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(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Tuesday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) Tuesday started with Nvidia getting more praise from one analyst, and a battery stock downgrade. Bank of America reiterated its buy rating on Nvidia, citing the announcement of new artificial intelligence products. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley downgraded Freyr Battery, citing a tough environment for the lithium-ion battery maker. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. 6:50 a.m. ET: Stifel says buy Vistagen Therapeutics Biotechnology company Vistagen Therapeutics could have a large market opportunity on its hands, according to Stifel. Analyst Paul Matteis initiated coverage on the company with a buy rating and $12 price target. That suggests shares could more than triple in value from Monday’s close. “We think the risk/reward here is highly upside-biased into the fasedienol PALISADE-3/4 studies in social anxiety disorder (SAD), reading out in 2025,” Matteis said in a Monday note. Fasedienol is a neurosteroid in clinical development for Social Anxiety Disorder. While the analyst noted that studies for anxiety treatments are difficult to execute — with Vistagen already having had a setback in one of its two smaller studies — only one of its two additional anxiety studies has to succeed for it to gain approval. “More broadly, SAD is a very large market opportunity, and at the current VTGN valuation (a discount to many CNS peers), we think the risk/reward has an upside skew ahead of two additional trial readouts in 2025,” said Matteis. Shares jumped 2.5% Tuesday before the bell. The stock, however, remains negative 11.6% year to date. — Hakyung Kim 6:36 a.m. ET: JPMorgan downgrades BeautyHealth BeautyHealth will likely have limited upside in the coming quarters amid a rocky period, according to JPMorgan. JPMorgan downgraded shares to underweight from neutral and withdrew its prior price target of $10 on shares. “Even better than expected commentary on underlying market trends won’t be enough to offset a significant story as a new management team steps in to lead the company and near-term domestic challenges weigh on results for at least the next 3-6 months,” analyst Allen Gong wrote in a Tuesday note. Shares have plummeted more than 54% following its third-quarter earnings announcement Monday after the bell. The company lowered its full-year guidance and posted greater-than-expected impact from challenges with its HydraFacial Syndeo device in the U.S. market, according to Gong. “We see these dynamics significantly limiting upside for the coming quarters with an uncertain outlook after that now that 2025E targets have been cleared, a setup that will likely mean investors won’t revisit this name until this period of upheaval is past us,” said Gong. — Hakyung Kim 6:28 a.m. ET: Deutsche Bank upgrades Take-Two Interactive Take-Two’s risk-reward profile has become more favorable, according to Deutsche Bank. Take-Two recently announced that Rockstar, one of its publishing labels, will release the first trailer for the next Grand Theft Auto title in December. “We believe a major product announcement, such as the highly anticipated trailer for GTA 6, is likely to drive positive investor sentiment and should serve as a catalyst for the stock,” analyst Benjamin Soff wrote in a Tuesday note. The firm upgraded the video game company to buy from hold. It also increased its price target by $20 to $175, implying shares could rise 12.9% from Monday’s close. “Additionally, as we move into the back half of FY24 and FY25, we would expect to receive initial announcements for other major releases from Take-Two’s robust development pipeline (which includes 14 core immersive titles across FY25 and FY26),” Soff said. While management noted it expects slightly lower numbers from net bookings in 2025, Soff said the company’s development process and pipeline remains on track. “In light of these announcements, we are now more confident capitalizing our multi- year forecast at a higher multiple based on increased clarity surrounding the magnitude and timing [of] Take-Two’s long-term growth opportunity,” Soff said. Shares added more than 2% Tuesday before the bell. The stock has surged 44.1% in 2023. — Hakyung Kim 6:02 a.m. ET: Bernstein upgrades Kraft Heinz, says pullback has been ‘overdone’ Bernstein upgraded Kraft Heinz shares, saying it is better-positioned compared to its food peers in an anti-obesity drug backdrop. U.S. food