Here are Friday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Morgan Stanley reiterates Apple as overweight Morgan Stanley said the tech giant continues to be a “highly debated stock” among investors the firm talked to. ” Apple was, by far, the most highly debated name during our travels. Sentiment was split 65%neutral to cautious vs. 35% neutral to positive, with no major difference in sentiment between North American vs. European investor.” Bank of America reiterates Amazon as buy Bank of America said early data shows that the e-commerce giant’s Prime early access day was lighter on sales than Amazon’s July Prime event. “We estimate $8bn in gross merchandise value (GMV) for the two-day event, down from $10.7bn in GMV for the July event (a 25% decline). Wedbush initiates AppLovin as outperform Wedbush said it’s bullish on the software company’s long-term growth. “We expect AppLovin to deliver robust top- and bottom-line expansion for the foreseeable future driven by positive momentum within its core AppDiscovery, MAX, AppLovin Exchange, and Adjust solutions.” Wells Fargo reiterates Tesla as equal weight Wells cut its price target on shares of the automaker to $230 per share from $280 and said it’s concerned about rising interest rates. ” TSLA will report Q3 EPS post-close on Oct 19th. We forecast a slight Q3 beat as the benefit of pricing will likely be offset by FX headwinds.” Read more about this call here. JPMorgan downgrades Northrop Grumman to neutral from overweight JPMorgan downgraded the defense company mainly on valuation. “Strategically, we think Northrop has a strong sense of what it is and where it’s going, while on capital deployment, investors appreciate NOC’s predictable cash return, even if buying stock back right now is less compelling.” Read more about this call here . Bank of America downgrades Nasdaq to underperform from buy Bank of America said in its double downgrade of the exchange and markets company that it sees volume headwinds. “Although our total return is positive, it places NDAQ at the low end of our coverage. Our thesis reflects its premium valuation as well as several risk factors for 2023 including volume headwinds, retail disengagement, and Market Tech growth deceleration.” Barclays downgrades FIGS to equal weight from overweight Barclays said in its downgrade of the healthcare apparel company that it sees slowing top-line growth. “Despite our longer-term view of the growth potential for FIGS as a premium healthcare apparel brand, the current weakening demand backdrop, increasing acquisition costs, and potential for slowing top-line growth cause us to move to Equal Weight.” Loop initiates Micron as buy Loop says it sees upside potential for shares of Micron . “Memory remains a cyclical industry and since peaking in 3Q21, the industry has been in a prolonged downturn and accelerated in recent months. We expect DRAM fundamentals to bottom in 1H23, with the share price typically bottoming a couple of quarters ahead.” Read more about this call here. Citi adds a positive catalyst watch on Abercrombie & Fitch Citi added a positive catalyst watch on the stock and said the business has challenges but the brand is “strong.” “Furthermore, the A & F brand is strong, and while overall business is weak, we do not believe it hasn’t worsened materially since 2Q (and we expect progress on clearing thru inventory to be a positive in 3Q).” Credit Suisse downgrades Stanley Black & Decker to neutral from overweight Credit Suisse said in its downgrade of Stanley Black & Decker that it sees “interest rate challenges.” “We are revising ratings, targets and estimates for building products companies due to affordability challenges resulting from higher mortgage rates.” Read more about this call here. Cowen upgrades Delta to outperform from market perform Cowen said in its upgrade of Delta that the revenue mix is “attractive.” ” DAL reported 3Q22 earnings slightly below our estimates, mostly due to Hurricane Ian. 4Q looks strong as business and international traffic return.” Read more about this call here. Baird names Crocs and Deckers as fresh picks Baird named Crocs and Deckers as fresh picks and said it sees “appeal for structurally improved businesses and others with disconnected valuation.” “Investor interest may be improving recently, and for those willing to accept heightened volatility, we see appeal for structurally improved businesses and others with disconnected valuation.” UBS reiterates Netflix as neutral UBS said it’s cautiously optimistic on the streaming giant’s opportunity with its ad-supported tier but it will take patience for investors. “We believe Netflix’s new ad-supported tier will be accretive to LT revenues & profitability but the business will likely take time to scale. Citi reiterates Netflix as buy Citi said it’s standing by its buy rating on Netflix heading into earnings later this month. “We believe the prevailing sentiment on Netflix’s equity remains muted. Investors cite three issues: 1) several unknows including the potential incremental demand from lower consumer prices, 2) the degree of success may not be known until 2H23 and 3) with prevailing market conditions, most investors are keen to preserve capital rather than take on incremental risk.” Morgan Stanley names AbbVie as a catalyst driven idea Morgan Stanley said it sees a new “pipeline opportunity” as the biopharma company looks to develop new products. ” ABBV is working to develop what essentially can be thought of as a more targeted steroid. We expect the company to report data from a Ph2b trial of pipeline drug ABBV-154 (anti-TNF ADC) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) before YE.” Piper Sandler initiates Blue Owl as overweight Piper said the capital markets company has a “best in class” earnings growth trajectory. “While the near-term may be choppy until we get clarity around potential default levels in this economic environment, we expect OWL’ s earnings growth to outperform peers through 2023 given its lack of exposure to carry or investment income volatility and the relatively higher visibility provides more conviction around its ability to achieve its stated targets.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Sunrun and Plug Power as overweight Morgan Stanley said the selloff in clean tech is overdone. “We have highest conviction in OW-rated PLUG and RUN at these levels, but flag a number of other clean tech names with outsized moves to the downside that don’t appear warranted.”
