Trade Desk initiated, Best Buy 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:
UBS upgraded Best Buy (BBY) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $106, up from $85. The firm believes the shares offer a compelling risk-reward to invest behind as it sees several drivers of potential upside over the next 18 months, including an improvement in housing trends, a pending electronics replacement cycle, higher levels of product innovation including AI and growing sales of new categories like e-bikes, furniture, and others.
Citi upgraded Capri Holdings (CPRI) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $41, down from $56. Though results have been weak at Capri, there is still a signed deal in place for Tapestry (TPR) to acquire the company at $57 and the firm believes the risk/reward skews positive as Tapestry management is committed to the acquisition and the firm does not see the merits of the lawsuit.
Truist upgraded Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) to Hold from Sell with a price target of $34, up from $27. The firm believes its previously expressed concerns, including "overoptimistic expectations" for a rebound in the coffee segment, have played out and are reflected in the current valuation with the stock having underperformed the S&P 500 and XLP since Truist's downgrade in November of 2022.
JPMorgan upgraded Ollie's Bargain Outlet (OLLI) to Overweight from Neutral with a $105 price target. The firm sees a lateral competitive disruption opportunity as a potential catalyst for Ollie's to opportunistically accelerate the pace of both same-store sales growth and unit growth.
Goldman Sachs upgraded Toll Brothers (TOL) to Neutral from Sell with a price target of $124, up from $112. The firm is increasingly confident Toll's revenues, profitability, and returns will hold ahead of historical norms given its view that new home sales will continue to outperform.
Top 5 Downgrades:
Loop Capital downgraded Union Pacific (UNP) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $238, down from $276, citing current and expected near-term weakness in both operating efficiency and volumes that the firm does not see as "appropriately discounted" in the current valuation.
KeyBanc downgraded MSC Industrial (MSM) to Sector Weight from Overweight and removed the company's previous $102 target following the company's fiscal Q3 pre-announcement and guidance cut. Loop Capital also downgraded MSC Industrial to Hold from Buy with an unchanged $80 price target.
Goldman Sachs downgraded Louisiana-Pacific (LPX) to Sell from Neutral with a price target of $81, down from $89. Though the firm recognizes the superior characteristics of Louisiana-Pacific's offerings, along with recent distribution wins, its more cautious view reflects expectations R&R spend is likely to stay lower for longer along with industry-specific dynamics.
BTIG downgraded Shattuck Labs (STTK) to Neutral from Buy. The firm believes the ambiguity around the benefit from CD47-CD40 will remain until the second half of next year.
Zelman downgraded Builders FirstSource (BLDR) to Neutral from Outperform with a $166 price target, and Installed Building Products (IBP) to Underperform from Neutral with a $219 price target.
Top 5 Initiations:
Wedbush initiated coverage of Trade Desk (TTD) with an Outperform rating and $110 price target. The firm sees multiple drivers to support sustainable, 20%-plus topline growth, including the ongoing shift to programmatic CTV advertising from linear TV, offsite retail media growth, and international expansion supported by recent investments to increase share outside the U.S.
Argus initiated coverage of Palantir (PLTR) with a Buy rating and $29 price target. Argus is positive on Palantir dramatically improving its profitability and cash flow over the past year, setting its FY24 EPS target at 33c per share and its FY25 target at 40c per share.
Goldman Sachs reinstated coverage of Owens Corning (OC) with a Neutral rating and $187 price target following the company's $3.9B acquisition of Masonite.
JMP Securities initiated coverage of Bowhead Specialty (BOW) with an Outperform rating and $31 price target. Bowhead is well-positioned to take full advantage of prevailing hard market conditions across most specialty insurance lines of business, with recently renewed momentum in the casualty areas of the market on which it focuses, the firm tells investors in a research note. RBC Capital also initiated the stock with an Outperform rating. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Keefe Bruyette started coverage of the name with Neutral-equivalent ratings on the shares.
Evercore ISI initiated coverage of Life360 (LIF) with an Outperform rating and $37 price target. Life360 has established itself as a leader in the family- and location-tracking space through its subscription model and proprietary hardware devices, with a very solid value proposition for key use cases such as location alerts and driver monitoring for teen drivers, the firm tells investors in a research note. Canaccord and Loop Capital also started coverage of the name with Buy-equivalent ratings.