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ATHM, SO, AMX...
8/4/2022 10:08am
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:

  • Bank of America analyst Miranda Zhuang upgraded Autohome (ATHM) to Neutral from Underperform with a price target of $42, up from $31. Autohome, as "the leading auto vertical," is poised to benefit from the near-term tailwind of the recovery in the auto physical market as the headwinds there are turning to tailwinds in the near-term, Zhuang told investors.
  • UBS analyst Ross Fowler upgraded Southern Company (SO) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $87, up from $76. The company's post-Vogtle growth profile should accelerate on fleet transformation opportunities to achieve its 2050 net zero carbon emissions goal, Fowler said.
  • Citi analyst Andres Cardona upgraded America Movil (AMX) to Buy from Neutral with an unchanged price target of $23. The analyst also opened a "90-day positive catalyst watch" on the shares.
  • Goldman Sachs analyst Martin Leitgeb upgraded Lloyds Banking (LYG) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of 65 GBp, up from 61 GBp. While the analyst continues to see "lower mortgage pricing as a headwind to NII progression" for Lloyds, he now sees "benefits arising from higher deposit margins as more than offsetting these headwinds."
  • Goldman Sachs analyst Martin Leitgeb keeps a Buy rating on NatWest Group (NWG) with a price target of 410 GBp, up from 350 GBp, and has added the stock to the firm's Conviction List.


Top 5 Downgrades:

  • Cowen analyst Oliver Chen downgraded Kohl's (KSS) to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $35, down from $60. The company is "vulnerable" to the pressure the middle income consumer is experiencing, which may drive less visibility into it achieving its medium-term target of 7%-8% EBIT margin, Chen argued.
  • Baird analyst Jonathan Komp downgraded Under Armour (UA) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $10, down from $12. Despite first quarter results that were "relatively in-line," some "pockets of weakness" and a much lower full year 2023 margin outlook are materially weighing on current earnings visibility, Komp said.
  • Wedbush analyst Tom Nikic downgraded Revolve Group (RVLV) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $23, down from $59. While the analyst likes the business at a high level, he just thinks there's very little visibility right now.
  • DA Davidson analyst Rudy Kessinger downgraded Ping Identity (PING) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $28.50, down from $38 following the company's agreement to be acquired by Thoma Bravo. Stephens, Barclays and BTIG also downgraded the stock to Neutral-equivalent ratings.
  • Goldman Sachs analyst Will Nance downgraded Paymentus (PAY) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $16, down from $19, after the company reported second quarter results and lowered full year 2022 guidance on the back of delayed implementations of two large billers.


Top 5 Initiations:

  • MKM Partners analyst Catharine Trebnick initiated coverage of Zoom Video (ZM) with a Buy rating and $135 price target. The stock is down 30% year-to-date due to multiple compression across the software market and the company's management guiding to slower year-over-year growth post-pandemic, but this has created an attractive entry point, the analyst contended.
  • MKM Partners analyst Catharine Trebnick initiated coverage of RingCentral (RNG) with a Buy rating and $80 price target. The company offers investors "high-visibility, multi-year stable revenue growth in a large, underpenetrated market," Trebnick told investors in a research note.
  • Bank of America analyst Andrew Didora resumed coverage of JetBlue (JBLU) with a Neutral rating and $10 price target after the company announced on July 28 an agreement to acquire Spirit Airlines (SAVE) for $33.50 per share.
  • Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich initiated coverage of Endeavor Group (EDR) with a Buy rating and $28 price target, arguing that in a "rapidly evolving" media landscape, the company has a collection of assets that are "well positioned to capitalize on several secular tailwinds," including the increasing value of premium sports rights, sustained content spending to build out streaming platforms, the growing legalization of sports betting in the U.S. and the reopening impact exiting the pandemic.
  • MKM Partners analyst Catharine Trebnick initiated coverage of Five9 (FIVN) with a Buy rating and $135 price target. The analyst believes Five9 is positioned to capitalize on increased spending on customer experience as it is the "leading standalone CCaaS provider with a strong AI product roadmap."
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