Friday’s analyst calls: Social media stock gets upgraded, Coinbase to rally 30%?
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(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Friday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) A social media stock was in focus Friday along with a major crypto name. Deutsche Bank raised its rating on Snap to buy from hold, calling for more than 16% gains going forward. Meanwhile, Oppenheimer upgraded Coinbase to outperform, citing improving fundamentals. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 5:45 a.m.: Oppenheimer upgrades Coinbase on attractive risk-to-reward skew, ‘upward trajectory’ fundamentals Oppenheimer thinks a slew of positive catalysts will boost Coinbase . The firm upgraded shares of the cryptocurrency exchange to outperform from perform, and initiated its price target at $160 per share. Oppenheimer’s forecast implies more than 32% upside from Thursday’s close. Coinbase is off to a rough start for 2024, losing roughly 30%. COIN YTD mountain COIN in 2024 Analyst Owen Lau noted that the stock sell-off may present investors with an attractive risk-to-reward skew, while the approval of several spot bitcoin exchange traded funds could serve as a positive catalyst for the stock. “The stock was under extreme scrutiny during crypto winter. While many peers went under, COIN is still standing and fighting for its businesses and the industry,” Lau said. “We believe the company is stronger than many people realize, and the management team is tougher than most investors think.” The analyst posits that Coinbase will also either come out victorious from its litigation with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or that the case will be dismissed outright which could further aid company growth. — Brian Evans 5:45 a.m.: Snap gets upgrade from Deutsche Bank Snap shares are in for another leg higher after a strong 2023, according to Deutsche Bank. Analysts Benjamin Black upgraded the Snapchat parent company to buy from hold and raised his price target to $19 from $10. The new forecast implies a gain of 16.6% from Thursday’s close. Black cited four catalysts for the upgrade: “Snapchat+ creating incremental revenue;” “the ad platform rebuild yielding strong performance results and driving growing advertiser adoption;” “the Amazon partnership, which could be material given the ~$20bn a year Amazon spends on advertising;” “growing contribution from inbound advertising from China.” “Taking a step back, we are also encouraged by our industry checks which suggest the disruption from the ad-platform rebuild is complete and that the new focus on down-funnel conversions is providing demonstrable improvement in advertiser [return on ad spend],” Black said. Snap is coming off a strong year, rising 89% in 2023. Shares were up 2.8% in the premarket. — Fred Imbert
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