These reports, excerpted and edited by Barron's, were issued recently by investment and research firms. The reports are a sampling of analysts' thinking; they should not be considered the views or recommendations of Barron's. Some of the reports' issuers have provided, or hope to provide, investment-banking or other services to the companies being analyzed.
Kamada -- KMDA-Nasdaq Buy -- $7.85 on Jan. 7 by Benchmark Equity Research Kamada [a biopharmaceutical company] recently reiterated financial guidance for 2025 and also added initial guidance for 2026, including revenue of $200 million to $205 million, or 11% to 14% annual growth, and higher increases in adjusted Ebitda. Reaffirmed guidance for 2025 is revenue of $178 million to $182 million and $40 million to $44 million in adjusted Ebitda.
Our estimate for 2025 is revenue of $180.2 million, or 12% growth over 2024. Projections for 2026 for Kamada are solely based on organic growth, boosted by initial source plasma sales in the U.S., new distribution product and geographic territory launches, and recent new ex-U.S. contract agreements -- for example a two-year extension in Canada for four specialty-plasma-derived products. Ebitda growth forecasts are also expected to be aided by lower research-and-development expenses. We are maintaining our Buy rating and $15 price target.
Universal Health Services -- UHS-NYSE Buy -- $221.74 on Jan. 6 by TD Cowen Despite a scheduled House of Representatives vote for Affordable Care Act health-insurance subsidies, we now see a slim chance of extension and contemplate associated payor mix headwinds. We lower our fiscal-year 2026 adjusted Ebitda estimates by 2% to reflect a portion of this headwind, partially offset by anticipated mitigation strategies. There are several (unmodeled) pending Supplemental Payment Program applications that may offset a portion of this headwind. Our price target moves to $245 from $251.
HubSpot -- HUBS-NYSE Outperform -- $396 on Jan. 7 by Oppenheimer We hosted a top-tier elite HubSpot partner to discuss demand trends, expectations for fiscal-year 2026, competitive dynamics, and recent artificial-intelligence developments. The agency indicated that fourth-quarter new monthly recurring revenue came in below internal quotas/expectations, citing lighter post-inbound activity, reduced upmarket deal flow, less multi-hub demand, and limited budget flush.
Optimistically, the partner experienced no churn/downgrades, which is supportive of management's improving net-revenue-retention outlook. Early first-quarter 2026 pipeline is above-plan (partly due to fourth-quarter stall), but large deals are still notably missing, positioning fiscal 2026 growth to decelerate from fiscal 2025.
Data points from two other agency conversations were split between accelerating upmarket traction, and demand consistent with the third quarter. While investor sentiment remains disproportionately cautious, we still expect soft fourth-quarter commentary to be viewed as incrementally negative. Price target: $550.
McGraw Hill -- MH-NYSE Buy -- $14.83 on Jan. 6 by BTIG McGraw Hill recently announced a CEO transition, with company veteran Simon Allen retiring from the CEO/president role. He will be replaced by Philip Moyer, effective on Feb. 9, but will remain chairman of the board....
The market reacted adversely to the news, declining 11% on the day. Allen guided McGraw Hill to impressive gains in market share and oversaw a period of substantial product innovation, which culminated in a strong fiscal second quarter....
Allen staying on as chairman is a significant positive and gives us confidence that McGraw Hill's successful strategy will continue to be executed at a high level. Moyer's ample experience in AI and cloud makes him well suited for the times, and his prior CEO experience suggests that he can hit the ground running....
Overall, we see the recent selloff as unwarranted, creating an attractive entry point. Recall that McGraw Hill is our top mid-Cap pick for the first-half of 2026, and we are buyers on the pullback. Price target: $22.
Portillo's -- PTLO-Nasdaq Hold -- $4.77 on Jan. 6 by Stifel We are downgrading Portillo's to Hold from Buy. We believe that the company faces a transition year in 2026 as it grapples with leadership changes and increases investments to support brand growth and fund marketing initiatives. These factors, coupled with the time it takes to rebuild development pipelines, suggest that it could take a couple of years to reaccelerate growth.
We anticipate mid-single digit commodity inflation and low-single digit labor inflation in 2026, but addressing negative traffic trends will likely take precedence over fully offsetting cost pressures, leading us to reduce our full-year Ebitda estimate to $85 million (Street $93 million). We anticipate that the company will provide initial 2026 guidance in January.
We acknowledge that a takeout is the principal risk to our downgrade. Still, we are more inclined to move to the sidelines, pending greater clarity on the strategic path back to sustainable growth. Price target: $6.
OneStream -- OS-Nasdaq Neutral -- $23.61 on Jan. 6 By Guggenheim OneStream recently announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be taken private by private-equity firm Hg for $24 per share in an all-cash transaction, a 31% premium to its recent closing share price and a 27% premium to its volume-weighted average share price over the past 30 trading days.....We downgrade the shares to Neutral and remove our $35 price target.
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January 09, 2026 17:07 ET (22:07 GMT)
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