Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.
PIPER UPGRADES SPORTSMAN'S WAREHOUSE TO OVERWEIGHT: Piper Jaffray analyst Peter Keith upgraded Sportsman's Warehouse (SPWH) to Overweight from Neutral and raised his price target for the shares to $8 from $6. The company is "poised for substantially better fundamentals" while the shares trade at the "lowest valuation within our coverage universe," Keith said. He believes the new CEO is driving Sportsman's "rapid" omni-channel evolution, the changing political climate will potentially help stabilize firearm and ammo sales, Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) exiting firearms would be a "substantial" market share opportunity, and that favorable weather appears to be helping Q4.
RBC CUTS INTERPUBLIC GROUP TO SECTOR PERFORM: RBC Capital analyst Steven Cahall downgraded Interpublic Group (IPG) to Sector Perform from Outperform and lowered his price target to $24 from $28. The analyst said he expects the company's organic growth to decelerate in 2019 after "recent account losses", stating that after a "fantastic" organic growth rate of 4.6%, Interpublic Group is now facing tougher comps. In reducing his growth outlook to 2.3% from 3.0% -- below the consensus 2.5% -- Cahall added that he doesn't expect Acxiom to contribute until Q4 of this year.
JEFFERIES UPGRADES IQVIA TO BUY: Jefferies analyst David Windley upgraded Iqvia IQV) to Buy from Hold and raised his price target for the shares to $150 from $136. The analyst said the results from his firm's annual contract research organization survey show accelerating research and development spending, continued rise in outsourcing, and a "notable rise" in preference for global CROs over niche, private players. These results bode positively for growth in 2019 and beyond, Windley said. He cited improving positive CRO feedback both in the survey and channel checks for his upgrade of Iqvia. The company has done a commendable job of upping the sales and operational intensity of its business as well as developing and launching integrated application platforms, said Windley.
JPMORGAN UPGRADES KIMBERLY-CLARK TO OVERWEIGHT: JPMorgan analyst Andrea Teixeira upgraded Kimberly-Clark (KMB) to Overweight from Neutral and raised her price target for the shares to $129 from $108. While the company's sales growth is still facing secular challenges, it has an opportunity to drive "significant operating margin expansion ahead," Teixeira said. Following two consecutive years of operating margin challenges, the analyst believes Kimberly-Clark's margins can inflect positively in 2019 due to cost savings, price increases and waning input cost inflation. Teixeira's top pick in Household and Personal Care remained Procter & Gamble (PG).
WEDBUSH CUTS CARMAX TO NEUTRAL: Wedbush analyst Seth Basham downgraded CarMax (KMX) to Neutral from Outperform and lowered his price target to $60 from $70. Basham said he came away from the company's analyst meeting convinced that the company is committed to its omnichannel strategy, but believes the transition "will not be easy" due to deeply-rooted processes and behaviors that could be "disruptive" and "expensive" to change. Basham said it likely will neither be quick nor inexpensive for CarMax to change its weakened customer value perception in this highly competitive environment and also notes comps that continue to track well below consensus and weakening CAF performance trends.
CIBC INITIATES CANNABIS STOCKS: CIBC analyst John Zamparo expects cannabis to follow the course of other newborn industries, where investors rush to pour capital into the sector and then very few companies live up to their lofty expectations while the industries develop. However, he believes Cronos (CRON) and Canopy Growth (CGC), are likely to be two of the winners that come to dominate the global market. He believes the actions and visions of Cronos' management team stands above the rest of the field, Zamparo added. He initiated Cronos Group with an Outperformer rating and C$22 price target, and initiated Canopy Growth with an Outperformer rating and C$65 price target. Zamparo also initiated Aphria (APHA) with a Neutral rating and C$10 price target, saying the debate over the value of Aphria's international assets and corporate governance concerns have obscured the value of the company's quality domestic assets, but concerns about corporate governance and capital allocation are not without some validity.
