This Week, From The Analyst Community

Stock analysts can provide valuable insight into the sentiment around a certain stock or sector and shed some light on what is possible or likely for a stock.  Stirring in the analyst community can sometimes be early signs of stock movement.  Which is why our team reviews dozens of analyst research reports each and every day with the goal of finding new investment ideas for our readers. 

Of the hundred of reports we reference weekly, some stand out among the others for various reasons.  Our team has sifted through this week’s reports and whittled it down to the most pertinent moves.   

Read on for the details on some of the most impactful actions taken by brokerage firms over the past week.   

Monday, November 15th

• Stellar Q3 earnings results plus other positive factors led to two upgrades for EV charging station provider Blink Charging (BLNK).  Roth Capital analyst Craig Irwin upgraded Blink from Neutral to Buy and raised the price target from $37 to $45.  Irwin believes Blink’s improving business momentum is likely to accelerate in the second half of 2022 on greater availability to infrastructure subsidies.   H.C. Wainwright analyst Sameer Joshi also upgraded Blink Charging to Buy from Neutral with a $50 price target. The analyst cited a “significantly better” macro environment driven mainly by the approximately $7.5B allocated to electric vehicle charging network build-out in the U.S. as part of the infrastructure bill that has passed both houses of the U.S. Congress. 

• Chevron (CVX) was upgraded to Buy at UBS on higher expected oil prices.  Analyst John Rigby upgraded Chevron to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $125, up from $110.  The analyst is raising his 2022 and 2023 oil price forecasts to $81 and $80 from $63 and $68 per barrel respectively.  Rigby adds that within the universe of Integrated Majors, Chevron has one of the highest relative oil price sensitivities by virtue of its business mix, and he anticipates tight oil markets as post-Covid demand recovers amid constrained supply due to a multi-year shortfall in investment.

Tuesday, November 16th

• Atlantic Equities analyst John Heagerty downgraded Robinhood (HOOD) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $35, down from $65.  The company saw “abrupt cessation” of user growth in Q3 and its guidance for Q4 indicates growth will be dramatically lower than original expectations, at least in the near term, Heagerty told investors in a research note.  Further, Robinhood’s investment in new products is likely to lower adjusted EBITDA growth and the switch of focus to crypto trading will increase the volatility of revenues, says the analyst.

• Credit Suisse analyst John Pitzer raised the firm’s price target on Nvidia (NVDA) to $400 from $225 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares ahead of quarterly results.  The analyst believes secular tailwinds continue and risk of any crypto-correction is unlikely at least until supply improves in the second half of 2022. 

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Wednesday, November 17th

• Wells Fargo analyst Matthew Akers upgraded Boeing (BA) from Equal Weight to Overweight with a price target of $272, up from $224. The analyst now sees a positive risk/reward balance with the stock lagging the S&P 500 Index by 30% since its March high.  The company should benefit from the China737 MAX recertification, resumption of 787 deliveries, higher fuel costs driving more aircraft retirements and easing international travel restrictions, Akers told investors in a research note.  Each of these is a “matter of when rather than if,” the analyst added.  He sees limited share downside, as he believes Boeing has de-risked 2022 delivery expectations and is less susceptible to supply chain disruption given its large inventory of completed aircraft.

• Bernstein analyst Harshita Rawat downgraded PayPal (PYPL) to Market Perform from Outperform lowering the price target to $220, down from $260.  While PayPal’s positioning as a leading digital wallet is “hard not to acknowledge,” Rawat sees change accelerating and sees risks of the company “getting disrupted vs. being a disruptor.”  Rawat worries about increasing aggregation of e-commerce within large platforms such as Amazon (AMZN) and Shopify (SHOP), has concerns about the likelihood of slowing share gains for PayPal “from a thousand cuts,” and worries about a “well-funded onslaught” from nimbler peers.

Thursday, November 18th

• JPMorgan analyst Seth Seifman upgraded Boeing (BA) to Overweight from Neutral, raising the price target to $275, up from $260.  BA shares have a “fairly defined catalyst path,” and the first, namely China’s MAX certification, “is now in view,” Seifman told investors in a research note.  Further, the analyst believes Boeing’s position at the center of global air travel “offers confidence that it will recover financially over time and risk-reward now skews favorably.” Seifman acknowledges the upgrade “may be early” and that he is “prepared for a slog.”

• JPMorgan analyst Alexia Quadrani downgraded Activision Blizzard (ATVI) from Overweight to Neutral with a price target of $88, down from $100.  The ongoing misconduct allegations against CEO Bobby Kotick suggest an overhang will remain on the shares, Quadrani argued.  Continued negative press reports and “fresh allegations” give her pause on the company’s ability to hire and retain talent and execute on its pipeline.   Without resolution of these challenges, the analyst believes Activision shares will not be able to outperform.

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Friday, November 19th

• Datadog (DDOG) was upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital.  Analyst Matthew Hedberg also raised the price target to  $235, up from $191, stating that the RBC TIMT conference reflected on trends seen over the past few quarters including strong customer acquisitions, new product innovation, and increased cross-sell that can continue into 2022 and beyond.  Hedberg adds that he remains bullish on observability in a post-COVID world, which will continue to be fueled by rapid growth in cloud-based workloads and the need for increased monitoring.

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives raised the firm’s price target on Tesla (TSLA) to $1,400 from $1,100.  Ives, who says the bull case remains $1,800, believes the Street is continuing to digest the major transformation coming to the auto industry around the EV revolution in 2022 and beyond, with Tesla leading the way in the $5T market opportunity over the next decade, the analyst tells investors in a research note.