Chipotle upgrade, Verizon downgrade and Lam Research coverage initiation among today's top calls on Wall Street Institutional investors and professional traders rely on The Fly to learn which companies the best analysts on Wall Street are saying to buy and sell.
Research analysts at Wall Street's largest banks issue recommendations on whether a stock should be bought, held, or sold. The Fly's team of financial market experts scours hundreds of research notes daily to uncover the best trading ideas. Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.
Top 5 Upgrades:
- Gordon Haskett analyst Jeff Farmer upgraded Chipotle (CMG) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $1,750, down from $1,800, with the shares down 15% since December 1, 2021 in what he calls out as the second largest selloff in the sector.
- Bank of America analyst Mihir Bhatia upgraded American Express (AXP) to Buy from Neutral with a $204 price target following "strong" fourth quarter results and as its long-term guidance now aims to deliver 10% or more revenue growth and mid-teens EPS growth in a steady state economy.
- Morgan Stanley analyst Thomas Allen upgraded DraftKings (DKNG) to Overweight from Equal Weight with an unchanged price target of $31. The stock's recent pullback presents an opportunity to invest for the long term, Allen argued.
- JPMorgan analyst Ryan Brinkman upgraded Avis Budget (CAR) to Neutral from Underweight with a price target of $205, down from $225, noting that the stock price has declined materially since his double downgrade on November 3.
- Macquarie analyst Chad Beynon upgraded Penn National (PENN) to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $71, down from $80. With Penn shares now trading in the low $40s after having underperformed the gaming group in 2021, Beynon believes the market is giving little to no value for the online business that he values at $23 per share, including the recently closed Score acquisition.
Top 5 Downgrades:
- JPMorgan analyst Philip Cusick downgraded Verizon Communications (VZ) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $56, down from $62. The wireless industry could see a slowdown in postpaid phone growth in 2022 and beyond with the potential for increased wireless competition from AT&T (T), T-Mobile (TMUS), Dish (DISH) and cable companies, Cusick contended.
- Credit Suisse analyst Kaumil Gajrawala downgraded Clorox (CLX) to Underperform from Neutral with a $160 price target. The analyst thinks a large portion of Clorox's growth during the first phase of the pandemic came from categories that are now declining, and if consumption continues to revert toward pre-pandemic levels, $500M in company sales may still be at risk.
- Credit Suisse analyst Kaumil Gajrawala downgraded Church & Dwight (CHD) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $105, citing valuation.
- Barclays analyst Brandon Oglenski downgraded C.H. Robinson (CHRW) to Equal Weight from Overweight with an unchanged price target of $108. The company's global forwarding profit benefited during the pandemic, but this should reverse in 2022, Oglenski argued.
- Goldman Sachs analyst George Tong downgraded Nielsen (NLSN) to Sell from Neutral with a price target of $17, down from $23, implying 12% downside. The company faces secular and competitive challenges associated with the fragmentation of media consumption, Tong said.
Top 5 Coverage Initiations:
- KeyBanc analyst Steve Barger initiated coverage of Lam Research (LRCX) with a Sector Weight rating. While the analyst expects solid revenue growth and free cash flow generation from Lam Research, he also sees this being "well reflected in valuation."
- KeyBanc analyst Steve Barger initiated coverage of Teradyne (TER) with an Overweight rating and $180 price target. The analyst believes Teradyne is well positioned to benefit from continuing trends toward higher semi content and increasing chip performance requirements across a wide array of end markets.
- Susquehanna analyst Biju Perincheril initiated coverage of Plug Power (PLUG) with a Positive rating and $26 price target. Plug is pursuing a vertically integrated strategy and the Positive rating largely reflects Plug's top-line growth potential as the green hydrogen ecosystem develops over the next several years, Perincheril told investors.
- Jefferies analyst Surinder Thind initiated coverage of Genpact (G) with a Hold rating and $54 price target. Given industry demand for business process outsourcing and transformation services are at record levels, the analyst argued that further improvement in the company's topline organic growth from current above pre-pandemic levels will "likely be modest at best" and that Genpact's 12-month forward P/E ratio is "near its peak sustainable level."
- Jefferies analyst Suneet Kamath initiated coverage of Voya Financial (VOYA) with a Hold rating and $75 price target as he started coverage on 16 U.S. life insurers.
Symbols:
CMG AXP DKNG CAR PENN VZ T TMUS DISH CLX CHD CHRW NLSN LRCX TER PLUG G VOYA Keywords: analyst, analyst calls, upgrades, downgrades, initiations, research, wall street