Here are Monday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Canaccord reiterates Tesla as buy Canaccord said it’s bullish on the automaker’s development of full-self driving technology. “As we laid out in our autonomous vehicle (AV) initiation, AI for the Streets, Tesla is taking a novel approach to its FSD offering: a camera-only (e.g., no lidar, radar, other sensors), map-less, neural-network system.” UBS reiterates Netflix as buy UBS said it’s standing by its buy rating on shares of the streaming giant. “We see Netflix as the main beneficiary of easing competition in DTC as peers focus on profits.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Ambarella as overweight Morgan Stanley said it’s bullish on shares of the semiconductor company heading into earnings this week. ” AMBA (OW, scheduled to report after the market close on Tuesday, August 29). We think that the near term environment continues to be challenging, given challenges in the surveillance camera market; still, we continue to see progress with the automotive pipeline, especially in the China market, and see new opportunity in the AI inference market.” UBS reiterates Disney as buy UBS said it’s standing by its buy rating on shares of the entertainment giant. “We believe Disney is the best positioned traditional Media network to drive long-term margins/returns in DTC given its collection of IP and global scale.” JMP initiates Pagaya Technologies as market outperform JMP said the digital marketplace lender is well positioned. “We initiate coverage of Pagaya Technologies with a Market Outperform rating and price target of $2.75, representing 40% upside from current levels.” Piper Sandler upgrades Mister Car Wash to overweight from neutral Piper said it sees “notable upside” for the car wash company. “We are upgrading MCW to OW and increasing our PT to $12 (25x 2025E EPS, vs. 2024E prior) as we expect notable upside to estimates over the next two years – allowing for valuation multiple expansion off current all-time low levels for MCW.” Bernstein downgrades L3Harris to market perform from outperform Bernstein said it sees margin contraction for the defense contractor. “We still see strong top line growth for LHX, supported by rising backlogs. The problem, however, remains on margins with supply chain issues, inflation on fixed-price contracts, and execution.” Evercore ISI upgrades JetBlue to in line from underperform Evercore upgraded the airline stock mainly on valuation. “Raising JBLU rating to In Line from Underperform following 35% decline in shares since our July downgrade.” UBS initiates 89bio as buy UBS said in its initiation of the biotech company that it sees more upside. “We initiate coverage of 89Bio (ETNB) with a Buy rating and PT of $36.” Bank of America reiterates Alphabet as buy Bank of America said it’s standing by its buy rating on shares of Alphabet. “We continue to like the stock for potential 2H’23 search revenue acceleration and y/y margin improvement.” UBS initiates Akero Therapeutics as buy UBS said the biotech company is well positioned and can rally more than 70%. “We initiate coverage of Akero Therapeutics (AKRO) with a Buy rating and PT of $83.” Read more about this call here. RBC initiates Tetra Tech as buy RBC said in its initiation of the stock that it’s a “unique play on water.” ” Tetra Tech is a specialized Engineering firm that offers investors unique sustainability-aligned end-market exposure, a strong track record of growth, and a significant U.S. presence, positioning it well amidst the current infrastructure investment cycle.” Jefferies reiterates Amazon as buy Jefferies said its recent survey checks show the e-commerce giant is well positioned for back-to-school. “Notably, 31% of consumers say they plan to do most of their shopping on AMZN. We believe AMZN’s leading eCommerce platform and unmatched assortment positions them well during the back-to-school shopping season.” Morgan Stanley downgrades CrowdStrike to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley said it’s cautious heading into earnings later this week. “We are cautious CRWD ahead of FQ2 earnings this week as consensus estimates for 2H/CY24 rebound appear high in light of a more difficult demand environment.” Read more about this call here. Morgan Stanley names LifeStance Health Group a top pick Morgan Stanley said shares of the behavioral health company are compelling. “Moving LFST to Top Pick with over 30% upside to our $10 PT, viewing the recent pullback as a compelling buying opportunity for investors who have missed the move earlier this year.” Canaccord initiates Surf Air Mobility as buy Canaccord said it’s bullish on shares of the air mobility company. “By developing new software and financing platforms and a robust pilot training pipeline, Surf also intends to quickly expand national operations through its own fleet and by enabling small-scale commercial operators.” BTIG upgrades Zimmer Biomet to buy from hold BTIG said the selloff in shares of the medical device company are overdone. “We are upgrading Zimmer Biomet (ZBH) to Buy from Neutral and establishing a $139 PT based on 17x our estimated 12-24 month EPS estimate, which is a discount to its 3- and 5-year average valuation. … . While our upgrade is partly rooted in valuation, we think the sell-off following the CEO transition was a little overdone.” Wells Fargo upgrades UGI Corporation to overweight from equal weight Wells said shares of the natural gas company are compelling. “We believe valuation is sufficiently attractive to step in on UGI despite challenges. We are comfortable that (1) UGI does not have near term equity needs, (2) UGI does not intend to pursue sizable acquisitions near term.” Truist upgrades Church & Dwight to buy from hold Truist said the company is largely “out of the woods.” “The company is coming off strong 2Q results and raised guidance above the Street for the second time this year. We view these results as a sign that the company and its categories are largely out of the woods from the post-pandemic reversion.” Wolfe initiates Workiva as outperform Wolfe said it sees expanding margins for the software-as-a-service company. “The Workiva story is straightforward, strengthening fundamentals, a sticky installed base, disparate competition, and an expanding TAM aided by global regulatory changes, gives Workiva the opportunity to stretch their leadership position, and drive accelerating growth and rapidly expanding margins.” Stifel reiterates Nike as buy Stifel lowered its price target on the stock to $135 per share from $143 and says it’s a “top dog” in its back-to-school survey. “A NIKE style was cited as the most popular in 88% of back to school 2023 checks supporting NIKE’s ample popularity margin versus other brands. NIKE strength was led by ongoing consumer appetite for retro basketball styles.” Bank of America reiterates Endeavor Group as buy Bank of America said the media company has “highly compelling assets” that are “undervalued.” “We continue to view EDR as a collection of highly compelling assets that each, individually, have exposure to favorable secular tailwinds within the Media and Entertainment industry Morgan Stanley reiterates Costco, AutoZone and Walmart as overweight Morgan Stanley named several retail stocks on Monday as the firm’s favorite ways to play a deteriorating consumer environment. “We stay cautiously positioned, preferring defensives WMT (OW rated), AZO (OW rated), COST (OW rated) and ORLY (EW rated).”
