Here are Friday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Deutsche Bank reiterates Peloton as buy Deutsche Bank said it’s staying bullish on shares of Peloton after the company’s earnings report on Thursday. “Taking a step back, we think the key reason to be bullish on PTON from here has more to do with the potential for the company to open up new revenue streams via strategic partnerships and add-on services, many of which might be little more than abstracts on a white board or initial conversations with potential future partners at this point.” William Blair resumes Ulta as outperform William Blair resumed coverage of the beauty company and said it’s staying bullish after its robust earnings report on Thursday. ” Ulta Beauty reported strong results for its second quarter ended July. Strength was driven by comp-sales upside—as the beauty category is proving to be more resilient than other discretionary categories—and strong flow-through to the bottom line.” Read more about this call here . Jefferies reiterates Tesla as buy Jefferies said after a meeting with Tesla management that the automaker is “leading industry transformation.” “A day of investor meetings and a visit to Berlin’s new plant keep us convinced Tesla is leading industry transformation with a business model driven by resource efficiency.” Daiwa downgrades Union Pacific to neutral from outperform Daiwa downgraded the railroad company mainly on valuation. “We downgrade UNP stock to 3/Neutral from 2/Outperform as, in our view, earnings estimates & current valuations largely reflect above industry revenue growth potential and manageable wage inflation in 2023.” Deutsche Bank upgrade FactSet to buy from hold Deutsche said the financial data analytics company has a resilient business model. “We’ve been warming up to the FactSet story since our initiation as we’ve come to learn more about the company at its April investor day and meetings we hosted with new CFO Linda Huber in June. Valuation had previously kept us on the sidelines but we’ve come to appreciate the company’s resilient business model (enterprise-based pricing), top-line growth opportunities.” Citi opens a positive catalyst watch on GSK Citi opened a positive catalyst watch on the biopharma company formerly known as GlaxoSmithKline and said the company now has reduced exposure to the battle over Zantac. “We open a 90-day positive catalyst watch following potential Zantac legal developments that could materially reduce GSK’ s exposure, versus the $17bn being discounted.” Read more about this call here. Evercore ISI adds Rite Aid to the tactical outperform list Evercore ISI added the drug store chain to its tactical outperform list, noting it’s bullish heading into earnings. The firm reiterated its long-term underperform rating. “Post our NDR (non deal roadshow) with RAD management yesterday we are adding RAD to our TAP Outperform list given a number of positive catalysts into the company’s FY2Q results (end of September).” Seaport upgrades Hibbett Sports to buy from neutral Seaport said in its upgrade of the sporting goods store that it’s well positioned throughout the rest of 2022. “First, the BTS (back to school) shift already mentioned, which the company didn’t quantify but called it a “meaningful number.” Second, some launch products got pushed out of 2Q23 into 3Q23. Third, HIBB is a beneficiary of NKE’s wholesale distribution rationalization, which is expected to become more impactful over the balance of the year, with 4Q when FL gets scaled back on high-heat product. Bank of America upgrades First Solar to buy from neutral Bank of America said in its upgrade of First Solar that the Inflation Reduction Act is not yet priced in to the stock. “Since then, IRA was signed into law, and recent conversations with management lend confidence to baking in significant valuation uplift from IRA credits.” Read more about this call here. Guggenheim reiterates Dollar Tree and Dollar General as buy Guggenheim said investors should buy Dollar General now and Dollar Tree later. “Our DG estimates and PT rise, the latter to $270 from $250, to reflect a robust top line and material gross margin expansion while we lower our DLTR forecasts and PT (to $170 from $185) to reflect greater-than-we-expected price investments in the FDO segment. Bottom line, we believe DG ‘s above-average top- and bottom-line momentum should drive outperformance at least through year-end while DLTR’s superior risk/reward profile should serve investors well beginning in early 2023.” Read more about this call here . CFRA reiterates Apple as buy CFRA said it’s very bullish on Apple’ s lineup of new products expected to be announced on Sept. 7. “We see upside to consensus view in the Sep-Q, on earlier product launch/higher pricing, while the Dec-Q appears reasonable.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Affirm as overweight Morgan Stanley kept its buy rating on the stock after its earnings report and said the company is “pushing through turbulence.” ” Affirm is pushing through economic and credit cycle turbulence, even if those forces are having modest adverse impact on near-term growth trajectory.” Argus downgrades Zoom to hold from buy Argus downgraded Zoom after its recent earnings report and says the telecommunications company is a “former pandemic star.” “The former pandemic star has fallen to earth and been further battered by recent Tech sector and market selloffs.” Wells Fargo downgrades Centene to equal weight from overweight Wells downgraded the managed health care solutions company after a California decision to transfer the Medicaid program to Molina Health. “On 8/25, the California Department of Health Care Services announced contract awards for the state’s Medicaid Managed Care program. Beyond the structural headwinds that were already known and generally understood, the awards represent pretty close to a worst-case outcome for CNC with the crown jewel of the CA Medicaid program (Los Angeles county) set to transition from CNC to MOH.”
