Notable analyst calls this week: Etsy, Zoom and Enphase among top picks
The S&P500 (SP500) closed in the green on Friday, amid focus on the arrival of a fresh earnings season. For the week, Nasdaq (COMP:IND) fell 0.7%, while Dow (DJI) advanced 0.4%.
Wall Street had a slew of upgrades and downgrades from analysts. Here are some of the major calls for the week:
Goldman Sachs turns bearish on Etsy
Goldman Sachs downgraded Etsy (NASDAQ:ETSY) to Sell rating from Neutral, saying the online retail stock could lose market share over the next few years.
Analyst Eric Sheridan said that while the current Street estimates reflect more normalized growth levels in a better backdrop for discretionary consumer spending, the visibility remains low on the timing of a recovery of that sort.
On the profit line, Etsy (ETSY) is seen facing margins headwinds, which could lead to earnings disappointments, the brokerage said.
Caterpillar downgraded by Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley downgraded Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) Underweight from Equal weight and cut PT on the maker of heavy equipment to $332 a share from $349.
“While we have been cautious on U.S. non-residential construction activity all year long and increasingly cautious on Caterpillar (CAT) earnings, we now see rising evidence of a potential de-stocking downturn for U.S. construction equipment,” Angel Castillo, analyst at Morgan Stanley,
Wedbush upgrade Zoom, Dynatrace; hikes PT for other software names
Wedbush upgraded Zoom (NASDAQ:ZM) and Dynatrace (NYSE:DT) to Outperform from Neutral.
“Zoom’s broad product portfolio allows it to address the market in multiple areas of communications and collaboration where the company sizes its addressable market growing to ~$235B by 2028 addressing Unified Communications, Contact Center, Webinars, Virtual Events and Sales Intelligence,” said Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives and pushed PT up to $85 from $80.
The brokerage said Dynatrace’s hybrid model makes it well suited to larger enterprises and increased PT to $67 from $55. Wedbush also increased PT for other software names including CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD), MongoDB’s (NASDAQ:MDB) and SentinelOne’s (NYSE:S).
Enphase gets downgraded by RBC, Susquehanna; Guggenheim hikes rating
Enphase Energy (NASDAQ:ENPH) was in focus after RBC cut its recommendation to Sector Perform from Outperform, citing “competitive market dynamics” that should result in a slower pace of growth next year not yet reflected in consensus estimates.
Susquehanna’s Biju Perincheril also downgraded the stock to Neutral from Positive with a $104 price target, cut from $147, citing the slower than expected recovery in U.S. residentials and market share concerns, coupled with the stock’s premium valuation.
However, Guggenheim raised Enphase Energy (ENPH) to Neutral from Sell.
Mizuho upgrades Duke Energy, CMS Energy gets downgraded to Neutral
Mizuho upgraded Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) to Outperform from Neutral, viewing the drop-off related to the recent hurricanes in Florida and North Carolina as “a great buying opportunity.”
Mizuho analyst Anthony Crowdell views Duke (DUK) as “a premium utility” that will trade at a double-digit P/E premium, as the company has resolved rate cases in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida, and approaches the upcoming Q4 earnings call with a capital refresh as a catalyst for the re-rating.
CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS), however, received a downgrade at Mizuho to Neutral from Outperform, with analyst Anthony Crowdell seeing limited opportunity for significant multiple upsides from current levels. The analyst also says consensus estimates already reflect growth at the top of the guidance range.
UBS sees potential second-half recovery for Datadog
Datadog (NASDAQ:DDOG) was upgraded by UBS Buy from Neutral, citing industry checks that showed “green shoots” of a potential second-half recovery.
Analyst Karl Keirstead upped PT on the stock to $150 from $125 and raised his revenue growth estimates for 2025 and 2026 to the 25% to 30% range from the current 25% to 26% range. Keirstead sees a potential strong medium-term growth for the AWS/Azure cloud infrastructure sector and believes these trends could help Datadog maintain or even modestly accelerate its mid-20% growth rate in the coming quarters.
Wells Fargo downgrades Capri Holdings as investors awaits Tapestry court ruling
Capri Holdings (NYSE:CPRI) was cut to equal weight from overweight at Wells Fargo as investors await a court decision on its planned sale to Tapestry (NYSE:TPR).
Wells Fargo analyst Ike Boruchow said believes the risk reward is balanced at current levels.
“While admittedly we leave upside on the table if the deal is approved by the judge (takeout price is $57), we still believe there is a chance that the FTC wins the lawsuit,” Boruchow wrote.
Truist has downgraded Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) from Buy to Hold saying that the potential for obesity asset MariTide is already included in the biotech’s stock price.
Bernstein started coverage of Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) and Amgen (AMGN) with outperform ratings.
Mizuho downgraded Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) to Underperform from Neutral. The analysts said that their third quarter checks were solid, but with some puts and takes. Cybersecurity demand was healthy, and Generative AI adoption is showing more encouraging signs; however, consumption data points were mixed, the analysts added.