Here are some stocks to watch on Wall Street on Wednesday: Wolf downgrades Pultegroup to Peer Perform from Outperform Wolf says the homebuilder is overvalued. “Valuation is the primary driver of the PHM downgrade, but the company’s high exposure to Florida and balanced consumer segmentation likely limit room for the stock to outperform our expectations.” Stifel upgrades Starbucks to Buy from Hold Stifel upgraded the coffee chain following a management shakeup that includes a new CEO. “We upgraded SBUX to Buy and raised our price target to $110 following the appointment of Brian Niccol as Chairman and CEO.” Baird reiterates Tesla to Outperform Baird says he’s bullish on Tesla’s energy business. “We believe this division contributes approximately $41 per share to TSLA’s overall valuation and believe it is one of the most under-reviewed aspects of the overall business.” Goldman Sachs Upgrades nCino to Buy from Neutral Goldman predicts a “growth re-acceleration” for the fintech software company. “We upgraded NCNO shares to Buy from Neutral with a 12-month price target of $42 (previously $34).” RBC Upgrades Johnson Controls to Sector Perform from Underperform RBC says risk and reward are better balanced. “We upgrade JCI to Sector Perform from Underperform as risks have been sufficiently mitigated and risk and reward balanced following the recently announced portfolio transformation/leadership transition and constructive dialogue with Elliott Management.” Wells Fargo Upgrades EQT to Overweight from Equal Weight Wells upgraded the natural gas company following its merger with Equitrans Midstream. “Upgraded EQT to OW. With the merger with ETRN now complete (7/22), transaction risk has now left the stage.” Barclays Reiterates Overweight on NVIDIA Barclays said it maintains its Outperform rating on NVIDIA. “We have checked with supply chain and are positive on NVDA’s numbers in the near term.” JP Morgan Downgrades Emerson Electric to Neutral from Overweight JP Morgan sees limited catalysts ahead for the power company. “This would seem pretty straightforward if EMR was an expensive stock, but with the FCF at a discount of about 10%, it’s debatable.” Deutsche Bank Upgrades Starbucks to Buy from Hold Deutsche Bank has high praise for the coffee giant’s new CEO. “We are upgrading SBUX to Buy (from Hold) following the announcement that Brian Nicol will be appointed CEO, which increases our confidence in the successful turnaround and return to a healthier growth story.” Baird upgrades Ball Corporation to Outperform from Neutral Baird said the glass bottle maker is defensive in nature. “In our opinion, Ball Corporation’s strategic internal transformation to 1) optimize/modernize its footprint and 2) focus on self-improvement through share repurchases as the primary conduit for free cash flow allocation should lead to double-digit earnings growth going forward, with the company on track to surpass its previous earnings peak of $3.60 per share over 2021-2025.” Jefferies upgrades Sportradar to Buy from Hold Jefferies upgraded Swiss global sports technology company Sportradar, saying it is “increasingly attractive.” “Given our view that the U.S. market will grow by more than 30% and we expect SRAD to exceed this growth rate beyond 2025, we believe SRAD will become increasingly attractive within an already attractive sector.” Bernstein Reiterates Chipotle to Outperform Bernstein lowered its price target on the stock to $70 from $80 per share but maintained its hold on the stock. “CMG’s story is not over yet, and we believe the new management team will not need to reinvent the wheel to drive growth, but rather focus on maintaining execution discipline.” Evercore ISI Upgrades Montrose Environmental Group to Outperform Evercore is bullish on the environmental consulting firm. “We initiated coverage of Montrose Environmental Group (MEG) with an Outperform rating and a $43 price target.” Morgan Stanley Reiterates Target to Overweight Morgan Stanley said it would maintain its Overweight rating heading into Target’s earnings release next week. “Q2’24 revenue and EPS in line with expectations. 2024 revenue upside case unlikely absent material gross margin expansion. Shares lack demand and positive bias 12 months out.” Berenberg Reiterates Eli Lilly as a BuyBerenberg raised his price target on the pharmaceutical company to $1,050 from $1,000. “Eli Lilly (Lilly) delivered strong second quarter results, well above market expectations.” Morgan Stanley Downgrades Intuit to Equal Weight from OverweightMorgan Stanley is concerned about the tax software company’s growth. “Looking forward, we are concerned that Intuit’s growth algorithm may be too price-focused. Intuit’s recent significant pricing could contribute to market share declines in TurboTax and pose risks to the already promising QuickBooks. Ultimately, this could undermine the sustainability of the company’s overall growth profile.” Stifel Downgrades Medtronic to Hold from Buy Stifel downgraded the medtech company, saying positive developments are taking too long to come to fruition. “We are downgrading Medtronic shares to Hold from Buy and reducing our price target to $85 from $100.” Citi Restated Palo Alto to Buy Citi raised its price target on the cybersecurity stock to $385 a share from $345. “Certainly, the checks are in place, but we are remaining conservative given PANW’s significant involvement in large transactions and unusual model moving parts, as well as the recent outage of CRWD, which we expect will lead buyers to be at least somewhat cautious about the risk of single-vendor consolidation.” Buy recommendations on Bank of America, Ross, TJX Companies and Burlington Bank of America says it supports the off-price retailers ahead of their earnings releases. “We reiterate our buy recommendations on BURL, ROST and TJX ahead of their second-quarter earnings releases as we believe their strong value proposition continues to attract both core and trade-down consumers.” Wedbush upgrades Chipotle to outperform from neutral Wedbush said it still supports the stock following the CEO’s departure on Tuesday. “We continue to believe CMG can sustain market share growth even in a more challenging macro environment for restaurants.” Oppenheimer Reiterates Coinbase to Outperform The firm said it is holding firm on Coinbase shares. “With six consecutive quarters of positive adjusted EBITDA, we are confident the company has found the formula to drive sustainable profitability.” Citi Upgrades Huya to Buy from Neutral Citi upgraded Chinese game streaming platform Huya after the earnings release. “We are upgrading Huya shares to Buy. We see more proven traction in the gaming-related business, which is driving sequential (monthly active user) growth and paid user growth, as well as margin improvement.” TD Cowen Upgrades Illumina to Buy from Hold TD Cowen is forecasting revenue growth for the biotech company. “We are upgrading ILMN following the strategy update where management outlines plans to expand EBIT margins by 500 bps in ’25-’27 and accelerate sales growth from (2%) in ’24 to (high single digits) in ’27.” Argus Downgrades Hershey to Hold from Buy Argus downgraded Hershey’s rating due to the persistent inflationary environment. “We believe a hold rating is appropriate given the inflationary environment, high cocoa and sugar prices, and changing consumer behavior. We would consider an upgrade if there were signs of sustained margin improvement and volume growth.”
Nvidia was among top calls from Wall Street analysts on Wednesday.
By NvidiaDaily
