Selected stock price target news of the day - July 06, 2023

By: Matthew Otto

Apple Hospitality Acquires Courtyard in Cleveland

Apple Hospitality REIT announced its acquisition of the newly renovated Courtyard by Marriott Cleveland University Circle for $31 million. The 154-room hotel is located at 2021 Cornell Road in Cleveland’s University Circle district and has recently undergone a complete renovation, enhancing its guest rooms, public spaces, meeting facilities, fitness center, and adding one more guest room.

The hotel is located near major league sports stadiums and corporations across multiple industries, which drive additional demand to the area. It is also surrounded by various demand generators, including business, leisure, academic, health care, and medical research sectors.

Following the acquisition, Apple Hospitality’s portfolio now consists of 221 hotels with 29,138 guest rooms spread across 37 states.

Analysts Provide Mixed Reviews on Apple Hospitality REIT’s Performance

Oppenheimer Analyst Tyler Batory maintains an Outperform rating and lowers the price target from $21 to $19.
Barclays Analyst Anthony Powell remains in an Overweight rating and raises the price target from $19 to $20.
Compass Point Analyst Floris van Dijkum downgrades from Buy to Neutral with a price target of $17.

Analyst Anthony Powell (BARCLAYS) has currently the highest performing score on APLE with 4/10 (40%) price target fulfillment ratio. His price targets carry on an average of $3.78 (30.33%) potential upside and are fulfilled within an average of 198 days.

Meta Platforms’ Messaging App Threads Gains Early Traction

Meta Platforms launched its messaging app Threads. According to analysts Threads has the advantage of easy access to billions of Instagram users, a similar interface to Twitter, and the advertising power of Meta, the parent company of Instagram. The app gained traction, with 10 million sign-ups within the first seven hours, including participation from celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Gordon Ramsay.

Threads is built upon the Instagram platform, allowing users to log in with their Instagram credentials. With Instagram’s user base of over 2 billion monthly active users, Threads has a head start compared to Twitter, which had 229 million monthly active users in May 2022. Mastodon, another Twitter-like app, has 1.7 million monthly active users.

Analysts Upgrades Price Targets for Meta Platforms

Keybanc analyst Justin Patterson maintains an Overweight and raises the price target from $280 to $335.
Citigroup analyst Ronald Josey reiterates a Buy rating and raises the price target from $315 to $360.

Analyst Daniel Salmon (BMO) has currently the highest performing score on META with 21/23 (91.3%) price target fulfillment ratio. His price targets carry on an average of $18.89 (8.54%) potential upside and are fulfilled within an average of 81 days.

JetBlue Ends Alliance with American Airlines to Focus on a New Merger

JetBlue Airways announced that it would not appeal a U.S. court’s order to end its alliance with American Airlines Group. The airline is instead initiating the process to wind down the three-year alliance. The termination of this partnership follows a ruling by U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin in May that the so-called “Northeast Alliance” was diminishing competition, an assertion that American Airlines described as “erroneous” and plans to appeal.

Meanwhile, JetBlue is shifting its focus to a proposed $3.8 billion merger with Spirit Airlines. The potential alliance would be the largest merger in the U.S. airline industry since the tie-up between American and US Airways in 2013. The New York-based airline believes that by ending the partnership with American, the objections from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to the Spirit merger become moot. The DOJ had previously attempted to block the merger, citing concerns about potential higher fares and fewer seats for consumers. However, the DOJ has declined to comment on JetBlue’s recent statement.

Analysts Ratings and Price Targets Upgraded for JetBlue Airways

JP Morgan Analyst Jamie Baker upgraded from Underweight to Overweight and the price target from $15 to $25.
Bank of America Analyst Andrew Didora maintained a Neutral rating and raised the price target from $9 to $10.
Cowen Analyst Helane Becker increased the rating from Market Perform to Outperform and set a price target of $24.

Analyst Andrew Didora (BAML) has currently the highest performing score on JBLU with 9/13 (69.23%) price target fulfillment ratio. His price targets carry on an average of $1.46 (13.73%) potential upside and are fulfilled within an average of 86 days.