(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Thursday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) A short-term home rental giant and an e-commerce platform were among the big names talked about by analysts on Thursday. Analysts reacted to Airbnb’s latest quarterly results, with some concerned about the company’s growth prospects. Elsewhere, JPM Securities upgraded Shopify after the stock’s worst day ever. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 5:59 a.m.: Cheesecake Factory has an attractive valuation, says Raymond James Cheesecake Factory stands out as an outperformer relative to its peers, according to Raymond James. The firm upgraded the restaurant chain to outperform from market perform . It reiterated its $42 price target on shares, indicating 23.6% upside from Wednesday’s close. The company’s recent first-quarter results showed “encouraging comp resilience and strong relative outperformance in a softening industry backdrop,” wrote analyst Brian Vaccaro. Although Cheesecake Factory’s growth brands’ store margins are still lower than unit economic targets, Vaccaro thinks there’s potential for improvement throughout 2024 as prices catch up to inflation. This could help some investors reassess the company’s longer-term revenue growth, he added. Vaccaro projects 7% to 8% annual revenue growth. “With these dynamics improving, we see upside to the stock’s low valuation (P/E ~11x), and would also note the stock’s elevated short interest at ~15% of the float,” Vaccaro said. Cheesecake Factory shares have lagged the broader market this year, losing 3%, while the S & P 500 is up more than 8%. — Hakyung Kim 5:50 a.m.: JMP upgrades Shopify It’s time to buy the dip on Shopify , according to JMP Securities. Analyst Andrew Boone upgraded the e-commerce platform to market outperform from market perform. His price target of $80 implies upside of 27.5% from Wednesday’s close. Shopify is coming off its worst day ever, losing more than 18% on the back of weaker-than-expected guidance for the second quarter. SHOP 5D mountain SHOP 5-day chart Still, “our upgrade is driven by the potential for new merchant cohorts to contribute in 2025 and beyond, Plus subscription price increases coming on in 2H24, and our belief that the company remains a best-in-class eCommerce platform that is taking share and has multiple adjacencies across financial services, advertising, and merchant services,” Boone said. Shares were up 1% in the premarket. — Fred Imbert 5:50 a.m.: Wall Street on the sidelines for Airbnb Airbnb’s weaker-than-expected forward guidance has analysts worried about the company’s growth outlook. While Airbnb managed to beat on the top and bottom line in the first quarter, its revenue forecast for the second quarter was below consensus estimates. The company said revenue will come in between $2.68 billion and $2.74 billion, while analysts polled by LSEG were expecting $2.74 billion for the period. Shares were down more than 7% Thursday premarket following the results. “While ABNB remains a unique travel company, we … see this steady room night deceleration becoming a headwind to the multiple investors are willing to pay for the company… especially as forward EBITDA/FCF growth is likely to be more predicated on ADRs, take rate, and new product extensions (with inherently higher execution risk),” Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak wrote. Nowak reiterated his underweight rating and $120 price target on shares, implying 17% downside from Wednesday’s close. Bank of America’s Justin Post maintained his neutral rating after the quarterly results. The company’s disappointing second quarter outlook is “consistent with [a] slowing travel sector in 2024,” Post said in a note. Post pulled back his price target by $8 to $160, just 1.3% above where shares closed on Wednesday. He cited concern around the broader demand environment for travel and the company’s margin trajectory as possible headwinds. “Whether management’s initial FY24 Adj EBITDA margin guidance of at least 35% turns out to be conservative will be an important indicator of forward margin trajectory in the coming years, in our view,” Post said in a Thursday research note. Goldman Sachs is more bearish on Airbnb. The firm holds a sell rating on the stock. Meanwhile, analyst Eric Sheridan moved his price target slightly higher to $130 from $123, suggesting around 18% downside. — Hakyung Kim
