Abercrombie upgraded, Dollar General 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 Upgrades:

• Citi upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) to Buy from Neutral with an unchanged price target of $190. The shares traded down 14% following a “very strong” Q2 report that fell a little short of high market expectations, the analyst tells investors. The firm sees 10 reasons for why the Abercrombie story “is not over,” and says the stock selloff provides an opportunity “to own this unique asset.”
• HSBC upgraded Crowdstrike (CRWD) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $339, up from $302. The firm says that with the financial impact of the July 19 global IT outage incident “now known, we think that the bad news is behind us.” While CrowdStrike lowered its guidance, it still implies a strong sales growth of 23% year-over-year in the next two quarters, almost twice the expected growth rates of other security companies, the analyst tells investors.
• DA Davidson upgraded 1-800-Flowers.com (FLWS) to Neutral from Underperform with a price target of $7, down from $8, as the firm thinks Street estimates are “now adequately de-risked in the near-term,” prompting the upgrade of shares following the stock’s 28% decline since mid-July.
• BofA upgraded CIBC (CM) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of C$90, up from C$74, as the analyst has increasing confidence around the bank’s earnings and return on equity outlook.
• Fox Advisors upgraded Dell Technologies (DELL) to Outperform from Equal Weight.

Top Downgrades: 

• Morgan Stanley downgraded Dollar General (DG) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $100, down from $170. The firm says share gain or food inflation for Dollar General seem unlikely to support comps in the near-term. It says the company needs to comp 3% to lever expenses. However, Walmart (WMT) and Amazon (AMZN) are taking significant amounts of share, “leaving crumbs for everyone else,” contends Morgan Stanley.
• TD Cowen downgraded Kohl’s (KSS) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $21, down from $25. Despite initiatives in new and underpenetrated categories, the company’s comp has stayed negative for the past 10 quarters given challenges in apparel and footwear, the analyst tells investors. The firm says the stock’s valuation at “appears fair” and the shares could be rangebound pending visibility on sustainable growth.
• Baird downgraded Elastic (ESTC) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $95, down from $135. The firm says sales execution missteps led to significant shortfalls in fiscal Q1 customer commitments. Baird’s earlier bullish stance overlooked the impact of Elastic’s go-to-market changes, says the analyst, who believes near-term headwinds from sales execution risk cloud visibility and warrant a more cautious stance pending more consistent execution.
• Raymond James downgraded Ulta Beauty (ULTA) to Outperform from Strong Buy with a price target of $450, down from $500. The company’s Q2 miss and guidance revision were wider than anticipated, reflecting competitive and macro challenges, the analyst tells investors.
• William Blair downgraded NuCana (NCNA) to Market Perform from Outperform after the company announced that the NuTide:323 study is being discontinued following a pre-planned initial analysis and recommendation from the study’s Steering Committee. The combination of NUC-3373 with leucovorin, irinotecan and bevacizumab was unlikely to achieve the study’s primary objective of superior progression free survival compared to the control arm, NuCana said.

Top Initiations: 

• Raymond James initiated coverage of Trevi Therapeutics (TRVI) with an Outperform rating and $9 price target. Trevi is developing Haduvio – an oral, extended release formulation of nalbuphine, an unscheduled opioid that has historically been approved in pain indications – and the drug is positioned to potentially be first-to-market in chronic cough associated with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and potentially first- or second-to-market in refractory chronic cough, contends Raymond James. H.C. Wainwright also initiated coverage of Trevi Therapeutics with a Buy rating and $6 price target. Trevi is a clinical stage specialty pharma company developing Haduvio for “large unmet needs” in chronic cough, notes the firm, which says cough indications have proven challenging, but have large commercial potential.
• Piper Sandler initiated coverage of Primerica (PRI) with a Neutral rating and $283 price target. The analyst believes the shares are fairly valued but says Primerica “has a clearly defined niche and well-developed moat leading to an above average return profile.” The company’s valuation could benefit from investors valuing more under a distribution framework, the analyst tells investors.
• UBS initiated coverage of Afya (AFYA) with a Neutral rating and $19.50 price target. The analyst believes revenue growth is the main source of debate for Afya. The firm estimates Afya can support above-average growth of 12% until 2028, but it believes the market is already pricing this into the shares.