Starbucks upgraded, Hershey downgraded: Wall Street's top analyst calls

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Starbucks upgraded, Hershey downgraded: Wall Street's top analyst calls
Starbucks upgraded, Hershey downgraded: Wall Street's top analyst calls

The most talked about and market moving research calls around Wall Street are now in one place. Here are today's research calls that investors need to know, as compiled by The Fly.

Top Upgrades:

  • Bernstein upgraded Starbucks (SBUX) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $115, up from $92. The market has positively reacted to the appointment of Brian Niccol as the new CEO, but the stock's current valuation does not fully appreciate the earnings power that Starbucks could unlock, the firm tells investors in a research note.

  • Goldman Sachs upgraded Bilibili (BILI) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $22.60, up from $16.50. Bilibili is a "highly sticky, under monetized" young user-based video platform and is now turning to a more robust and profitable business model driven by a higher margin ads and gaming business, says the firm, which believes Bilibili is on track to deliver 10%-15% net margin by 2026.

  • Barclays upgraded New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $14 price target. While there is "still plenty of hard work ahead," the bank is now "more firmly positioned," and with the announcements over the past few weeks of new senior lender hiring, appears positioned to start looking to the future, the firm says.

  • Jefferies upgraded Pediatrix Medical (MD) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $14, up from $8. The firm believes the company "can recapture its place" as one of the best free cash flow stories in healthcare services.

Top Downgrades:

  • Jefferies downgraded Hershey (HSY) to Underperform from Hold with a price target of $163, down from $184. Elevated prices and a "stretched" consumer are finally impacting the U.S. snack category and chocolate stands out as amongst the most concerning, the firm tells investors in a research note.

  • KeyBanc downgraded Nordstrom (JWN) to Sector Weight from Overweight without a price target. The firm cites the limited stock price upside related to proposal submission of the go-private transaction at $23 per share in cash for the downgrade.

  • UBS downgraded GE HealthCare (GEHC) to Sell from Neutral with a price target of $74, down from $84. The firm says the stock's valuation is hard to justify given GE HealthCare's lower growth outlook and implies that investors have higher expectations than even sell-side consensus.

  • Barclays downgraded Travel + Leisure (TNL) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $40, down from $46. The firm remains cautious on the broader leisure demand travel backdrop and expects further deterioration of timeshare.

  • UBS downgraded Smartsheet (SMAR) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $56.50, down from $61, after the company entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners at a value of $8.4B or $56.50 per share.

Top Initiations:

  • Truist initiated coverage of First Solar (FSLR) with a Buy rating and $300 price target. First Solar is a pioneer in thin-film module technology and the firm sees the company continuing to strengthen its competitive moat as geopolitical tensions coincide with pricing pressures in the silicon-based module supply chain.

  • Truist initiated coverage of GE Vernova (GEV) with a Buy rating and $300 price target, calling the company "an energy transition behemoth" with unmatched scale across a diversified slate of traditional and renewable power products and services. More cautious on the name, Oppenheimer initiated coverage of GE Vernova with a Perform rating and no price target.

  • RBC Capital initiated coverage of Talen Energy (TLN) with an Outperform rating and $233 price target. The company is well positioned in the "constrained" PJM market, which will experience substantial load growth and decreasing reserve margins, the firm tells investors in a research note.

  • Wolfe Research initiated coverage of Solventum (SOLV) with a Peer Perform rating and no price target. Shares of the diversified healthcare company spun out of 3M (MMM) are "fairly valued" considering near-term separation risks and the lack of reported revenue growth over the past three years, the firm tells investors.

  • B. Riley initiated coverage of Tactile Systems (TCMD) with a Buy rating and $23 price target. The firm believes the company's enhanced margin profile remains "significantly underappreciated, as does the current valuation."

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