These reports, excerpted and edited by Barron's, were issued recently by investment and research firms. The reports are a sampling of analysts' thinking; they should not be considered the views or recommendations of Barron's. Some of the reports' issuers have provided, or hope to provide, investment-banking or other services to the companies being analyzed.

Chewy -- CHWY-NYSE Outperform -- $34.32 on March 5 by Mizuho Chewy shares are recouping some of yesterday's decline, given positive commentary from Chief Financial Officer David Reeder at an industry conference. Chewy does not discuss intraquarter trends, and will report fourth-quarter results in the coming weeks. Indications of reaching an active customer "inflection point" further support our top pick status.

Our latest high frequency data indicate that net active customers are set to grow on a year-over-year basis for the first time in eight quarters, with Chewy leaning into high return-on-investment marketing spend. This should unlock further profitability gains ahead on top of building healthcare and sponsored-ads initiatives. Target price: $42.

Chesapeake Utilities -- CPK-NYSE Buy -- $127.26 on March 5 by Siebert Williams Shank While 2024 recurring EPS were a few cents below our expectations, and only an increase of 1.6% for the year, 2024 recurring EPS were fairly exceptional, given the unfavorably warm weather for most of the year...Nearly all company subsegments produced material increases in earnings for the year...Perhaps most important, the company's guidance and 2024 results suggest that it remains on a path to its 2028 long-term growth expectations, in our view.

With a return to more normal weather, the propane business should be a tailwind for 2025..... Continuing strong local-distribution-company customer growth, likely material base rate increases, capital tracking mechanisms, and new capital project benefits should also help produce strong 2025 EPS growth of near 15%. Target price: $142.

Halozyme Therapeutics -- HALO-Nasdaq Buy -- $58.14 on March 5 by Benchmark The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that Halozyme believes that Merck has infringed on Halozyme's patents with its new subcutaneous injectable formulation of Keytruda.

The SubQ Keytruda is currently under review by the FDA for approval to potentially supplement or even replace sales of intravenous Keytruda...Merck uses an enzyme made by South Korea-based Alteogen, but Merck has also recently petitioned the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to reconsider seven of Halozyme's Mdase patents -- stating that they are too broad...

If Merck is forced to sign a license agreement for its SubQ version of Keytruda or agrees to sign an agreement with Halozyme voluntarily, the potential royalty revenue for this new formulation of Keytruda could bring in a 20% to 30% boost to 2024 revenue. Target price: $75.

Sea Ltd. -- SE-NYSE Buy $132.31 on March 5 by Benchmark Sea [a tech conglomerate headquartered in Singapore] maintained its strong track record in fourth-quarter 2024, closing out the year on a high note with outperformance across all segments in both revenue and profitability.

Furthermore, the company guided above expectations for fiscal-year 2025, anticipating e-commerce gross merchandise volume up 20% Y/Y (versus the Street's 17%), along with improved profitability.

[Game developer and publisher] Garena is expected to see double-digit Y/Y growth in bookings and users, despite a high base, while [digital payments and financial-services provider] SeaMoney's loan book growth is set to significantly outpace GMV. As a result, we have raised our fiscal-2025 estimates and our price target to $150.

AutoZone -- AZO-NYSE Outperform -- $3,477.76 on March 4 by Mizuho AutoZone shares are slightly positive in a messy consumer tape today. We look favorably on the sequential top-line improvement in the fiscal second quarter and expectations for another in the third quarter, despite some earnings juice being squeezed by foreign exchange pressures. Management was clear that: 1) Immigration policies have not had an observable impact on sales to date, although they could materialize, given AutoZone's presence near the U.S.-Mexico border; 2) Relatively inelastic category demand and the lower ticket nature of the business should provide a cushion against newly announced tariffs; 3) Automation is a new positive lever going into several distribution channels and shaving down delivery times, similar to recent developments at O'Reilly.

We expect AutoZone to remain a relative outperformer in this market, given defensive growth qualities, a more padded business model against tariffs, and signs of a budding rebound within commercial. Raising price target to $3,740.

Roper Technologies -- ROP-Nasdaq Outperform -- $585.81 on March 5 by Oppenheimer We hosted investor meetings with Roper Technologies CEO Neil Hunn and CFO Jason Conley last week in New York. We sensed that Roper remains under the radar for many software investors. Roper has industrial roots but has transitioned its portfolio of businesses over the past decade to vertical software leaders today (about 75% of revenue).

Management reaffirmed its belief that the mergers-and-acquisitions pipeline is increasingly attractive, setting up for a potentially active year. Roper Technologies noted that despite the small number of private-equity exits in fiscal 2024, the team still deployed about $3.5 billion on M&A. Price target: $640.

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March 07, 2025 14:45 ET (19:45 GMT)

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