Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Wednesday: Wolfe downgrades PulteGroup to peer perform from outperform Wolfe says the homebuilder is overvalued. “Valuation is the key driver of our PHM downgrade, while the company’s elevated exposure to Florida and balanced consumer segmentation likely limits upside to our estimates.” Stifel upgrades Starbucks to buy from hold Stifel upgraded the coffee chain following the management shakeup that included a new CEO. “We upgrade SBUX to Buy and rais[e] our TP to $110 following the appointment of Brian Niccol as Chairman and CEO.” Baird reiterates Tesla as outperform Baird says it’s bullish on Tesla’s energy segment business. “We believe the segment contributes roughly $41 per share to TSLA’s combined valuation and view this as one of the most under the radar aspects of the broader business.” Goldman Sachs upgrades nCino to buy from neutral Goldman sees “growth reacceleration” for the fintech software company. “We upgrade shares of NCNO to Buy from Neutral, with a $42, 12-month price target ($34 prior).” RBC upgrades Johnson Controls to sector perform from underperform RBC says the risk/reward is more balanced now. “We are upgrading JCI from Underperform to Sector Perform as the recently announced portfolio pivot/leadership transition and evidently constructive dialogue with Elliott Management have sufficiently de-risked the story and balanced risk-reward.” Wells Fargo upgrades EQT to overweight from equal weight Wells upgraded the natgas company following its merger with Equitrans Midstream. ” EQT Upgrade to OW. With the merger with ETRN completed (7/22), transaction risk has exited stage left.” Barclays reiterates Nvidia as overweight Barclays says it’s sticking with its outperform rating on Nvidia. “We checked in with the supply chain and came away more positive on NVDA numbers in the near term.” JPMorgan downgrades Emerson Electric to neutral from overweight JPMorgan sees limited catalysts ahead for the electric company. “If EMR were an expensive stock this would seem pretty simple, but the ~10% discount on FCF makes it more of a debate.” Deutsche Bank upgrades Starbucks to buy from hold Deutsche likes the coffee giant’s new CEO. “We are upgrading SBUX to Buy (from Hold) following the announcement that Brian Niccol will be appointed as CEO, increasing our conviction in the success of a turnaround and return to a healthier growth story.” Baird upgrades Ball Corp to outperform from neutral Baird said the glass jar producer has defensive qualities. “In our opinion, the strategic internal pivot at Ball Corporation to focus on self-improvement via: 1) footprint optimization/modernization, and 2) share buybacks being the key conduit for free cash flow allocation, should sum to double-digit earnings growth on a go-forward basis—with the company on track to exceed the previous earnings peak of $3.60 from 2021 by 2025.” Jefferies upgrades Sportradar to buy from hold Jefferies upgraded the Swiss global sports tech company, saying it’s becoming “increasingly attractive.” “Given our view that U.S. market grows 30%+ and SRAD’s expectations of out-growing this rate through 2025+, we believe SRAD becomes increasingly attractive within an already appealing sector.” Bernstein reiterates Chipotle as outperform Bernstein lowered its price target on the stock to $70 per share from $80 but is sticking with the stock. ” CMG story is not over. We believe the new management would not need to re-invent the wheel to fuel growth — but rather just focus on maintaining the execution discipline.” Evercore ISI initiates Montrose Environmental Group at outperform Evercore says it’s bullish on the environmental consulting company. “We are Initiating coverage on Montrose Environmental Group (MEG) with an Outperform rating and a $43 Target Price.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Target as overweight Morgan Stanley said it’s sticking with its overweight rating heading into Target ‘s earnings next week. “Expecting in-line Q2’24 comps and EPS. Earnings upside cases for ’24 seem less likely without significant gross margin expansion. Stock not demanding and positive skew looking out 12mo.” Berenberg reiterates Eli Lilly as buy Berenberg raised its price target on the drugmaker to $1,050 per share from $1,000. “Eli Lilly (Lilly) delivered a strong Q2, significantly beating market expectations.” Morgan Stanley downgrades Intuit to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley is concerned about growth at the tax software company. “Looking forward, we fear Intuit’s growth algorithm has shifted too far toward the pricing lever as Intuit’s recent and significant pricing actions have likely contributed to market share losses at TurboTax and introduces risk at QuickBooks, where expectations are already high. Ultimately, this may impair the durability of the company’s overall growth profile.” Stifel downgrades Medtronic to hold from buy Stifel downgraded the med tech company and says positive developments are taking too long to come to fruition. “We are downgrading Medtronic shares to Hold from Buy and lowering our price target to $85 from $100.” Citi reiterates Palo Alto as buy Citi raised its price target on the cybersecurity stock to $385 per share from $345. “To be sure, checks have been respectable, but our conservatism stems from PANW’s heavy exposure to large deals and idiosyncratic model-moving parts, and where we’d expect at least some buyer circumspection on single-vendor consolidation-risks given recency of CRWD outage.” Bank of America reiterates Ross, TJX Companies and Burlington as buy Bank of America says it’s standing by the off-price retailers ahead of their earnings. “We reiterate our Buy ratings on BURL , ROST, and TJX ahead of 2Q earnings as we think the strong value proposition continues to attract both core and trade-down consumers.” Wedbush upgrades Chipotle to outperform from neutral Wedbush says it’s standing by the stock following the departure of its CEO on Tuesday. “We continue to believe CMG can sustain market share gains in a more challenging macro backdrop for restaurants.” Oppenheimer reiterates Coinbase as outperform The firm says it’s standing by shares of Coinbase. “With six straight quarters of positive adj. EBITDA, we believe the company has found a formula to drive sustainable profitability.” Citi upgrades Huya to buy from neutral Citi upgraded the China game streaming platform following earnings. “We rate Huya shares at Buy. We recognize a more proven traction of game related business that drive sequential [monthly active users] and paying user growth and margin improvement.” TD Cowen upgrades Ilumina to buy from hold TD Cowen sees revenue growth ahead for the biotech company. “We’re upgrading ILMN post their Strategy Update, where mgmt laid out plans for EBIT margin expansion of 500bps ’25-’27 & sales growth accelerating from (2%) in ’24 to [high single digits] in ’27.” Argus downgrades Hershey to hold from buy Argus downgraded Hershey due to a stubborn inflationary environment. “Given the inflationary environment, high cocoa and sugar prices, and changing consumer behaviors, we believe a HOLD rating is appropriate. We would look to upgrade on signs of sustained margin improvement and volume growth.”
