Raymond James upgrades ratings for EverQuote and Progressive Corp, downgrades Hagerty

EverQuote

26/12/2024 13:43

** Brokerage Raymond James updates ratings of insurance
companies EverQuote  EVER.O , Progressive Corp  PGR.N  and
Hagerty  HGTY.N  
    ** Upgrades EVER to "strong buy" from "outperform"; shares
up ~7% at $19.73 premarket
    ** Says that while co produced solid results YTD, pending
FCC rule change about lead generation affected recent stock
performance 
    ** Says that although rule change could depress revenue
growth and elevate costs in near term, demand for co's leads are
expected to be stronger in 2025, 2026
    ** Upgrades PGR to "outperform" from "market perform", says
co's long-term record of growth and value creation makes it a
core holding for large-cap growth investors
    ** Sees PGR topping among large caps in brokerage's annual
'Return on Beginning Equity' table in 2025, 2026
    ** Downgrades HGTY to "underperform" from "market perform",
cites co's premium valuation vs personal auto and insurance
brokerage peers
    ** Brokerage, however, sees co generating strong top-line
growth in 2025 on strategic partnerships and expanding
membership base
    ** Up to last close, EVER, PGR and HGTY stock has risen
49.6%, 52.7 and 29.6% respectively, YTD

 (Reporting by Neil J Kanatt in Bengaluru)
 ((Neil.JKanatt@thomsonreuters.com;))