Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.
GOLDMAN BOOSTS MICRON TO BUY: Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Delaney upgraded Micron Technology (MU) to Buy from Neutral and raised his price target for the shares to $56 from $40. The analyst is now more positive on global memory stocks as he believes that the excess inventory memory companies are carrying will be depleted faster than previous expectations, primarily in NAND flash. This is due to the Toshiba Memory Corporation fab outage that has disrupted a mid-single digit percent of annual industry production, Delaney tells investors in a research note. His most recent industry discussions suggest that NAND pricing could start to improve in Q3 of 2019. This should be better understood by the market post the Flash Memory Summit in early August, says Delaney.
ROTH CUTS TESLA TO NEUTRAL: Roth Capital analyst Craig Irwin downgraded Tesla (TSLA) to Neutral from Buy. He believes Tesla has a viable path to meet at least the low end of its 360,000-400,000 deliveries guidance for 2019, but this does not eliminate margin risks from rising 2019 battery costs or the impact of intensifying competition, Irwin told investors. The analyst, who expects the shares to remain range bound until the battery and competition issues are resolved, kept a $238 price target on the stock.
STITCH FIX BOOSTED TO BUY AT STIFEL: Stifel analyst Scott Devitt upgraded Stitch Fix (SFIX) to Buy from Hold with an unchanged price target of $35. The stock has declined 16% since the beginning of July and now trade at 1.3 times estimated 2020 sales, which offers an attractive entry point, Devitt tells investors in a research note. The analyst says that despite the slowdown in active client growth, he is confident in management's ability to drive "healthy" average revenue per user growth in the intermediate term by continuing to improve keep rates through stronger personalization, "high-quality" client adds, and "healthy" retention. Further, the scaling of Stitch Fix's U.K. business represents an additional opportunity for active client growth, contends Devitt.
NASDAQ, ICE BOTH DOWNGRADED AT CITI: Citi analyst Ben Herbert downgraded Nasdaq (NDAQ) to Sell from Neutral while raising his price target for the shares to $95 from $93. The analyst said he's "increasingly price sensitive" following the recent share rally for the group. He sees risk of slowing non-trading organic growth for Nasdaq and believes the company's operating margin/expense guidance for 2020 may disappoint. Further, he sees downward risk to estimates over the coming quarters.
Herbert also downgraded IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) to Neutral from Buy while raising her price target for the shares to $99 from $92. Herbert continues to see "much to like" about IntercontinentalExchange, but he's looking for a more compelling valuation following the stock's rally.
MORGAN STANLEY BULLISH ON APPLE AHEAD OF EARNINGS: Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty points to four reasons that she has a positive bias on Apple (AAPL) ahead of its report of June quarter earnings -- investor sentiment is unusually negative; she expects Services revenue growth to accelerate for the first time since the March 2018 quarter; iPhone data held up in her checks; and she believes September quarter consensus estimates give the company a low bar and low risk of a guidance miss. The analyst, who slightly raised her June quarter revenue forecast to $53.8B ahead of the company's report, increased her price target on Apple shares to $247 from $231 and kept an Overweight rating on the stock.
HSBC STARTS UBER WITH A HOLD: HSBC analyst Masha Kahn initiated coverage of Uber Technologies (UBER) with a Hold rating and $49 price target. The analyst sees "numerous bumps ahead" that could slow Uber's path to profitability, with regulation and "persistent" competition being the key risks. Uber is "undoubtedly" the global ride-hailing leader, but understanding how quickly it could expand its dominance across new markets such as food delivery and logistics and reach profitability "is challenging," Kahn said.
