Here are Thursday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Goldman Sachs reiterates Netflix as sell Goldman said it’s standing by its sell rating heading into earnings next week. “In terms of the upcoming earnings report, we expect NFLX to report an inline (to possibly slight upside) subscriber performance compared to our modeling on the back of the fact that its global password crackdown extended to only four additional markets in Q1 (against our perception that churn would be elevated with a more accelerated rollout of the initiative in 1H 2023).” Deutsche Bank adds a catalyst call buy on Enphase Energy Deutsche said it’s bullish on the solar company’s opportunities in Europe. “ENPH is our top long-term Buy idea, as we remain bullish on the company’s market positioning with growth opportunities in the European market.” Read more about this call here. Morgan Stanley upgrades WWE to overweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley said the UFC- WWE combination creates an attractive risk/reward. “We think this pending UFC-WWE transaction creates value in three primary ways.” Citi upgrades Merck to buy from neutral Citi said in its upgrade of the pharmaceutical company that it has an underappreciated pipeline of products. “We believe the market underappreciates MRK’ s pipeline, including cardiovascular assets sotatercept and oral.” Read more about this call here . William Blair initiates Costco as outperform William Blair said the big box retailer is “well positioned in an uncertain environment.” “We are initiating coverage of Costco with an Outperform rating as we expect the strong value proposition, engaged membership, efficient operations, and long runway for growth support further market share expansion.” Baird reiterates Tesla as a top pick Baird said Tesla is best positioned to weather the macro storm. ” TSLA’s leadership in scale, technology, manufacturing, cost, and depth of talent continue to differentiate it from competitors. We believe TSLA is best positioned to weather economic headwinds which appear imminent for 2H23 and believe the long-term setup is strong.” Wells Fargo names Wynn a top pick Wells said the casino company has a “clear path to upward estimate revisions.” “Macau’s recovering, WYNN’s maintaining share, and the question is becoming when, not if, WYNN returns to ’19 EBITDA.” Deutsche Bank names a catalyst buy on Sherwin-Williams Deutsche said the paint company’s earnings scheduled for later this month should “alleviate” investor concerns. “We are adding Sherwin as a Catalyst Call Buy. Sherwin shares have been in the proverbial penalty box since its Q4 release on January 26 when its shares fell 9% following ’23 EPS guidance that was was 18% below consensus.” Evercore ISI adds a tactical outperform on Meta and Spotify Evercore said Meta remains cheap heading into earnings later this month. The firm also said Spotify is at a “gross margin inflection point” ahead of its earnings report in late April. “#1 META remains the cheapest of the high-quality ‘Net and Tech Stocks with three under-appreciated product cycles likely to help generate a return to double-digit revenue growth. … . SPOT is on the verge (finally) of a Gross Margin inflection point, with record-high MAU growth and a pending price increase.” Credit Suisse upgrades Novo Nordisk to outperform from perform Credit Suisse said it sees “further outperformance” for the pharmaceutical company due to growth in its Novo’s obesity drug, Wegovy. “We expect the magnitude of likely upgrades driven by visible 1Q Rx trends to drive further outperformance, and hence we upgrade our rating to Outperform (from Neutral).” Mizuho initiates General Motors as neutral Mizuho said in its initiation of the automaker that it is in a transition phase. “We are initiating on General Motors with a Neutral rating and $39 PT. GM has 1) a BROAD consumer-commercial EV portfolio (currently only ~2% of mix), 2) an ambitious EV ramp to 1M/yr in N.A. and 2M/yr globally by 2025 > Credit Suisse reiterates Apple as outperform Credit Suisse said it’s bullish heading into Apple earnings May 4. “We believe iPhone demand was resilient during the quarter and therefore raise our revenue estimate to $93.27 billion from $92.19 billion (above consensus of $92.51 billion) and our EPS estimate to $1.45 from $1.43.” Citi upgrades Steven Madden to buy from neutral Citi said in its upgrade of the shoe company that it sees “better wholesale trends” for Steven Madden. “We are upgrading shares from Neutral to Buy and opening a positive catalyst watch ahead of 1Q23 results (BMO 4/26). We anticipate a modest 1Q beat, but importantly we expect mgmt to talk more optimistically about wholesale trends, suggesting upside in 2Q/F23.” Read more about this call here. Oppenheimer reiterates McDonald’s as a top pick Oppenheimer said it sees upside to Street estimates for the fast food giant. ” MCD remains a ‘top pick’ despite shares elevating to all-time highs, vs S & P -14% below its peak.” Citi opens a positive catalyst watch on Pepsi Citi said it’s bullish heading into earnings later this month. “At PEP, we are opening a 30-day positive catalyst watch as we expect topline upside in the U.S. on strong scanner data trends and continued momentum in EMs, which should drive upside in Q1 and 2023 given conservative guidance.” Citi opens a positive catalyst watch on Chipotle Citi said it’s bullish heading into Chipotle earnings later this month. “We believe a re-acceleration in SSS(same-store sales)/traffic can reassure investors that 4Q was a unique instance of a difficult promo lap and that underlying demand for the brand remains strong, with through-put initiatives a clear path to improving sales levels as the brand moves into its peak volume period.” Mizuho reiterates Coinbase as underperform Mizuho said in a note that it’s standing by its underperform rating on the stock as Coinbase volume fades even as Bitcoin rallies. “Investors excited about Bitcoin’s rally to $30K might be in for a rough awakening when they realize that it didn’t boost trading volumes at COIN.” Oppenheimer upgrades Blackstone to outperform from perform Oppenheimer said it sees an attractive entry point in shares of the asset and investment management company. “We have long admired Blackstone as a company but have been held back by its high valuation relative to others in the group.” UBS reiterates General Electric as buy UBS said the company is “defensive and well positioned.” “While much has changed since our August refresh (mostly valuation–GE Refresh), one thing remains clear: GE exposure is defensive & well positioned for the macro at hand w/ each business lines seeing low-risk +ve rate of change into both ’23 – ’24.” UBS downgrades JD.com to neutral from buy UBS said in its downgrade of the China e-commerce company that it sees competitive headwinds. “We believe JD could undergo a longer adjustment period, in order to improve its product selection and user experience for value oriented shopper.” Deutsche Bank downgrades First Solar to hold from buy Deutsche said in its downgrade of the solar company that it sees better opportunities elsewhere. “We downgrade First Solar to Hold, although we increase our price target to $230 (now based on a 2024e P/E multiple, with higher net cash in 24e), as we believe that this is an opportune moment for investors to look for better risk/reward elsewhere, after FSLR’s stock rally of 45% since early November.” Read more about this call here .
