Netflix initiated, Instacart upgraded: 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.

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Top 5 Upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded Instacart (CART) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $45, up from $38. The company is positioned to beat consensus estimates, trades at “notable growth-adjusted” discount, and is less exposed to geopolitical risks, contends the firm.
• Wolfe Research upgraded CrowdStrike (CRWD) to Outperform from Peer Perform with a $450 price target. The firm says Anthropic’s upcoming model release “has the potential to ignite a machine speed cyberwar the likes of which we have never seen.”
• Jefferies upgraded Expedia (EXPE) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $300, up from $240. The firm sees a buying opportunity in Expedia following the pullback.
• Arete upgraded Analog Devices (ADI) to Buy from Neutral with a $389 price target. The firm says the company’s “structural” businesses can drive 71% of incremental growth this cycle to $19.3B of sales in fiscal 2028, above the consensus estimate of $16.7B.
• HSBC upgraded Carnival (CCL) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $30.10, down from $33.60. The company’s Q4 report shows “continued resilient” demand, improving operating discipline, and the positive impact of deleveraging, the firm tells investors in a research note.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Raymond James downgraded Boston Scientific (BSX) to Outperform from Strong Buy with a price target of $88, down from $97. The firm reduced estimates below consensus to reflect slower trends in Boston Scientific’s “key growth areas.”
• Keefe Bruyette downgraded Hartford Financial (HIG) to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $149, down from $163. The firm cites concerns about Hartford liability reserve adequacy for the downgrade.
• Citi downgraded Ovintiv (OVV) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $62, up from $52. The firm says the company’s free cash flow is worse than peers given its less leverage to higher oil prices.
• Jefferies downgraded PTC Therapeutics (PTCT) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $76, down from $91, following a transfer in analyst coverage. The story has shifted to the Sephience launch, but the firm awaits progress to ascribe more value for additional indications.
• Barclays downgraded Terns Pharmaceuticals (TERN) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $53 price target, down from $56, after the company agreed to be acquired by Merck (MRK) for $53 per share.

Top 5 Initiations:

• Citizens initiated coverage of Netflix (NFLX) with a Market Perform rating and no price target. The firm sees limited near-term catalysts to drive Netflix’s results and awaits a better entry point.
• BNP Paribas initiated coverage of Starbucks (SBUX) with an Underperform rating and $84 price target. While the firm sees Starbucks as a “high-quality, consumer compounder in a habitual category,” it argues that the current valuation “embeds flawless execution” and it sees a high degree of execution risk and a “less linear” turnaround.
• Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of Qualcomm (QCOM) with a Neutral rating and $135 price target, which offers 4% upside. Goldman believes Qualcomm’s diversification efforts will be partly offset by share loss at key smartphone customer accounts like Apple (AAPL).
• JPMorgan initiated coverage of Seagate (STX) with an Overweight rating and $525 price target. The firm sees potential for Seagate to post significant upside to consensus estimates.
• GLJ Research initiated coverage of Modine (MOD) with a Buy rating and “Street-high” $290 price target. Private competitor checks and decremental hyperscaler margins emphasize upside to both management’s long-term guidance and margins, says the firm, which argues that the analyst community fails to give Modine credit for a North American data center chillers capacity ramp.