neutral from Buy and lowered his price target for the shares to $27 from $35. The analyst's former view on the stock was based on the belief that a Victoria's Secret turnaround could be successful if the brand adopted a more inclusive approach. However, with management slow to implement meaningful change, and "cultural norms shifting away from them," it may be "too little too late" for a meaningful turnaround at Victoria's Secret, Lejuez noted. Further, the analyst said he can't ignore the risk that Bath and Body Works comparisons keep getting tougher and store traffic remains weak. He views L Brands' risk/reward as balanced at current share levels.
ENDO, TEVA CUT TO UNDERWEIGHT AT MORGAN STANLEY: Morgan Stanley analyst David Risinger downgraded Endo International (ENDP) and Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA), both to Underweight from Equal Weight, cut his price target on Endo shares to $3 from $8 and lowered his price target for Teva shares to $6 from $16. In the wake of Amneal's (AMRX) recent 28% EBITDA guidance cut, Risinger noted that Amneal faces company-specific challenges but also said he is concern about potentially worsening U.S. competitive pricing pressure. He is worried that Endo and Teva both face "underappreciated" risks from buying group pressure being worse than expected, increasing competition among generic manufacturers and the fact that opioid litigation is "just getting started" with thousands of lawsuits having been filed. Risinger also cut his earnings estimates for Mylan (MYL) lowered his price target on its shares to $22 from $32, though he maintained an Overweight rating on that generic drugmaker, citing low valuation and the potential for corporate action. Risinger additionally lowered his price target on Amneal shares to $4 from $12.
SLACK INITIATED POSITIVELY AROUND THE STREET: Slack Technologies (WORK) was initiated with an Outperform at William Blair, an Overweight at Barclays, and a Buy at Canaccord.
William Blair analyst Bhavan Suri, who initiated Slack with an Outperform, said that Slack is much more than a simple chat tool. The company serves as an operating system for modern enterprises by enabling users to bring other applications' functionalities and data into Slack without leaving their primary work space, added the analyst. He believes Slack will "replace or severely displace" email over the next several years.
Barclays analyst Raimo Lenschow started Slack Technologies with an Overweight rating and $45 price target. Slack is different from other high growth software businesses as it is creating its own market, Lenschow noted. The analyst sees an $18B-$29B total addressable market for Slack and believes the company will be "one of the very large, future software leaders."
BRINKER BOOSTED TO OVERWEIGHT AT JPMORGAN: JPMorgan analyst John Ivankoe upgraded Brinker International (EAT) to Overweight from Neutral while lowering his price target for the shares to $43 from $44. The stock has become more attractive after the 9.5% pullback following the company's fiscal Q3 results, Ivankoe told investors in a research note. He believes the current 10.0% 2020 free cash flow yield "will get bid down." A greater free cash flow focus is likely to emerge at the August 15 analyst day that would likely materialize in lower fiscal 2020 capex and beyond, added Ivankoe.
Brinker
+0.06 (+0.15%)
GE Aerospace
-0.11 (-1.06%)
L Brands
+0.09 (+0.34%)
Endo
-0.07 (-1.70%)
Teva
-0.8 (-8.65%)
Amneal Pharmaceuticals
-0.16 (-4.34%)
Bought by CRM
+1.26 (+3.73%)