Sunrun upgraded, Texas Instruments downgraded: 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:

• Goldman Sachs upgraded PDD Holdings (PDD) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $129, up from $99, following what the firm calls a “significant” Q2 earnings beat, driven mostly from domestic online ad revenue being up 50% year-over-year.
• Citi upgraded Sunrun (RUN) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $21, down from $25. While headwinds from higher interest rates and net energy metering impacts appear to be largely priced into the shares, Sunrun is not getting due credit for its market share gains from third party owner shift, path to free cash flow generation, no corporate level equity raises, projected component cost deflation, and success in selling battery storage, the firm says.
• Scotiabank upgraded UDR (UDR) to Outperform from Sector Perform with a price target of $45, up from $44. The firm sees a relative valuation discount in UDR shares that “offers an attractive entry point.”
• Compass Point upgraded Hercules Capital (HTGC) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $17.50, up from $17. Hercules raised $108M in fresh capital through a syndicated equity offering of 6.5M shares in early August and the “only reason to do a syndicated equity offering is that originations are accelerating faster than expected,” the firm notes.
• JPMorgan upgraded Cemig (CIG) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of R$16, up from R$14.50. The firm believes state-owned utilities controlled by the state of Minas Gerais are being mispriced by the market.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Bernstein downgraded Texas Instruments (TXT) to Underperform from Market Perform with an unchanged price target of $145. The firm says Street models do not appear to contemplate the consequences of Texas Instruments’ capex and inventory plans.
• TD Cowen downgraded Ambarella (AMBA) to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $65, down from $90, following the Q2 report. The company announced “another hard expectation cut” as customer inventory burn accelerates, leaving Ambarella with little visibility in the near and intermediate term, the firm notes.
• Craig-Hallum downgraded Box (BOX) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $30, down from $35. Growth at Box is slowing to a halt as customers continue to lower their rate of seat expansion, the firm says.
• Morgan Stanley downgraded Centene (CNC) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $73, down from $94. The firm has lowered confidence in the visibility and stability of the company’s long term earnings growth profile.
• Barclays downgraded Rockwell Automation (ROK) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $287, down from $300. The company has attractive end market exposures and an un-levered balance sheet, but the stock’s valuation is “quite rich” after rallying 20% year-to-date, the firm argues.

Top 5 Initiations:

• WestPark Capital initiated coverage of Palo Alto Networks (PANW) with a Buy rating and $340 price target. The firm believes Palo Alto is “leaving competitors far behind” and that the company’s growing scale will provide additional competitive benefits versus smaller point solutions.
• HSBC initiated coverage of Align Technology (ALGN) with a Buy rating and $450 price target. The firm believes the dental market is under-penetrated, with an addressable size of $20B and a solid growth profile, and says ageing demographics and consumer spending patterns are long- and mid-term drivers of growth.
• Citi initiated coverage of Cognex (CGNX) with a Neutral rating and $52 price target. The firm says softer near-term demand trends across most of the company’s end markets and its “still relatively elevated” valuation could keep shares relatively range-bound in the near-term.
• B. Riley initiated coverage of AZZ Inc. (AZZ) with a Buy rating and $64 price target.  The firm believes the company has “several compelling investment attributes,” including the durability of cash flows, a leading position in its respective markets, and disciplined capital allocation.
• Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage of BCB Bancorp (BCBP) with a Buy rating and $18.50 fair value estimate. The traditional lender focused on commercial lending, not thrift-related assets, in Northern New Jersey is an “inexpensive community bank” that currently trades at a 30% discount to tangible book value, or TBV, per share, the firm tells investors.