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Brokers: Papa John’s looks tasty to KeyBanc

Last updated: 09:50 20 Jul 2016 EDT, First published: 04:50 20 Jul 2016 EDT

store front of a Papa John's shop

Pizza company Papa John’s International Inc. (NASDAQ:PIZZA) has been upgraded to ‘overweight’ from ‘sector weight’ by KeyBanc Capital Markets.

The broker also set a target price of US$80, 16% above its current trading level and said Papa John’s could benefit as more people opt to eat in rather than go out for meals.

The move comes after Nomura downgraded the stock, as well as that of fellow pizza firm Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (NYSE:DPZ), only a few weeks’ ago, citing concerns that traffic incidents among delivery drivers might push up insurance costs.

Microsoft enjoyed a good day with the brokers, with UBS, Stifel and Citi all raising their stock targets for the technology firm.

The software giant posted a US$3.1bln profit in the three months to June yesterday, helped by sUBStantial growth in its cloud computing unit.

Elsewhere, Jefferies International raised its target price for retail giant Wal-Mart Stores , Inc. to US$85 from US$82.

Defence firm Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) also had its stock price target upgraded by Jefferies, which moved it up to US$240 from US$220.

Panera Bread Co (NASDAQ:PNRA) started at outperform with a US$250 stock price target by RBC Capital.

UBS wasn’t as kind to high-end hotel operator Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN), downgrading it from a ‘buy’ recommendation to ‘neautral.

Telco business Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) was also downgraded, this time by Oppenheimer, to ‘perform’ from ‘outperform’.  

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