companies have broadly struggled in 2023, with the sector down 21% year to date. Companies with higher exposure to GLP-1 weight loss drugs have performed the worst in the sector, the firm noted. Analyst Alexia Howard upgraded Kraft Heinz shares to outperform from market perform. She has a price target of $40 on shares, which suggests 20.3% upside potential from where shares closed on Monday. Howard cited the company’s “cheap valuation, fair relative positioning in a GLP-1 world given its protein-forward portfolio in the U.S., and an improved business model implemented under [CEO] Miguel Patricio.” “With its multiple at an all-time low and a portfolio that is better positioned relative to peers in a GLP-1 world, we see the risk-reward as attractive over the next 12 months,” added Howard. Shares gained 1.6% Tuesday during premarket trading. The stock remains down more than 18% year to date. — Hakyung Kim 5:41 a.m. ET: Roth MKM initiates AMD with a buy rating Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices is a “strong investment opportunity,” according to Roth MKM. The firm initiated the stock with a buy rating and $125 price target, which suggests 7% upside from Monday’s close. AMD has rallied 80.3% in 2023 amid surging demand for AI chips. “We believe AMD’s differentiated portfolio of high- performance compute/networking processors and accelerators represents a strong investment opportunity,” analyst Suji Desilva wrote in a Monday note. Desilva cited AMD’s growing market share in the cloud server and enterprise markets, as well as strong leverage in AI infrastructure growth. He added that AMD will likely benefit from the cyclical client PC recovery. “While overall consumer demand has remained muted, we nonetheless expect these segments to exhibit a recovery progression over the next several quarters. Accordingly, we expect AMD to report steadily recovering revenue in its client and gaming segment,” Desilva said. — Hakyung Kim 5:35 a.m. ET: Morgan Stanley downgrades Freyr Battery Morgan Stanley isn’t sure if shares of Freyr Battery can be bounce back amid broader pressures on the battery storage market. “3Q brings a narrative change in FREY’s outlook with new risks to tech, strategy and funding that’s been appropriately discounted by the stock market. While cash burn is manageable, the stock should trade at discount to cash value until FREY shows progress on its sample cell campaign,” analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a Monday note. Jonas downgraded shares to equal weight from overweight. He also slashed his price target to $2 from $13, which suggests 14.3% upside from Monday’s close. Investment in Freyr’s Norwegian gigafactory Giga Arctic has been paused, and the company seems to be prioritizing U.S. production — which eliminates “some of the most attractive aspects of the original FREY thesis as a ‘clean’ battery manufacturer,” said Jonas. The company’s 24M technology customer qualification plant is also seeing many delays, which has contributed to a worsening funding outlook, the analyst added. “There may be a number of factors that ultimately dictate the ability of FREY to raise new capital to commission giga-scale facilities. In our view, the most important of these is execution of the CQP itself. If they can’t make cells in an automated way, it may be difficult for FREY to find funding,” said Jonas. Shares were trading 2.3% lower Tuesday before the bell. The stock is down nearly 80% year to date. — Hakyung Kim 5:35 a.m. ET: Bank of America reiterates buy rating on Nvidia Bank of America reiterated Nvidia as buy and maintained a price target of $650 per share after the company announced an upgraded version of one of its key AI products. “Importantly, H200 is compatible with its predecessor H100 installations, enabling faster time to market. We view the latter point as critical, as hyperscalers do not need to invest to reconfigure their existing hardware platform, incentivizing customers to remain key partners of NVDA,” wrote analyst Vivek Arya. The upgrade “simplicity only adds to the competitive portfolio NVDA holds, which coincides with 1) a leading AI networking platform supporting both Infiniband/Ethernet connections, and 2) a leading software stack, which has already shown abilities to upgrade performance of GPUs already deployed. Nvidia is coming off its ninth straight day of gains, its longest winning streak since March. If the stock rises Wednesday, it would tie a winning run not seen since 2016. — Fred Imbert
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