4 big analyst picks: Carnival gains on upgrade, Citi raised to Buy following Q2

Here is your Pro Recap of the biggest analyst picks you may have missed since yesterday: upgrades at Carnival, Citigroup, UnitedHealth, and Casey's General Stores.

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Carnival gains on Argus upgrade

Carnival (NYSE:CCL) shares gained more than 3% yesterday after Argus upgraded the company to Buy from Hold with a price target of $21.00.

The rating change was driven by several factors. Firstly, the company has increased its marketing spending, which is expected to boost revenue. Additionally, Carnival has improved its liquidity with $7.3 billion as of the end of Q2/23. Furthermore, the firm highlighted Carnival's efforts to reduce debt, as it allows them to avoid issuing new shares.

Carnival is also making its fleet more efficient by disposing of 20 older, less fuel-efficient ships and replacing them with twelve higher-yielding ships over the past three years. "Our long-term BUY rating reflects the company's strong free cash flow and recent record booking volumes," added the firm.

Citigroup earns an upgrade following Q2 earnings

Odeon Capital upgraded Citigroup (NYSE:C) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $50.51 following the company’s quarterly earnings report last week, highlighted by a decrease in profits due to a slowdown in dealmaking.

According to Odeon Capital, the bank performed poorly in trading fixed income, rates, currencies, and equities compared to the previous year. However, the firm believes this negative trend is not expected to persist due to the stabilization of the markets and increased volatility of the dollar.

Every aspect of investment banking did unusually poorly, largely influenced by the weakness in the overall markets. However, Odeon mentioned that since June, there has been a positive shift in these markets, and this positive trend is anticipated to continue for several quarters.

2 more upgrades

UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) shares gained more than 3% yesterday after Bernstein upgraded the company to Outperform from Market Perform and raised its price target to $603.00 from $595.00, as reported in real time on InvestingPro.

We are upgrading UNH to Outperform on attractive valuation, potential for hardening pricing in 2024, and attractive LT growth in value based care, government MCO and OptumInsights.

The company reported its Q2 earnings last week, with both EPS and revenue coming in better than the consensus estimates.

Credit Suisse upgraded Casey's General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its price target to $285.00 from $235.00. Shares rose more than 2% yesterday.

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