Anika Begay
(This is Vscek Pro’s live coverage of Tuesday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Refresh every 20-30 minutes to see the latest posts.) A chipmaker and a struggling cybersecurity stock were among the stocks analysts talked about Tuesday. Morgan Stanley named Taiwan Semiconductor a top pick. Meanwhile, Piper Sandler upgraded CrowdStrike from neutral to overweight. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times are ET. 5:49 a.m.: Piper Sandler ups CrowdStrike, says investors should buy the dip Piper Sandler thinks CrowdStrike can bounce back strongly from the crises surrounding global tech disruption and that investors should take advantage of the event. Analyst Rob Owens upgraded the global cybersecurity company to overweight from neutral and lowered his price target by $20 to $290, implying a 30.6% upside. While he lowered his target due to the stock’s lower estimates, he thinks the stock is now trading at a compelling risk/reward level. CrowdStrike shares have plunged 43% in the past month since the company released a software update that affected millions of computers running Microsoft’s Windows operating system, causing global disruptions across multiple industries. Delta Air Lines is seeking damages from CrowdStrike and Microsoft following the outage. CRWD 1M mountain CRWD 1-mo chart Owens thinks CrowdStrike “did a good job” of managing the global outage and preserving customer relationships. Its strong cash flow generation and insurance for such incidents should help cushion Delta’s lawsuit costs, Owens said. “While the near-term news cycle will likely revolve around litigation/settlements, congressional testimony and subsequent cuts to pre- and F’2Q earnings numbers, the ramifications of the event will likely be more short-lived and negligible in our view,” Owens said in a Tuesday note. “With shares down sharply for the month, we believe investors should build opportunistic positions at current levels.” — Pia Singh 5:49 a.m.: Morgan Stanley Names Taiwan Semiconductor a Top Pick Investors should consider buying the recent decline in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor, according to Morgan Stanley. The bank named the chipmaker a Top Pick, maintaining an overweight rating on the stock. Its NT$1,200 price target implies a 36.4% upside. TSM mountain 2024-06-28 TSM Q3 Taiwan Semiconductor has been under pressure this quarter as investors have trimmed exposure to technology winners after a strong start to the year. The U.S.-listed stock is down 14.9% Q1. “We like the quality and defensive nature of TSMC during an extended semi-downcycle. Confirmation of rising prices and continued strength in AI capex should be key catalysts,” wrote analyst Charlie Chan. “After the recent broad sector sell-off, we think TSMC is attractive again at 16x our 2025 EPS estimate with superior business operations and financial outlook,” Chan added. — Fred Imbert
