Snap upgraded, McDonald’s 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:

• JMP Securities upgraded Snap (SNAP) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $17 price target. With Snap set to roll out Simple Snapchat and launch Sponsored Snaps, it will see an “inflection in impression growth,” the firm tells investors in a research note.
• Summit Insights upgraded Texas Instruments (TXN) to Buy from Hold. The company is seeing a cyclical recovery in the PC, smartphone, consumer, enterprise systems, and communications infrastructure end markets, and the firm anticipates earnings outperformance in 2025 as cyclical demand recovery gains momentum.
• Baird upgraded Quest Diagnostics (DGX) to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $182, up from $157. The firm likes the lab setup in 2025 and says, “there’s no reason to hold back on one simply because the other is cheaper.”
• Argus upgraded Alcoa (AA) to Buy from Hold with a $48 price target. The firm notes that while aluminum prices are around the midpoint of their historical range, Argus sees future quarters’ earnings as “more optimistic” as global demand for aluminum reaches record highs.
• Piper Sandler upgraded BXP (BXP) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $105, up from $78. Piper continues to see 2025 as a transitional year for BXP, but says leasing momentum “is clearly shifting.”

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Baird downgraded McDonald’s (MCD) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $290, down from $320. The firm is concerned that reports of an E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s restaurants in multiple U.S. states could “pose a major threat to consumer sentiment” and the company’s U.S. comps, which is a key driver of investor sentiment.
• Guggenheim downgraded Enphase Energy (ENPH) “back” to Sell from Neutral with a $73 price target following the release of the company’s Q3 report. Enphase’s Q3 results and outlook underscore the company’s competitive strength in the U.S. market, but also its “significant” challenges in Europe, the firm tells investors. Janney Montgomery Scott also downgraded Enphase Energy but to Neutral from Buy with a fair value estimate of $83, down from $119.
• Wells Fargo downgraded Interpublic Group (IPG) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $26, down from $28. While IPG’s Q3 results were roughly in line, uncertainty is building into 2025, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• Baird downgraded Medpace (MEDP) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $349, down from $413. The firm says it is hard to see Medpace getting much multiple expansion with low net new business and revenue growth potentially declining in 2025.
• RBC Capital downgraded CoStar Group (CSGP) to Sector Perform from Outperform with a price target of $83, down from $96. The firm says that although CoStar’s core salesforce transitioning back should help, higher for longer interest rates could likely continue to weigh on the demand environment.

Top 5 Initiations:

• Needham reinstated coverage of Etsy (ETSY) with a Buy rating and $60 price target. While Etsy has not been able to avoid the broader macro drag impacting consumer spending on goods, its investments in search and discovery set the company up well to grow off its consumer wallet share gains since the pandemic, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• Needham reinstated coverage of eBay (EBAY) with a Buy rating and $72 price target. The firm sees the potential for the company to maintain leadership positions through leveraging machine learning to improve search and discovery, which it says is still a major opportunity. Needham also reinstated coverage of Wayfair (W) and Beyond (BYON) with Buy ratings.
• Needham reinstated coverage of Chewy (CHWY) with a Hold rating and no price target. Chewy has had favorable positioning relative to the rest of e-commerce during the recent consumer headwinds, but the firm sees the potential for the relative positioning to “take a step back,” and sees the potential for Chewy’s premium multiple to come under relative pressure versus peers. Needham also reinstated coverage of ThredUP (TDUP) with a Hold rating.
• RBC Capital initiated coverage of Oracle (ORCL) with a Sector Perform rating and $165 price target. The firm likes Oracle’s market leadership position in database and ongoing cloud transformation, but has concerns about competition and the sustainability of some recent growth drivers, particularly cloud and generative artificial intelligence.
• B. Riley initiated coverage of Coinbase (COIN) with a Neutral rating and $185 price target. The firm views Coinbase as a unique company in the capital markets sector, but expects the shares to remain range-bound until the election is decided and regulatory clarity is provided or until better idiosyncratic catalysts emerge that provide visibility into more consistent profit growth.