Warner Bros. Discovery upgraded, F5 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:

• Argus upgraded Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) to Buy from Hold with a $27 price target. The stock had been climbing higher on rumors of bids from Paramount Skydance (PSKY), but a bidding war could drive bids even higher, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• H.C. Wainwright upgraded Core Scientific (CORZ) to Buy from Neutral with a $25 price target. The firm sees the proposed takeover by CoreWeave (CRWV) not passing the shareholder vote.
• UBS upgraded Upwork (UPWK) to Buy from Neutral with an unchanged price target of $21. The company is positioned to return to positive services volume growth over the next two quarters given better web traffic data in recent months and an ongoing shift toward higher-value services, the firm says.
• RBC Capital upgraded Cadence Bank (CADE) to Outperform from Sector Perform with a price target of $47, up from $43. The firm is refreshing its price target and rating to align with Huntington (HBAN) following the announced merger while noting that it supports the transaction.
• BofA upgraded RB Global (RBA) to Buy from Neutral with a $120 price target as the firm believes the risk-reward is turning more favorable after a pullback in share price.

Top 5 Downgrades:

• Needham downgraded F5 (FFIV) to Hold from Buy. F5’s momentum from enterprise DC modernization, strong renewals, and technology refresh, though, appears stalled due to its disclosed network breach and the U.S. Federal shutdown pushing out deals, the firm said.
• Bernstein downgraded Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA) to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $14.50, up from $14. The firm cites the disclosure of a new Grade 4 liver injury that led the company to pause its Phase 3 trials for the downgrade.
• Seaport Research downgraded Boot Barn (BOOT) to Neutral from Buy without a price target ahead of the fiscal Q2 report on October 29. Seaport is not anticipating a big Q2 beat or a material guidance raise.
• Chardan downgraded Avidity Biosciences (RNA) to Neutral from Buy with a $72 price target after Novartis (NVS) announced an agreement to acquire Avidity for $72 per share in cash.
• UBS downgraded Avadel Pharmaceuticals (AVDL) to Neutral from Buy with an unchanged price target of $20 after Alkermes (ALKS) announced an agreement to acquire Avadel for $18.50/share plus a contingent value right entitling shareholders to a $1.50 per share potential payment contingent on the FDA approval of Lumryz in idiopathic hypersomnia.

Top 5 Initiations:

• JPMorgan initiated coverage of VeriSign (VRSN) with a Neutral rating and $270 price target. The firm says the company’s “resilient” business model and “robust” profitability is balanced against a “moderate” growth trajectory and ongoing competitive pressures.
• BMO Capital initiated coverage of Qnity Electronics (Q) with an Outperform rating and $109 price target. The firm believes the separation of Qnity from DuPont “brings a welcome addition” to specialized and scarce electronics materials space.
• Stephens initiated coverage of Centessa (CNTA) with an Overweight rating and $35 price target. The company’s lead asset ORX750 has demonstrated “significant” and dose-dependent improvements in mean sleep latency on the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test, the firm tells investors in a research note.
• BofA reinstated coverage of Tencent Music (TME) with a Neutral rating and $25 price target. While calling Tencent Music a “clear leader in the China music streaming market,” the firm finds the risk-reward “only fair” with the stock price almost doubling year-to-date.
• Oppenheimer initiated coverage of TeraWulf (WULF) with an Outperform rating and $20 price target. The firm notes the company is transitioning from a bitcoin miner to a high-performance compute AI infrastructure company.