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Ronald McDonald in a McDonalds restaurant.
Zhang Peng | LightRocket | Getty Images
Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Tuesday:
SunTrust initiated DR Horton, KB Home, & PulteGroup as ‘buy’
SunTrust said pointed to the potential growth of all three home builders in its new coverage of DR Horton, KB Home, and PulteGroup.
“We are selectively positive on the builders as lower interest rates should re-accelerate new home sales in 2H19, particularly in the entry-level market segment. Additionally, we believe sector valuations do not reflect that recent Fed accommodation could bridge the cycle through 2021, when stronger demographic tailwind should drive another surge in demand through 2025.”
MKM initiated McDonald’s as ‘buy’
MKM said it believes that strong domestic and international sales growth is sustainable for McDonald’s.
“We believe the combination of strong domestic and international markets’s sales growth are sustainable through its potential uptick in unit expansion and solid SSS generation (through a balanced menu approach and ongoing investments in its stores, systems, technology) and, when coupled with strong cash flow generation and consistent returns to shareholders, is supportive of a premium valuation for the QSR market share leader.”
MKM initiated Papa John’s as ‘buy’
MKM said the challenges facing the company should not “hold investors back” from the stock.
“We believe the recent operating shortfalls, which have created easy comparisons, are not enough to justify a favorable view on the name, but neither are the challenges enough to hold investors back. We believe the combination of a return to basics, a collaborative approach across its system, and a willingness make to hard decisions can potentially drive a fundamentally led stock performance recovery. If PZZA stock is like the pizza delivery business, it’s better to be early than late. “
Compass Point initiated Salesforce as ‘buy’
Compass point initiated Salesforce and said the company has executed “consistently” for over a decade amongst other things.
“We view the company as a core holding in our universe because the company is a primary player in the adoption of digital transformation, has built a platform across the CRM space that consistently drives upsell, and has executed consistently for over a decade on its durable growth model. The stock has recently underperformed the market as investors worry that last month’s Tableau acquisition announcement is a sign that overall growth may be slowing – which is a view that is contrary to our research and the discrepancy in viewpoints drives our Buy rating. “
Piper Jaffray initiated Cronos Group as ‘overweight’
Piper initiated the cannabis company and said it has “significant growth opportunities” with CBD products. CBD is an active ingredient in cannabis derived from the hemp plant.
“We expect strong top-line growth, driven by strong sustainable category momentum. We believe its partnership with Altria provides important capital and access into 230,000 US retail outlets, as well as regulatory and vapor product expertise. We expect Cronos to have modest near-term revenues from Canadian cannabis production, but believe it has significant potential growth opportunities with CBD products in the US, including through its pending acquisition of the Lord Jones brand. “
Guggenheim upgraded PayPal to ‘neutral’ from ‘sell’
Guggenheim upgraded the stock mainly on valuation.
“We note the recent pullback in PYPL‘s shares, which has occurred against a backdrop of increasing macro uncertainty; shares have now fallen below our prior $104 PT. We believe the current level probably better reflects PYPL’s fair value; in that context, we see risk/reward as being more balanced and are shifting from Sell to Neutral. “
Argus downgraded Southwest Airlines to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’
Argus downgraded the stock mainly to due to the ongoing issues surrounding the 737 MAX.
“The continued grounding of the 737 MAX is causing serious operational disruption and rising costs for Southwest at a time of solid flight demand. As such, we are lowering our 2019 EPS estimate to $4.40 from $5.00 and our 2020 estimate to $5.30 from $5.80. On valuation, LUV shares are trading at 11.4-times our revised 2019 EPS estimate, toward the low end of the five year historical range of 9-26. We believe that this valuation adequately reflects prospects for higher costs and weaker earnings in the near term. “
