Apple upgraded, Shopify initiated: 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:

• DA Davidson upgraded Apple (AAPL) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $230, up from $200. The firm believes the artificial intelligence capabilities Apple unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference will lead to an iPhone upgrade cycle.
• Exane BNP Paribas upgraded Robert Half (RHI) to Outperform from Underperform with an $80 price target. The firm upgraded the staffing sector, expecting growth to improve and for the earnings downgrade cycle to turn positive.
• Exane BNP Paribas upgraded ManpowerGroup (MAN) to Outperform from Underperform with a $92 price target. The firm believes the staffing sector is close to its lows and momentum will improve.
• BTIG upgraded Staar Surgical (STAA) to Buy from Neutral with a $46 price target. The company has reset numbers to the point that they are in a good spot to be beat with unit volume growth expectations essentially zero in fiscal 2024, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• Noble Capital upgraded AZZ Inc. (AZZ) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $95 price target. With the new greenfield plant construction in Washington, Missouri expected to be completed in fiscal year 2025, the firm sees “an increasingly favorable cash flow growth profile” and thinks AZZ could more aggressively pursue acquisitions once its effort to deleverage the balance sheet is complete.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Exane BNP Paribas downgraded Comcast (CMCSA) to Underperform from Neutral with a $34 price target. The firm believes the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program will bring an increasingly volatile period across the U.S. telecommunications and cable space.
• Wedbush downgraded CoreCivic (CXW) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $14, down from $19, after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement notified the company of its intention to terminate their service agreement for the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas
• B. Riley downgraded Squarespace (SQSP) to Neutral from Buy with a $43 price target after the company’s board accepted an all-cash offer of $44 per share from private equity group Permira.
• JPMorgan downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $17, down from $23. The firm sees weakening fundamentals, growing capex needs through 2028 and a lack of near-term growth, unlike most peers in the space.
• Deutsche Bank downgraded NexPoint Residential (NXRT) to Hold from Buy with an unchanged price target of $38. The firm says its thesis of an “excessively discounted valuation” on interest rate concerns has largely played out.

Top 5 Initiations:

• JPMorgan initiated coverage of Shopify (SHOP) with an Overweight rating and $74 price target. The firm believes the company’s product breadth, ease of use, and scale are “distinct competitive advantages that will continue to fuel industry-leading growth.”
• Bernstein initiated coverage of On Holding (ONON) with an Outperform rating and $50 price target. The firm believes the company can sustain “strong double-digit growth.”
• Citi initiated coverage of GE Vernova (GEV) with a Neutral rating and $183 price target. The firm believes GE Vernova is well positioned to benefit from increasingly favorable demand trends across much of its portfolio, but given an elevated valuation multiple that largely reflects expected favorable demand trends and improving profitability, the stock’s near-term risk/reward is relatively balanced.
• Evercore ISI initiated coverage of Confluent (CFLT) with an Outperform rating and $35 price target. The firm believes Confluent is the “runaway market leader” in the nascent $60B data streaming market.
• Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of Rocket Lab (RKLB) with a Neutral rating and $4.50 price target. The firm says the company is currently EBITDA and free cash flow negative, in an investment cycle with Neutron, and the level of, and path to, future profitability has uncertainty.