BofA Securities upgraded Dr. Reddy's (RDY) to Buy from Neutral as they feel the revlimid settlement shines light on FY23 and beyond. Investec also upgraded RDY -- to Hold from Sell.
Argus upgraded Foot Locker (FL) to Buy from Hold noting shares have started to recover as customers have returned to stores with intentions to buy merchandise. They also highlighted that digital operations are also performing well.
Oppenheimer downgraded Home Depot (HD) and Lowe's (LOW) to Perform from Outperform; for a while, firm has maintained a constructive posture toward underlying fundamentals for home improvement retail and HD and LOW's prospects. To be clear, their favorable intermediate to longer-term stance for the group and HD and LOW is unchanged. However, nearer term, firm is increasingly concerned that the market is becoming too lax toward chances of a post-COVID-19 sales growth downshift at HD/LOW and potential impact on shares.
JP Morgan downgraded Beyond Meat (BYND) to Underweight from Neutral; firm highlighted that, two weeks ago, they lowered their BYND estimates only to watch the stock subsequently rise by 16% (SPX -5%). The shares are now +108% YTD versus the SPX +4% and firm's median stock -1%. This outperformance is "above and beyond" what they consider rational, even for a good company like BYND, and thus they move to an Underweight. Firm's downgraded is related to sluggish fundamentals (at least versus Street expectations) and the current stock price. Admittedly, they remain optimistic that (1) global demand for alt-meat will continue to rise over time; and (2) Beyond's management team, innovation strategy, and marketing efforts will pay off in the long run. But they also think the stock is ahead of itself and view Street estimates as too high.
Citigroup launched coverage on Utz Brands (UTZ) with a Buy, $21 tgt on a generally bullish view of the company; they believe UTZ should trade at ~110% premium to the market multiple given its under-penetration in key expansion markets, strong acquisition track record, ability to improve operating margins through increased scale, and experienced management team.
Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Intuit (INTU) with an Overweight, $351 tgt pointing to the differentiated product offering, large customer base (50M+), proprietary tech stack, and relentless innovation/customer focus which could enable the company to continue delivering superior revenue growth and margin expansion.
