Top 5 Upgrades:
- Truist analyst Greg Miller upgraded AT&T(T) to Buy from Hold with an unchanged price target of $21. Following the "solid" Q3 results, the company has demonstrated an ability to focus on the core business as opposed to acquisitions of loosely related companies at market high valuations, Miller tells investors in a research note.
- Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold upgraded Juniper(JNPR) to Strong Buy from Outperform with a price target of $37, up from $36. Leopold sees new router wins initiating a new cycle, led by deals like Verizon (VZ) and Google (GOOGL), and the analyst considers 2023 consensus estimates low, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
- KeyBanc analyst Michael Turits upgraded Oracle(ORCL) to Overweight from Sector Weight with an $80 price target. Oracle's 2022 analyst day that laid out a path to mid-40s margins and to multiyear high single digit revenue growth, easing some of the concerns regarding risks around the Cerner acquisition, Turits tells investors in a research note.
- Goldman Sachs analyst Cindy Motz upgraded HealthEquity(HQY) to Neutral from Sell with a price target of $77, up from $64. While Motz sees improved prospects on the custodial revenues segment, she still does not see substantial organic growth on the service revenues side.
- Needham analyst Alex Henderson upgradedQualys(QLYS) to Buy from Hold with a $165 price target. Even as Rapid7 (RPD) and Tenable (TENB) noted pressure in the VM market, Qualys has seen acceleration to 20% growth, with the bulk of the acceleration coming from upselling VMDR subscriptions to existing customers, Henderson said.
Top 5 Downgrades:
- Bernstein analyst Mark Shmulik downgraded Snap(SNAP) to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $9, down from $15. The stock is down 85% over the past 12 months, suggesting that expectations were low going into earnings, but low expectations offered no support for a company that seems to have lost all momentum, Shmulik tells investors in a research note. Snap was also downgraded to Neutral at MKM Partners and BofA.
- Telsey Advisory analyst Cristina Fernandez downgraded Under Armour(UAA) to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $8, down from $12. The analyst believes the environment has worsened since Under Armour's last earnings report on August 3 and that its promotions are "deeper than expected."
- Raymond James analyst Buck Horne double downgraded KB Home(KBH) to Market Perform from Strong Buy without a price target. Horne says the outlook for the U.S. housing market is becoming more onerous, and tells investors in a research note that KB Home's core markets on the West Coast are seeing a greater deterioration in pricing relative to the rest of the country. The analyst also downgraded Lennar (LEN), D.R. Horton (DHI), M.D.C. Holdings (MDC), PulteGroup (PHM), and Toll Brothers (TOL).
- Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Timothy Coffey downgraded SVB Financial(SIVB) to Neutral from Buy with a fair value estimate of $280, down from $500, after the company reported Q3 results and management declined to provide guidance for 2023 given a lack of clarity on when trends in client cash burn rates might subside. He is lowering his core EPS estimates for 2022, 2023 and 2024, Coffey noted. Piper Sandler analyst Andrew Liesch also downgraded SVB Financial to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $265, down from $400,
- Craig-Hallum analyst George Sutton downgraded First Internet Bancorp(INBK) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $27, down from $60. The direction of the stock will be dictated by the direction in market interest rates "which are undoubtedly going to move higher," Sutton tells investors in a research note.
Top 5 Initiations:
- Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Jonathan Ruykhaver initiated coverage of Palo Alto Networks(PANW) with an Overweight rating and $220 price target. The company's strategic position in targeting three key markets in network security, cloud security and security operation center security "should provide ample tailwind for market expansion in the near to longer term," Ruykhaver tells investors in a research note.
- Oppenheimer analyst Jay Olson initiated coverage of Revolution Medicines(RVMD) with an Outperform rating and $30 price target. The "pioneering oncology company" has a "potentially best-in-class" KRASG12C inhibitor candidate, RMC-6291, and later-stage RMC-4630, Olson tells investors.
- Credit Suisse analyst John Roberts initiated coverage of Axalta Coating(AXTA) with an Underperform rating and $20 price target. Given the prospect for a global economic downturn, Roberts is cautious on Axalta, as the company is highly exposed to the auto OEM and general industrial end markets, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Roberts also initiated coverage ofUnivar(UNVR) with an Outperform rating and $31 price target.
- Citi analyst Ryan Levine initiated coverage of Ormat Technologies(ORA) with a Neutral rating and $91 price target. While he calls Ormat "a premium global geothermal story" developing new geothermal, battery, and solar projects, Levine is concerned about longer-term threats, he tells investors.
- Canaccord analyst George Gianarikas assumed coverage of Plug Power(PLUG) with a Hold rating with a price target of $16, down from $21. The market for hydrogen fuel cell forklifts presents a "sizeable market opportunity" and Plug is a "leading supplier," Gianarikas said.
