4 big analyst cuts: Target slashed to Neutral after Q2 Earnings

Here is your Pro Recap of the biggest analyst cuts you may have missed since yesterday: downgrades at Target, Certara, Xcel Energy, and Evercore Partners.

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Target cut to Neutral following Q2 earnings

Daiwa Securities downgraded Target (NYSE:TGT) to Neutral from Outperform and cut its price target to $134.00 from $163.00, as reported in real time on InvestingPro.

Last week, the company reported its Q2 results, with EPS of $1.80 coming in better than the consensus estimate of $1.47, while revenue of $24.8 billion missed expectations.

Furthermore, the company cut its 2024 EPS guidance to $7.00-8.00 from $7.75-8.75. Analysts were widely expecting Target to lower its guidance with the delivered cut seen by the market as better than feared.

Certara slashed at Jefferies

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT) shares fell more than 1% pre-market today after Jefferies downgraded the company to Hold from Buy and cut its price target to $17.00 from $24.50.

According to Jefferies, challenges persist in the Reg Services segment and new obstacles in the Biosim sector, making it less likely for the company to experience growth in 2024.

"Sales force changes and turnover in Reg Services and Sales leadership suggest unresolved strategy. Though mgt telegraphed soft 2Q demand, the ~25% bookings miss was worse than expected and an abrupt change from CERT's 1Q update."

Two more downgrades

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) shares fell more than 1% pre-market today after BofA Securities downgraded the company to Neutral from Buy and cut its price target to $60.00 from $72.00.

Goldman Sachs downgraded Evercore Partners (NYSE:EVR) to Neutral from Buy and cut its price target to $140.00 from $158.00.

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