HP Inc. price target lowered to $18 from $20 at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley lowered the firm’s price target on HP Inc. (HPQ) to $18 from $20 and keeps an Underweight rating on the shares. The firm’s chief investment officer survey indicated the the slowest hardware budget growth in 15 years. Resellers are expecting an “elastic demand response” to input cost inflation, which warrants a more defensive IT hardware position despite secular AI tailwinds, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Morgan Stanley has turned “more defensive,” saying its recent survey work “signals the perfect storm of cautionary factors emerging.” The firm downgraded its sector view to Cautious from In-Line.