Planet Fitness upgraded, Comcast 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:

• TD Cowen upgraded Planet Fitness (PLNT) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $92, up from $66. The firm also named Planet Fitness its top SMID-cap idea. The company is an early turnaround play with a “compelling catalyst path and upside to valuation,” the analyst says.

• Evercore ISI upgraded Sirius XM (SIRI) to In Line from Underperform with a price target of $3.25, down from $4.25. The shares are down 60% since July 21 as the relative value spread trade with Liberty SiriusXM (LSXMA) has closed, the analyst tells investors in a research note.

• Citi upgraded Carrier Global (CARR) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $74, up from $65, following a transfer of analyst coverage. Citi says Carrier will be done with its transformation entering 2025, leading to an alternative “pure play” heating, ventilation, and air conditioning company with an improving multiple.

• Leerink upgraded Solid Biosciences (SLDB) to Outperform from Market Perform with an unchanged price target of $12. Following the “significant expansion” of the labeled indication for Sarepta’s (SRPT) Elevidys and several other recent developments in the gene therapy space for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the firm refreshed its market model assumptions.

• Roth MKM upgraded Cinemark (CNK) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $26, up from $19. The company should “prosper” over the next few years, driven by meaningful box office improvement, its debt reduction plans, and a likely reintroduction of capital returns, the analyst tells investors.

Top 5 Downgrades: 

• Seaport Research downgraded Comcast (CMCSA) to Neutral from Buy without a price target. The analyst believes broadband subscriber growth is still “several quarters” away and that it could still take a few quarters for Comcast’s negative subscriber trend inflection point to change given the necessary competitive upgrades underway.

• Citi downgraded ResMed (RMD) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of A$30 after Eli Lilly’s (LLY) SURMOUNT study showed that between 40%-50% of patients on tirzepatide had obstructive sleep apnea remission. The firm says the data indicates that GLP-1 drgus are a viable treatment option for the 70% of OSA patient population that are obese.

• Evercore ISI downgraded Liberty SiriusXM (LSXMA) to In Line from Outperform with a price target of $27, down from $36. The analyst had viewed Liberty SiriusXM as a more representative value of Sirius XM (SIRI) than Sirius itself, given Sirius’s “modest” public float.

• Susquehanna downgraded Werner (WERN) to Negative from Neutral with a price target of $27, down from $32. While Werner’s cyclical challenges during the truckload market’s two-year downturn are not unique, the company’s “less explicit” earnings guidance strategy leaves the sell-side consensus numbers “more cyclically stale” than that of peer Schneider National (SNDR), the analyst tells investors.

• UBS downgraded Playtika (PLTK) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $8.50, down from $44, after resuming coverage of the name. The firm says ongoing declines in Playtika’s social casino games and UBS’s cautious stance on mobile gaming at large warrant a Neutral rating.

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Top 5 Initiations: 

• Goldman Sachs assumed coverage of Block (SQ) with a Buy rating and $80 price target, which offers 27% upside. The firm views Block as one of the leaders in small business payments and consumer fintech, “capitalizing on its long history of product-led innovation.”

• Morgan Stanley initiated coverage of Humana (HUM) with an Equal Weight rating and $374 price target. The analyst says the company’s pure play approach to the “relatively higher-growth” Medicare Advantage segment via its health plan and provider arms may still present an attractive value proposition, but the firm is taking a conservative approach to upside.

• Goldman Sachs assumed coverage of PayPal (PYPL) with a Neutral rating and $69 price target, implying 15% upside. While PayPal can drive low to mid teens earnings growth with improvements in expense discipline and significant share repurchases funded by its growing free cash flow, Goldman is cautious on the company’s competitive end markets pressuring sales growth over time.

• Citi initiated coverage of Ally Financial (ALLY) with a Buy rating and $50 price target. The analyst believes Ally is the best way to play Citi’s “soft landing” expectation due to the bank’s fixed rate asset repricing potential combined with a liability sensitive balance sheet.

• Exane BNP Paribas initiated coverage of Monster Beverage (MNST) with an Underperform rating and $48 price target.