JPMorgan double upgrades Wayfair, says it's time to buy the beaten-down furniture stock

Published Mon, Jan 23 20236:31 AM ESTUpdated Mon, Jan 23 20238:57 AM EST

JPMorgan said Wayfair shares are cheap right now, and it's time to buy them. Analyst Christopher Horvers double upgraded the stock to overweight from underweight, citing improving market share trends and a better grasp on spending from management. Horvers also raised the price target to $63 from $35. His new target reflects an upside of 34.6% over Friday's closing price. "We are upgrading Wayfair to Overweight from Underweight given a positive shift in market share trends and management's newfound commitment to controlling expenses/investments, which combined, should cause a significant inflection in earnings revisions from steeply negative over the past two years to positive, on top of still-attractive valuation," he said in a note Monday to clients. The stock gained more than 7% in the premarket. The stock got a boost last week after Wayfair unveiled a cost-reduction plan that includes a 10% workforce reduction. However, the analyst still sees significant upside beyond the jump. Wayfair is up 42.3% so far in 2023, making up some of the 82.7% drop in 2022. Horvers said Wayfair remains relevant to home retailing because of its leading assortment of products, even though the market has a bleaker view of its position. Wayfair should also feel tailwinds from improving availability and delivery speeds compared with a year ago. On top of that, he said the company benefited by being able to avoid the promotional environment that traditional retailers have had to lean on in recent months as they attempt to move gluts of inventory. Improving sales performance and a "newfound cost discipline" seen within management taken together should help earnings revisions to move positively from the strongly downward movement over the past two years, according to Horvers. The company has already reported sales trends improving over the fourth quarter, he added. Horvers said it is finally a good time to consider buying Wayfair after the stock burned its Covid "excess" share value. Its price is about 80% off the start of 2021 and 43% below its pre-Covid price, he noted. He added that the stock is trading on the lower end of the enterprise-value-to-sales multiple. — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.