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PLXS, PFHC, RLI...
6/7/2022 09:06am
Street Wrap: Today's Top 15 Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations

Institutional investors and professional traders rely on The Fly to learn which companies the best analysts on Wall Street are saying to buy and sell.


Research analysts at Wall Street's largest banks issue recommendations on whether a stock should be bought, held, or sold. The Fly's team of financial market experts scours hundreds of research notes daily to uncover the best trading ideas. Check out today's top analyst calls from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.

Top 5 Upgrades:

  • Evercore ISI analyst Stephen Richardson upgraded Exxon Mobil (XOM) to Outperform from In Line with a price target of $120, up from $88. The current valuation is at a greater than 20% discount to historical levels at a time when he sees returns rising both secularly at the industry level, but for Exxon specifically, Richardson tells investors.
  • Raymond James analyst Melissa Fairbanks upgraded Plexus (PLXS) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $100 price target. The analyst came away from recent management meetings with increasing confidence in the company's ability to achieve its $5B in sales and 5.5% operating margin target by fiscal 2025, which she estimates could yield upwards of $8 per share in GAAP earnings.
  • JMP Securities analyst Silvan Tuerkcan upgraded Mirati Therapeutics (MRTX) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $72 price target. The initial intracranial combination data supports a path into the front-line setting for KRAS-inhibitor adagrasib, Tuerkcan tells investors in a research note.
  • Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan upgraded Lear (LEA) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $180, up from $141. The analyst cites the company's "compelling" valuation, "strong" earnings growth and electric vehicle "tailwinds and optionality" for the upgrade.
  • Deutsche Bank analyst George Hill upgraded McKesson (MCK) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $378, up from $343. The analyst is increasingly concerned about recessionary risks in the U.S. and is looking for defensive equity positioning. With its fiscal 2023 guidance now in the rear view, a refocused business post divestitures, the opioid overhang behind it and "solid multiyear visibility," McKesson shares are again having a positively skewed risk/reward profile, Hill tells investors in a research note.

Top 5 Downgrades:

  • Evercore ISI analyst Stephen Richardson downgraded Devon Energy (DVN) to In Line from Outperform with an unchanged price target of $80. While he thinks Energy remains "one of the unique inflation winners across equities" as "every conceivable headwind has become a tailwind," Richardson is "taking some chips off the table" with his downgrades of Devon and Occidental Petroleum (OXY) to In Line given that cyclical investors "are always mindful of a peak" and he sees industry margins as set to compress from here without further commodity support.
  • Barclays analyst Colin Canfield downgraded Booz Allen (BAH) to Equal Weight from Overweight with an unchanged price target of $95. The analyst sees limited upside to Street estimates and downgraded the shares as a part of a government services sector update post the Q1 reports.
  • Citi analyst Alexander Hacking downgraded GrafTech (EAF) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $10, down from $13. The price momentum in graphite electrodes "appears to have run its course" and cost pressure will likely continues, leaving him struggling to find near-term catalysts for GrafTech, Hacking tells investors.
  • BofA analyst Tazeen Ahmad downgraded Praxis Precision Medicines (PRAX) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $4, down from $26, after the company reported that the phase 2/3 ARIA study evaluating PRAX-114 in major depressive disorder did not achieve statistical significance on the primary endpoint. Given the negative ARIA readout, Ahmad removed MDD value from the model for Praxis, but thinks a positive essential tremor trial readout in Q4 may help the company recover from the ARIA miss.
  • H.C. Wainwright analyst Douglas Tsao downgraded TherapeuticsMD (TXMD) to Neutral from Buy with a $10 price target after the company announced last week that it had entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of EW Healthcare Partners.


Top 5 Initiations:

  • Piper Sandler analyst Ian Macpherson initiated coverage of ProFrac Holding (PFHC) with an Overweight rating and $31.50 price target, which implies 56% upside. ProFrac generates premium EBITDA per fleet relative to peers, "a virtue which is not duly reflected in present or forward looking valuation metrics," Macpherson tells investors in a research note. JPMorgan analyst Arun Jayaram initiated coverage of ProFrac with an Overweight rating and $25 price target, Stifel analyst Stephen Gengaro initiated coverage of ProFrac with a Buy rating and $24 price target, and Morgan Stanley analyst Connor Lynagh initiated coverage of ProFrac with an Overweight rating and $30 price target.
  • Raymond James analyst C. Gregory Peters initiated coverage of RLI Corp. (RLI) with a Market Perform rating and no price target. The analyst views RLI as a premiere specialty property/casualty insurance company that is well positioned to continue reporting results ahead of peers due to its specialty approach and diversified lines of business, but views the stock's current valuation as "generous."
  • William Blair analyst Myles Minter initiated coverage of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) with an Outperform rating and no price target. The analyst views Alnylam as a "premier" siRNA company with a midyear APOLLO-B readout and "strong pipeline" to drive the shares.
  • Craig-Hallum analyst Matt Hewitt initiated coverage of Science 37 (SNCE) with a Buy rating and $10 price target. The company is pioneering the performance of decentralized clinical trials, which Hewitt believes could become the standard of care for trials Phase 2 or later, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
  • Barclays analyst Brandon Oglenski reinstated coverage of GXO Logistics (GXO) with an Equal Weight rating and $60 price target. Despite the company's meaningful revenue growth, its earnings expansion "has been a bit less robust," Oglenski tells investors in a research note.

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