By Sam Boughedda
Cowen analysts downgraded various stocks to Market Perform from Outperform, including Wayfair (NYSE:W), Sea Ltd (NYSE:SE), Peloton (NASDAQ:PTON), Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT), and Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA), in notes released Tuesday.
They cut Wayfair's price target to $38 per share from $80, telling investors the firm has lowered its '22-'31 revenue and EBITDA estimates on macro headwinds and concerns about consumer demand for the Home category in '23. "While W has taken steps to cut costs and approach EBITDA and FCF positive irrespective of top-line growth, that will take time to work out," the analysts wrote.
Sea Ltd's price target was lowered to $60 from $72, with the analyst stating the downgrade was due to the lack of visibility in both commerce and gaming amid the rise in consumer mobility and challenging demand environment. "The path to EBITDA profitability remains unclear as losses, while shrinking, remain elevated at both Shopee & SEA Money," they said.
Peloton was downgraded on its challenging post-pandemic trajectory and demand uncertainty amid turnaround effort. As a result, its price target was cut to $12 from $14 per share, with the analysts stating the firm's proprietary survey data also reflects a stabilization in consumer interest, but at lower levels relative to pre-pandemic demand.
Lyft's price target was slashed by more than half to $14 from $36, with the downgrade reflecting "near-term challenges." They highlighted higher insurance costs, the potential for revenue per rider to be affected by the weaker consumer, a regulatory overhang, and uncertainty around reaching the 2024 EBITDA guidance.
The analysts significantly reduced Carvana's price target to $10 from $55 per share, stating, "industry & macro headwinds have impacted unit growth and revenue trajectory while lengthening the path to profitability." In addition, they pointed to the fact that recent cost-cutting efforts not resulting in the company meeting 2022 profit targets while carrying a significant debt load.
BuzzFeed Inc (NASDAQ:BZFD), down 14% Tuesday, was cut on uncertainty around monetization of short-form video, the potential for weaker consumers to further affect digital ad spend in 2023, limited roll-up potential due to market conditions, and the near-term commerce outlook amid reopenings. Cowen cut the firm's price target on BuzzFeed to $2 from $3.
Finally, AdTheorent's (NASDAQ:ADTH) price target was reduced to $2.50 from 44 per share, with the Cowen analyst telling investors the firm has lowered its '22-'27 rev and EBITDA est's on heightened macro headwinds and weakened adv. sentiment. "While ADTH's privacy-forward, data-driven DSP offers a compelling solution for advertisers, we view the N-T macro environment as less supportive to ad budgets expanding to ADTH's emerging platform," the analysts explained.