Wall Street’s top analyst calls #NewsUnitedStates

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 5 Upgrades:

• Barclays upgraded Victoria’s Secret (VSCO) to Equal Weight from Underweight with a price target of $25, up from $23. The firm sees a balanced risk versus reward for the shares given new leadership, “sufficiently low” second half of 2024 consensus expectations, and a return to the brand’s “core heritage and strengths in intimates.”

• BTIG upgraded GE HealthCare (GEHC) to Buy from Neutral with a $100 price target. GE HealthCare enters the second half of 2024 with a lower bar and faces easier compares in the first half of 2024, contends BTIG.

• Barclays upgraded VF Corp. (VFC) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $22, up from $19. The firm believes the stock’s risk/reward is attractive at current levels.

• Guggenheim upgraded Sirius XM (SIRI) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $30, up from $29. Core operating trends and free cash flow remain stable, while subscriber trends are set to improve, the firm tells investors.

• Jefferies upgraded Extra Space Storage (EXR) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $204, up from $162. The firm anticipates peer-leading sane-store revenue growth as the company closes the 9% gap between Life Storage and Extra Space rents.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Jefferies downgraded Edwards Lifesciences (EW) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $70, down from $85. The firm sees modest TAVR growth continuing for Edwards.

• Wolfe Research downgraded ResMed (RMD) to Underperform from Peer Perform with an $180 price target. The firm says this is a risk/reward call triggered by its physician survey work.

• Truist downgraded Incyte (INCY) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $74, down from $83. The company’s efforts to offset the Jakafi patent cliff failed, and its oncology programs are “encouraging but early” or in highly a competitive space, the firm tells investors in a research note.

• BofA downgraded Cencora (COR) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $245, down from $275. Industry growth is normalizing, and the competitive dynamics are shifting following years of stable end markets in drug distribution and tailwinds from COVID, the firm tells investors.

• Barclays downgraded Portland General Electric (POR) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $49, up from $48. The firm sees more limited consensus earnings revision potential and less upside to the shares after factoring in the company’s $1.5B of additional capex.

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Top 5 Initiations:

• William Blair initiated coverage of Nvidia (NVDA) with an Outperform rating. Nvidia’s data center revenue grew 217% in fiscal 2024 and is expected to grow 132% in fiscal 2025, exceeding $110B in revenue from $15B in fiscal 2023, the firm noted.

• William Blair initiated coverage of Arm (ARM) with an Outperform rating. Blair believes Arm’s royalty/licensing revenue model drives best-in-class profitability.

• William Blair initiated coverage of Broadcom (AVGO) with an Outperform rating. Broadcom is targeting $12B in AI revenue in FY24 and the firm sees room for continued steady growth into FY25 and FY26 driven by increasing custom chip demand, improved software monetization, recovery in non-AI semi chips and accelerating growth of Ethernet AI network fabrics, the firm tells investors.

• Needham initiated coverage of Supermicro (SMCI) with a Buy rating and $600 price target. The firm views Supermicro as a first mover in the design of GPU-based compute systems and liquid cooled rack level solutions and “significant beneficiary” from growing investment in AI infrastructure.

• HSBC initiated coverage of KKR (KKR) with a Buy rating and $148 price target. The firm thinks the market “underappreciates its significant earnings growth prospects.”