US Top Rating Updates on 9/22: NKE, SQ, LLY, NVAX and More

Mizuho analyst Dan Dolev downgraded $Block(SQ.US)$ to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $57, down from $125. After years of rightfully being deemed the most innovative name in payments, "user fatigue, plateauing inflows, loss of the best-of-breed" point of sale status, and buy now pay later "misexecution" are blocking Block's growth, Dolev tells investors in a research.

UBS analyst Colin Bristow upgraded $Eli Lilly and Co(LLY.US)$ to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $363, up from $335. The analyst now views Eli Lilly as the most attractive name in large cap pharma, with the greatest potential upside to estimates. Mounjaro's SURMOUNT-1 readout was a best-in-class dataset with greater than 20% weight loss and "several underappreciated metrics" which should ultimately drive sales to $25B, Bristow tells investors in a research note.

JPMorgan analyst Eric Joseph downgraded $Novavax(NVAX.US)$ to Underweight from Neutral with a price target of $27, down from $132. Despite the "weak" Q2 print and downward revenue guidance revision for fiscal 2022, recent COVID vaccine dynamics in Europe and U.S. suggest further guidance cuts are in the offing, while also pointing to mid- and longer-term headwinds to meaningful Nuvaxovid uptake, Joseph tells investors in a research note.