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WFC, CHTR, CMCSA...
3/29/2019 11:03am
Comcast, Charter downgrades among today's notable analyst calls

Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.

ANALYSTS CONVERGE ON 'NEUTRAL' EQUIVALENT RATINGS FOR WELLS FARGO: Deutsche Bank analyst Matt O'Connor downgraded Wells Fargo (WFC) to Hold from Buy and lowered his price target for the shares to $54 from $56. The analyst sees management and earnings uncertainty after the company announced that CEO and President Tim Sloan will step down effective immediately.

Meanwhile, Raymond James analyst David Long upgraded Wells Fargo to Market Perform from Underperform without a price target. The retirement of CEO Tim Sloan removes a "headwind," Long told investors in a research note.

COMCAST, CHARTER CUT TO SECTOR PERFORM AT RBC CAPITAL: RBC Capital analyst Kutgun Maral downgraded Charter (CHTR) and Comcast (CMCSA, CMCSK) to Sector Perform as part of his broader research note anticipating downside risk to broadband and video subscriber estimates through 2019. The analyst believes that these cable operators should see limited further stock outperformance after 25% and 16% respective run-up year-to-date that was driven by the "pickup in broadband sub growth, stable Pay TV sub losses, declining core capital intensity, and ramping free cash flow growth." Going forward, Maral contended that while consensus anticipates these "strong operating and financial trends" to continue, the sector will be pressured by cyclical and secular headwinds, accelerating video sub losses in a pivot from video towards connectivity, and buybacks being hindered by cable operators' "mobile ambitions."

RH CUT TO HOLD AT DEUTSCHE BANK: Deutsche Bank analyst Mike Baker downgraded RH (RH) to Hold from Buy and cut his price target for the shares to $124 from $185. The analyst continues to believe in the long-term prospects for RH and acknowledges "that it is one of the few retailers growing sales, margins, profit dollars and earnings." However, following Thursday night's guidance cut, he thinks "now is not the time to continue to own the stock." Estimates are coming down as RH's "high-end, highly discretionary" product falls victim to signs of a slowing economy and stock market gyrations and weakness in high-end housing trends, Baker told investors in a research note.

SPOTIFY STARTED WITH AN UNDERPERFORM AT CREDIT SUISSE: Credit Suisse analyst Brian Russo initiated Spotify (SPOT) with an Underperform rating and $120 price target. In a research note to investors, Russo said that while he expects significant subscriber and revenue growth, he believes consensus multiyear expectations for its subscribers and margins are too high and sees risk as ongoing battles over content costs support concerns around Spotify's profit potential.

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