Target upgraded, Stryker 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:

• Wolfe Research upgraded Target (TGT) to Peer Perform from Underperform without a price target ahead of the company’s investor day on March 3. The firm sees a “wide margin of safety” for Target despite its reduced estimates given the company’s owned real estate.
• Needham upgraded Affirm (AFRM) to Buy from Hold with a $100 price target. The company submitted an application to establish Affirm Bank, a proposed Nevada-chartered industrial loan company, which the firm believes could be a “game-changer.”
• Deutsche Bank upgraded CoreWeave (CRWV) to Buy from Hold with a $140 price target. The company’s medium-term outlook is “solid” heading into the Q4 report, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• Needham upgraded Teleflex (TFX) to Buy from Hold with a $138 price target. The company is selling its acute care, interventional urology, and manufacturing businesses for a $2B, and the firm expects “significant” earnings accretion from share repurchases and debt repayment by 2027 following the sales.
• BTIG upgraded CoStar Group (CSGP) to Buy from Neutral with an $80 price target. Expectations are low, investment is past peak, Homes.com is gaining momentum and the firm thinks an upcoming AI-driven product update could resonate, the firm tells investors.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• TD Cowen downgraded Procter & Gamble (PG) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $156, up from $150. The firm says the pace of the company’s recovery is “likely to drag.”
• TD Cowen downgraded Stryker (SYK) to Hold from Buy with a $387 price target following a transfer in analyst coverage. While stating that there’s a lot it likes about the story today and through decade-end, the firm thinks a “beat/raise precedent” is well understood and reflected in valuation.
• TD Cowen downgraded Insulet (PODD) to Hold from Buy with a $294 price target following a transfer in analyst coverage. The company wins on form factor/pharmacy, but the world is not static, and the advantages compared to peers will likely narrow, the firm adds.
• Wells Fargo downgraded Matador (MTDR) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $47, down from $61. The firm says the stock’s valuation “increasingly incorporates a range of structural considerations,” including higher capital intensity and variability in recent productivity trends.
• TD Cowen downgraded SkyWater Technology (SKYT) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $35, up from $24, after the company reached an agreement to be acquired by IonQ (IONQ) for $35 per share or $1.88B.

Top 5 Initiations:

• Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of PayPal (PYPL) with a Neutral rating and $60 price target. Recent strategic initiatives have created a more balanced, profitable growth engine across Branded, PSP, and Venmo, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of Block (XYZ) with an Overweight rating and $87 price target. With the early innings of Block’s turnaround behind it, momentum is starting to build, as new product initiatives demonstrate that Block’s innovation engine is “firing on all cylinders,” the firm tells investors in a research note. Cantor also started Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) with Overweight ratings.
• MoffettNathanson initiated coverage of Spotify (SPOT) with a Neutral rating and $487 price target. Fifteen years into the penetration of music streaming, the market, at least in developed markets, is largely saturated and the subscriber growth chapter of the story is “drawing to a close,” says the firm, which sees the next chapter being “all about pricing.” The firm thinks “there’s plenty of room for pricing growth.”
• HSBC initiated coverage of Watts Water (WTS) with a Buy rating and $460 price target. The firm says the company’s Becton Dickinson deal could unlock value from potential synergies and positively drive the stock.
• Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of Western Union (WU) with an Underweight rating and $9 price target. Western Union management has made impressive strides in improving the business, though the brick-and-mortar network is a structural disadvantage compared to digital-first or digital-only remittance platforms, the firm tells investors in a research note.