Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.
BEYOND MEAT CUT TO NEUTRAL AT JPMORGAN: JPMorgan analyst Ken Goldman downgraded Beyond Meat (BYND) to Neutral from Overweight while raising his price target for the shares to $121 from $120. The stock at around $168 "requires assumptions we are not yet comfortable with," Goldman told investors in a research note titled "Beyond Our Price Target." The analyst believes Beyond Meat's risk/reward is now balanced following the recent share rally. Goldman, however, remains "highly favorable" to the total addressable market for alternative meat and Beyond Meat's role within it. Further, he still thinks consensus estimates for both sales and EBITDA are too conservative.
FACEBOOK BOOSTED TO BUY AT MOFFETTNATHANSON: MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson upgraded Facebook (FB) to Buy from Neutral with a $210 price target.
SYMANTEC CUT TO UNDERWEIGHT AT MORGAN STANLEY: Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss downgraded Symantec (SYMC) to Underweight from Equal Weight and lowered his price target for the shares to $14 from $23. His recent survey of Chief Security Officers points to Symantec losing share in endpoint security and web security, which poses risk to its revenue growth guidance, Weiss told investors. Additionally, the stock's valuation is still above its trough level and he sees room for the multiple to compress given that increased competition and management turnover give Symantec a longer road to recovery, contended Weiss, who keeps his FY20 forecasts below consensus.
CBOE GLOBAL MARKETS CUT TO MARKET PERFORM AT RAYMOND JAMES: Raymond James analyst Patrick O'Shaughnessy downgraded Cboe Global Markets (CBOE) to Market Perform from Outperform citing valuation and a lack of share catalysts. In a research note to investors, the analyst said Cboe's share price currently exceeds his former $107 price target and said its forward P/E has rebounded "nicely" in recent months, and that he "struggles" to identify long-term growth catalysts, either from its core proprietary product set or from newer products. Cboe shares are now appropriately valued, the analyst contended.
LUCKIN COFFEE INITIATED AT NEEDHAM, MORGAN STANLEY: Needham analyst Vincent Yu initiated Luckin Coffee (LK) with a Buy rating and a price target of $27, saying he is positive on this "disruptive" coffee brand with "strong national exposure" targeting an "underserved mass market" in China. The analyst further cited Luckin Coffee's "technology-driven" model and "high-quality" coffee products, along with the affordability and consumer convenience amid the rapid growth of China's coffee market and transition in consumption from instant coffee to freshly brewed.
Additionally, Morgan Stanley analyst Lillian Lou initiated Luckin Coffee with an Equal Weight rating and $21 price target. While she thinks Luckin's disruptive business model and competitive prices should allow it to grow sales by 30x in 2018-21, Lou thinks the stock's valuation looks fair at current levels. She also sees "a relatively high level of execution risk" and limited earnings visibility in the near-term.
