HP snags surprise double upgrade at BofA: 6 big analyst picks

Investing.com -- Here is your Pro Recap of the biggest analyst picks you may have missed since yesterday: upgrades at HP, Dow Chemical , Zscaler, Clorox, Fiverr International, and Warby Parker.

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Buffett-backed HP upgraded at BofA

BofA made a surprising call with their double upgrade of HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) - to Buy from the prior Underperform - after a near-25% drop since July after disappointing guidance on the delayed recovery in the PC space and word that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) has started decreasing its HP stake in recent weeks.

The analysts also dramatically hiked the price target - by $8, to $33 per share.

That steep price drop constitutes part of BofA's thesis, as it believes the valuation is now attractive. The analysts also cited its expectation that the company will reach a bottom in free cash flow in fiscal 2023, and for the company to resume capital return activities as a result of this normalization.

They moreover expect HP to achieve growth in overall operating profit dollars, and the company's 4% dividend adds to the appeal for them.

Following the upgrade, HP shares were up 2% to $2.19 in recent trading Tuesday.

Fiverr upgraded at Roth/MKM

Fiverr International (NYSE:FVRR) shares gained more than 2% premarket Tuesday after Roth/MKM upgraded the company to Buy from Neutral with an unchanged price target of $33.00.

The analysts said their model remains "unchanged," but that "we are incremental positive based on our recently completed freelancer buyer and seller survey, stock pullback leading to trough valuation levels, slightly supportive macro trends, and a tailwind from AI gigs and renewed Enterprise offerings."

Shares were recently up 1.9% to $24.49.

Dow gains on KeyBanc upgrade

Dow (NYSE:DOW) shares rose more than 1% premarket Tuesday after KeyBanc upgraded the company to Sector Weight from Underweight, as reported in real-time on InvestingPro.

Last week, JPMorgan upgraded the company to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $55.00.

The company is set to report its Q3/23 earnings on Oct 24. Street estimates stand at $0.44 for EPS and $10.36 billion for revenues.

Shares were near breakeven in recent trading at $51.25.

Clorox earns an upgrade at DA Davidson

DA Davidson upgraded Clorox (NYSE:CLX) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $152.

According to DA Davidson, the stock appears to be discounting the worst, but they believe that, prior to a recent cyberattack, the company's fundamentals were solid:

CLX is -18% since disclosing on August 14th a crippling cyberattack. On Friday, they said all manufacturing sites are now operating. We believe that when CLX quantifies the financial impacts, uncertainty will be reduced and shares could rally.

Shares were lately rising 0.8% to $131.32.

Warby Parker upped to Outperform at Evercore

Evercore ISI upgraded Warby Parker (NYSE:WRBY) to Outperform from In Line with a price target of $20.00.

Shares popped 4.8% to $13.91 in recent trading.

Zscaler surges following Piper Sandler upgrade

Piper Sandler upgraded Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) on Monday to Overweight from Neutral and raised its price target to $190.00 from $160.00. Shares closed the session up more than 3%.

The upgrade is based on the belief that the company will continue to benefit from strong trends in security spending and the momentum in network transformation:

With SASE in early stages of adoption and ZS remaining a top beneficiary of further adoption, we expect this core growth driver to remain durable for the company over the coming years.

Senad Karaahmetovic contributed to this report.

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