Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.
GORDON HASKETT SEES LOWER RISK AT GE, REMOVES SELL CALL: Gordon Haskett analyst John Inch upgraded General Electric (GE) to Hold from Reduce with a price target of $11, up from $7. GE's businesses, "while not particularly inspiring as a whole," appear to pose less of a risk today as the worst appears to be over for Power and Healthcare performance "could improve from current anemic levels," Inch tells investors. The financial targets that GE recently gave for 2020 "appear to be readily achievable," contends Inch, who thinks GE can continue to further "beat" its own expectations in the near-term. However, he sees GE's fundamentals still being "fraught with risks," including outsized debt, "aggressive accounting," weak earnings quality and "a significantly mediocre to moribund portfolio mix," Inch added in his upgrade note.
CREDIT SUISSE CUTS FORD TO NEUTRAL: Credit Suisse analyst Dan Levy downgraded Ford (F) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $9, down from $11. In a research note to investors, Levy says that with Ford posting a third straight quarter of weak guidance, and with EBIT now down by nearly 50% since 2016 despite strength in its core market and product, there are increasingly questions of execution risk clouding the path of recovery. If Ford can successfully execute on key launches, Levy says investors may be more excited on strength in 2021.
SUSQUEHANNA, GUGGENHEIM TAKE OPPOSITE SIDES ON TWITTER: Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris downgraded Twitter (TWTR) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $36, up from $34. The analyst says Twitter's advertising revenue and global monthly active users in Q4 beat his estimates with underlying strength driven by ad server refinements and user product enhancements. Morris expects Twitter will continue to expand its position as a top global network for news and conversation. However, he sees the company's long-term value creation potential as more fairly valued at current levels.
Meanwhile, Susquehanna analyst Shyam Patil upgraded Twitter to Positive from Neutral with a $47 price target. Also more bullish, BofA analyst Justin Post said he came out of Twitter's Q4 earnings call believing that the report and call helped address two major issues for long-term investors, namely user growth and tech under-investment. While Twitter guided to total expense growth of 20% that Post notes was above consensus estimates of 15%, he believes the expense growth is warranted given the opportunity. As he grows incrementally bullish on Twitter's growth opportunity, Post raised his price target on the stock to $43 from $39 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares.
INTELSAT CUT TO SELL AT JPMORGAN AFTER C-BAND PROPOSAL: JPMorgan analyst Philip Cusick downgraded Intelsat (I) shares to Underweight, a Sell-equivalent rating, from Neutral without a price target. The analyst sees little to no fundamental equity value in the shares given the details of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai's C-Band proposal. Pai unveiled his C-Band Order on Thursday, which recommends accelerated relocation payments of up to $9.7B total to be split among the satellite operators, as well as move cost reimbursement of up to $5B, Cusick tells investors. This is well below the analyst's prior estimate of ~$12B, net of move costs. Further, this comes over time rather than up front, rendering Intelsat's equity "worth little" given its $14B debt load and 9.6 times leverage, as well as its "very challenged" fundamental satellite business. Cusick, who sees no reason for a bankruptcy in the near-term, believes Intelsat shares will likely fall from here. The stock closed Thursday up 2c to $3.74.
GOLDMAN SEES OPPORTUNITY IN WORKDAY UNDERPERFORMANCE: Goldman Sachs analyst Heather Bellini added Workday (WDAY) to the firm's Conviction List and keeps a Buy rating on the shares with an unchanged price target of $211. The analyst notes that since her October 2019 upgrade, Workday shares have underperformed relative to the group, gaining 4% compared to an average 16%. While investor concerns surrounding the pace of deceleration in human capital management and a weaker than expected fiscal 2020 subscription revenue guide have weighed on the stock, the recent underperformance creates an even more attractive entry point, Bellini tells investors in a research note. She expects the company's subscription revenue growth to accelerate in the back half of 2020 as comps get easier.
DOMINO'S UPGRADED AT GOLDMAN: Goldman Sachs analyst Katherine Fogertey upgraded Domino's Pizza (DPZ) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $320, up from $290. The analyst's analysis of third party delivery headwinds and franchisee economics suggest a "much clearer" path for the company to return to a stronger same-store-sales comp trajectory and maintain its 6%-8% unit growth guidance in 2020. Domino's is poised to continue to capture market share through its "fortressing strategy," Fogertey tells investors in a research note. The analyst sees easing headwinds for the company in 2020.
GE Aerospace
+0.045 (+0.35%)
Ford
-0.14 (-1.70%)
Intelsat
-0.41 (-11.08%)
-1.345 (-3.50%)
Workday
+3.84 (+2.05%)
Domino's Pizza
+1.88 (+0.67%)