Here are Wednesday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Needham initiates Sovos Brands as buy Citi said Sovos’ Brands Rao’s Tomato Sauce will be a $1 billion brand in the next three-to-four years. ” Sovos Brands is a US food company that sells premium sauces, frozen meals, and yogurt products under the Rao’s, Michael Angelo’s, and Noosa brands. The company’s primary growth driver is Rao’s, a brand of Italian-style pasta sauces, soups and meals made from premium, all natural ingredients that accounts for 70%+ of revs.” Bernstein names Amazon a top pick Bernstein raised its price target on Amazon to $140 per share from $125 and said it sees an “appealing near-term set-up.” “Narrative to match improving fundamentals. Bear case quiets down = re-rating.” Wedbush reiterates Apple as outperform Wedbush said it’s bullish heading into its Worldwide Developer’s Conference next week. ” Apple will be kicking off its annual WWDC in Cupertino next week with all eyes on Cook’s keynote Monday to set the tone for developers and announce new products.” Goldman Sachs initiates SeaWorld as buy Goldman said the theme park has pricing power. ” SEAS high exposure to the growing Orlando market offers admissions pricing power while increasing mobile app penetration and new park investments should support in-park spending per-cap growth going forward.” Read more about this call here . Citi reiterates Anheuser-Busch InBev as buy Citi said investors should buy the dip in the beer giant. “The latest data shows little sign that consumers are moving on from the Bud Light controversy and we expect these issues will continue to weigh on investor sentiment. Nevertheless, we believe the pullback creates an interesting entry point for longer-term investors.” Deutsche Bank upgrades Avis to buy from hold Deutsche said the rental car company that it has upside potential. “We are upgrading CAR to Buy from Hold, with our price target moving to $263 (from $239), which implies 61% upside potential from current levels.” Read more about this call here . Baird reiterates Mobileye as a top idea Baird said investors should buy any volatility in the stock for the long term. “While the stock offers upside to our revised target at current levels, we would also look to capitalize on any potential near-term volatility for investors with a longer-term view. MBLY remains our top idea for 2023 overall.” UBS initiates Argenx as buy UBS said it’s very bullish on the European biotech company. ” Argenx is a European biotech company. Its flagship drug, Vyvgart, is the first-in-class anti-FcRn biologic for autoimmune rare diseases.” Baird upgrades Xylem to outperform from neutral Baird said it sees numerous catalysts ahead for the water solutions company. “Upgrading to Outperform on a combination of estimate upside potential (organically at both legacy XYL and Evoqua), merger benefits (cost and revenue synergies, additive to growth/margin profile), attractive long-term earnings power, and recent pullback (dislocation related to deal closure). Wells Fargo names American Express a top pick Wells said American Express is a top pick in a recession scenario. “In a tougher recession and sharp travel fall-off where revenue growth is cut in half, we estimate mid to high single digit EPS risk, implying an excellent risk/reward given valuation. Their ability to flex peak investment expense is a powerful lever.” Read more about this call here. Wells Fargo names CrowdStrike, Zscaler and Palo Alto Networks top picks Wells named several cybersecurity companies as top picks and said it thinks the “spending environment will continue to improve through the remainder of the year.” “Our top picks are PANW, CRWD and ZS , which are all highly levered to the top growth segments of the market and are expanding Operating and FCF margins.” KeyBanc downgrades Ambarella to sector weight from overweight Key said the semiconductor company’s AI pivot has worrisome trends. “While we maintain that AMBA has great technology, IP, and potential, we recommend investors now be Sector Weight, and await more meaningful proofpoints.” JPMorgan upgrades Chevron to neutral from underweight JPMorgan upgraded Chevron mainly on valuation. “Valuation Now in Line and Defensive Characteristics Becoming More Important.” Mizuho initiates Five9 as buy Mizuho said it sees Five9 as an “AI opportunity, not a threat.” ” Five9 is a pure-play Contact Center-as-a-Service (CCaaS) vendor that should benefit from 1) the migration to the cloud in contact centers; and 2) the automation of customer interactions with Generative AI.” Citi reiterates Nvidia as buy Citi said investors should “stay long” in shares of Nvidia. “We estimate all three announcements depict NVIDIA’s effort to lean on its existing AI accelerator dominance to establish a robust presence in what is potentially for the company a mostly untapped combined accelerated computing TAM of $1T+ going from AI networking to the largely CPU-centered server market.” Goldman Sachs initiates Liberty Latin America as buy Goldman said the Latin telecommunications company is a strong competitor. “We are also Buy-rated on LILAK, anticipating strengthened competitive positioning and progress in M & A integrations to support above-consensus improvement in revenue and margin trends, with the deconsolidation of Chilean operations and a long-term debt structure limiting potential near-term negative catalysts, despite the risks posed by high leverage amid a volatile rates environment.” Piper Sandler reiterates Microsoft as overweight Piper raised its price target on the stock to $400 per share from $348 and said “AI tailwinds could accelerate top-line growth for the next three years.” “The incremental revenue, profit and cash flows generated from Microsoft Cloud have more than offset a lower gross margin that could hit 68.8% in F2023E vs. 73.8% in F2013. We see parallels within AI that could boost revenue but also result in a gross margin drag on elevated AI investments.” Read more about this call here.
