Top Calls on Wall Street: Starbucks, Dell, Warner Bros. and More.

Baird upgraded Starbucks $Starbucks (SBUX.US)$ to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $110, up from $81. The firm sees a more favorable risk/reward on Starbucks shares following the hiring of Brian Niccol as CEO.

Barclays upgraded Dell Technologies $Dell Technologies (DELL.US)$ to Equal Weight from Underweight with an unchanged price target of $97. The firm says much of the artificial intelligence "hype" that predicated its Underweight rating "has now been washed out of the share price."

Citi upgraded Hormel Foods $Hormel Foods (HRL.US)$ to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $37, up from $33. The firm sees slight upside potential to fiscal Q3 and fiscal 2024 earnings estimates and further upside in fiscal years 2025 and 2026.

Ladenburg upgraded Alliant Energy $Alliant Energy (LNT.US)$ to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $62.50, up from $50. The firm cites potential earning upside from the company's Iowa settlement as well as data center growth for the upgrade.

Wolfe Research upgraded First Industrial Realty $First Industrial Realty Trust Inc (FR.US)$ to Outperform from Peer Perform with a year-end 2025 $64 price target. The company's footprint is facing some of the highest supply in the sector, but a recent decline in starts should help it "considerably," the firm tells investors in a research note.

Top 5 Downgrades:

Bernstein downgraded Warner Bros. Discovery $Warner Bros Discovery (WBD.US)$ to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $8, down from $10. The company missed on all key financial metrics for Q2, and the stock is trading down over 10% since the report, reaching its lowest point since the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger in April 2022, the firm tells investors in a research note.

Cowen downgraded Academy Sports $Academy (ASO.US)$ to Hold from Buy with a price target of $54, down from $58. The firm has concerns regarding the company's implied same-store-sales acceleration in the second half of 2024 and its gross margin rate durability in the event of a moderation in sales.

Truist double downgraded Pacira BioSciences $Pacira BioSciences (PCRX.US)$ to Sell from Buy with a price target of $8, down from $30. A generic Exparel launch is imminent within the next 12 months, which led Truist to cut 2025 sales estimates by 37% on Pacira's lead asset.

Goldman Sachs downgraded Triumph Group $Triumph (TGI.US)$ to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $15, down from $19. The company's operating results have been worse than expected, and it has pulled back on its medium-term outlook, the firm tells investors in a research note.

Goldman Sachs downgraded Cytokinetics $Cytokinetics (CYTK.US)$ to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $60, down from $85. The firm says that while the aficameten data should support a U.S. approval and launch by the end of 2025, the ongoing debate on the scope of a potential risk evaluation and mitigation strategy program and headline risk from EDG-7500 are likely to keep the stock range bound over the near term.

Top 5 Initiations:

Wells Fargo initiated coverage of Gartner $Gartner (IT.US)$ with an Underweight rating and $435 price target. While the company remains well positioned to capture a sizable total addressable market, with moderating growth and consensus estimates already reflect a recovery, there is more share upside elsewhere, the firm says.

Wells Fargo initiated coverage of MSCI $MSCI Inc (MSCI.US)$ with an Equal Weight rating and $570 price target. The company's relative premium to the market has fallen considerably, which is justified by elevated cancels being experienced across the business, even though its Analytics growth "remains robust," the firm tells investors in a research note.

UBS initiated coverage of Xylem $Xylem (XYL.US)$ with a Buy rating and $165 price target. The firm views Xylem as the leading pure-play water company.

Wells Fargo initiated coverage of FactSet $FactSet Research Systems (FDS.US)$ with an Equal Weight rating and $435 price target. The firm says that while FactSet has diversified its strategy beyond workstation, its growth is still linked to the financial services industry, where Wells awaits "more convincing signs that point to a resurgence" in capital markets activity, headcount growth, and willingness to spend.

Wells Fargo initiated coverage of Cintas $Cintas (CTAS.US)$ with an Underweight rating and $735 price target. The firm says Cintas now trades at a slight premium to fellow best-in-class operator from the pest control industry, Rollins $Rollins (ROL.US)$ , which it has never done historically.