Moderna downgraded, Gap upgraded: Wall Street’s top analyst calls

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:

• Piper Sandler upgraded Celanese (CE) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $170, up from $135. The firm is taking a longer-term view, looking beyond the company’s challenges that remain in 2024.
• JPMorgan upgraded Gap (GPS) to Neutral from Underweight with a price target of $20, up from $16. The firm’s recent fieldwork points to Old Navy and Gap stability with inventory “right sized” as of Q4 of 2022.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded AvalonBay (AVB) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $191.50, up from $175. The firm upgrades AvalonBay on the company’s “conservative” revenue guidance and job growth forecast that is below peers.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded HashiCorp (HCP) to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $30, up from $23. The firm says a resurgence in cloud initiatives is translating to better demand for HashiCorp after a difficult year.
• BMO Capital upgraded MediaAlpha (MAX) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $28, up from $9. The firm estimates a “sharp upward inflection” in transaction value related revenue growth across 2024 and 2025 for MediaAlpha.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• HSBC downgraded Moderna (MRNA) to Reduce from Hold with a price target of $86, up from $75. The firm is “skeptical” of the company’s two Phase 3 data readouts for its personalized cancer vaccine program in the medium term, noting RSV vaccine efficacy concerns.
• KeyBanc downgraded Nordson (NDSN) to Sector Weight from Overweight without a price target. The firm continues to appreciate Nordson’s “best-in-class attributes,” but sees a more balanced risk/reward moving forward with the shares above its previous price target.
• Argus downgraded Air Products (APD) to Hold from Buy. While the company’s Q1 earnings and EBITDA margins grew vs. last year on generally positive trends in volume and pricing, its profitability was below expectations by a “wide margin” due to flat volume growth and higher costs in the Industrial Gases business, mainly because of soft growth in the electronics industry, the firm notes.
• Argus downgraded International Paper (IP) to Hold from Buy. The stock has lagged its benchmarks over recent short-term and long-term cycles, reflecting the company’s depressed earnings and unclear outlook, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• Wells Fargo downgraded Ventas (VTR) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $46, down from $52, on a less positive 2024 outlook and cost of capital disadvantage.

Top 5 Initiations:

• Leerink initiated coverage of CVS Health (CVS) with an Outperform rating and $88 price target. CVS has built one of the broadest healthcare services enterprises in the market, and is still the largest retail pharmacy player, one of the two largest pharmacy benefit managers, and one of the largest managed care providers, the firm says. Leerink also started coverage of Labcorp (LH) with an Outperform rating.
• Leerink initiated coverage of Align Technology (ALGN) with a Market Perform rating and $310 price target. While the firm still expects growth, and growth at a profitable level, it sees the new run-rate as appropriately priced-in without any catalysts for meaningful upside deviation. Leerink also started coverage of Leerink initiated coverage of Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), Quest Diagnostics (DGX) and Teladoc (TDOC) with Market Perform ratings.
• Deutsche Bank initiated coverage of Amer Sports (AS) with a Buy rating and $20 price target. The firm views Amer as both a top-line and margin expansion story supported by an “inexpensive valuation and compelling sum-of-the-parts analysis that points to further share price appreciation.” Wells Fargo, TD Cowen, Citi, Bernstein, Goldman Sachs, BofA, JPMorgan, UBS, Baird, and Evercore ISI also started Amer Sports with Buy-equivalent ratings, while Morgan Stanley and HSBC initiated the name with Neutral-equivalent ratings.
• BofA initiated coverage of Monday.com (MNDY) with a Buy rating and $280 price target. As a leader in the collaborative work management software space, on which the firm is bullish entering 2024, Monday is positioned to grow revenue at a 30% compound annual growth rate through FY26, BofA says.
• BofA initiated coverage of Smartsheet (SMAR) with an Underperform rating and $45 price target. Competitive intensity is increasing in Smartsheet’s core enterprise market, with the firm seeing less room for revenue acceleration than it does at peers.