(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Wednesday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) A delivery giant and a social media company were among the stocks being talked about by analysts on Wednesday. Citi initiated UPS with a buy rating, citing an attractive valuation. Meanwhile, Jefferies began coverage of Reddit with a buy rating and a price target of $90. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 6:49 a.m.: Piper Sandler downgrades Blackstone Piper Sandler moved to the sidelines on Blackstone , warning that the financial stock’s good news may already be priced in. Analyst Crispin Love downgraded the asset manager to neutral from overweight. Love’s $149 price target suggests shares can shed 0.3% from where they finished Tuesday. The call comes as investors gear up for more dealmaking on the heels of the Federal Reserve’s rate cut, though Love cautioned that this has yet to materialize. For Blackstone, he said the stock may have run up too far into the rate decrease to see notable upside now. “While we continue to believe there is pent up demand and the likelihood that activity will return meaningfully in 2025, we believe much of that good news has been priced into the stock,” Love said. In this vein, he noted that shares have jumped more than 20% in the last three months and more than 40% over the past year. “Blackstone should still be one of the key alternative asset managers to benefit from the tailwinds with both retail and insurers increasing their allocations in private assets for years to come given the breadth of BX’s products,” he added. “But we believe a Neutral rating is appropriate with the stock trading at 25x earnings compared to peers at 20x.” Shares fell about 1% before the bell on Wednesday. With 2024’s advance of more than 14%, Blackstone is tracking for its fifth positive year of the last six. — Alex Harring 6:34 a.m.: Morgan Stanley says beat-down GitLab shares can rally more than 40% Investors should hop look at GitLab despite the stock’s underperformance, according to Morgan Stanley. Analyst Sanjit Singh initiated coverage of the software stock at an overweight rating. Singh’s $70 price target implies 40.1% upside from Tuesday’s close. “After decades of fragmentation, the software delivery market is consolidating as the focus on cost and engineering productivity rises,” Singh wrote to clients on Wednesday morning. “We see GitLab as a key consolidator in a large market positioning the company as the next enterprise platform story in software.” Singh said the platform should win in a consolidation situation since it has offerings across the entire software delivery pipeline, as well as within security and artificial intelligence. The analyst said sustained market share gains should lead to a 26% compound annual growth rate for revenue through the 2027 calendar year. On top of that, Singh said margins should nearly double between 2024 and 2027. Compared with emerging software, Singh said GitLab trades at a discount when looking at growth adjusted sales and free cash flow. Shares rose around 2% in Wednesday premarket trading. That marks a reprieve during a tough year, with the stock tumbling more than 20% in 2024. GTLB YTD mountain GTLB year to date — Alex Harring 6:19 a.m.: Chewy can rally more than 25%, TD Cowen says TD Cowen made a fresh bull case for Chewy shares. Analyst William Kerr initiated coverage of the pet ecommerce retailer with a buy rating and $38 price target. That price target appears to be a Wall Street high, according to LSEG, and suggests shares can climb 28.7% over the next year. “Chewy is the leading pure play eCommerce offering in the $144BN US Pet Industry,” Kerr wrote to clients when opening coverage on Wednesday. “The company has a strong retail biz coupled with a growing pet health offering, including the largest online pet pharmacy.” He also told clients to expect annual revenue growth of almost 9% between the 2024 and 2029 fiscal years. Over the same period, he said EBITDA margins should expand from 4.6% to 8%, while free cash flow conversion shows strength. What’s more, Kerr said Chewy’s 7.9% market share should rise to 8.7% by 2028. Shares rose more than 1% before the bell following Kerr’s call. The stock has rallied nearly 25% this year, putting it on track to snap a three-year losing streak. — Alex Harring 6:01 a.m.: Deutsche Bank commences coverage on NYT shares The New York Times stands out among media stocks, according to Deutsche Bank. Analyst Benjamin Soff initiated coverage of a buy rating and $65 price target. Soff’s target reflects the potential for shares to add 9.5% over Tuesday’s closing level. “In our view The New York Times’ news publishing is differentiated in today’s media landscape,” Soff wrote in a Wednesday note announcing the call. “At a time when many publications are shrinking, and user engagement has shifted towards social media and video formats, The New York Times has continued to invest its journalism platform.” Soff pointed to the company’s digital-first subscription model as a reason for optimism. It also has strong fundamentals, he said, such as healthy engagement, an expanding total addressable market, pricing power and advertising growth. On top of this, he said the stock can see additional upside tied to artificial intelligence licensing agreements. This can allow the New York Times to post double-digital growth in adjusted operating profit and return more capital to shareholders in the future, according to the analyst. Shares have added nearly 12% in 2024, building on 2023’s jump of more than 50%. — Alex Harring 5:55 a.m.: Wells Fargo hikes Roblox price target as earnings report looms Wells Fargo sees more room for Roblox to run as the video game company’s earnings report approaches. Analyst Ken Gawrelski lifted his price target by $8 to $54, which now suggests 33.3% upside from Tuesday’s close. He also has an overweight rating on the stock. For earnings, Gawrelski said total bookings growth for the third quarter should increase by 6 points to 27.5% year over year, which is above the consensus forecast on Wall Street. That’s driven by strong engagement and favorable foreign exchange shifts, he said. “The market continues to question the durability of engagement strength,” Gawrelski wrote to clients in a Tuesday note. “We believe another reported strong quarter and healthy guidance will be constructive to investor confidence.” Additionally, Gawrelski pointed to Roblox’s growing list of monetization tools as a “crucial” driver of developer engagement. Roblox is expected to report earnings Oct. 31, according to FactSet. It comes during a rough patch: Shares have dropped more than 11% this year, eating into 2023’s rally of more than 60%. RBLX YTD mountain RBLX in 2024 — Alex Harring 5:50 a.m.: Citi says UPS is a buy Buy the dip on UPS shares, according to Citi. Analyst Ariel Rosa initiated the delivery giant with a buy rating and a price target of $162. That implies upside of 23%. UPS has struggled in 2024, losing 16.7%. UPS YTD mountain UPS year to date However, Rosa said the stock is now “attractively priced given that it is trading at the lower end of its historical forward P/E average.” “Despite share loss to Amazon Logistics and Walmart Fulfillment Services and mix headwinds from direct-from-China mega e-tailers Temu and Shein, UPS is positioned to benefit from the end of the freight recession and start of the next upcycle, driving more profitable volumes,” the analyst said. — Fred Imbert 5:50 a.m.: Jefferies opens coverage on Reddit with Street-high price target Reddit’s advertising and data licensing opportunities brought Jefferies to the bull camp. Analyst John Colantuoni initiated coverage of the social media platform at a buy rating. Colantuoni set a $90 price target, which implies shares can rise 27.2% from Tuesday’s close. That $90 price target appears to be the highest on Wall Street, according to LSEG. Colantuoni said $65 of it is tied to the advertising business, while the remaining $25 comes from data licensing. The analyst said EBITDA should more than double over the next two years to around $450 million, coming in above consensus. That will be driven by high growth in users and a closing monetization gap when compared to peers. Colantuoni also pointed to the potential for more high-margin licensing deals. Those will come, he said, as Reddit’s database of content gains value due to generative artificial intelligence. Shares rose more than 1% before the bell on Wednesday, The stock debuted on the market in March through an initial public offering priced at $34 per share. — Alex Harring
