Here are Wednesday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Jefferies upgrades Holley to buy from hold Jefferies said it sees sales ramping up for the auto manufacturing company. “We upgrade HLLY to Buy as we expect sales and EBITDA ramp in Q4 against easier compares and see enhanced focus on expanding product offerings to non-legacy markets reaching a wider customer base LT.” Wells Fargo initiates BioMarin as overweight Wells said it sees margin expansion for the biotech company. ” BMRN: We See Value, Which the New CEO and Activist Involvement Could Help Unlock—Initiate at OW.” UBS reiterates Apple as neutral UBS said its survey checks show wait times for Apple’s iPhone Pro have subsided. “Utilizing UBS Evidence Lab data that tracks iPhone availability across 30 countries, wait times for the iPhone 15 Pro across the US, China, Europe, and Japan are considerably below the iPhone 14 Pro by just over 3 weeks, with an average wait time of 4 days or 2 days stripping out Japan.” Wells Fargo initiates Matador Energy as overweight Wells said the energy company has a “strong track record of growth.” ” MTDR offers a unique investment case based on strong production growth coupled with robust FCF generation capability, with the company achieving a ~20% CAGR in production growth over the past 5 years while maintaining financial discipline.” Citi upgrades Vipshop to buy from neutral Citi upgraded the e-commerce company after its earnings report. “Into 2024, VIPS aims to maintain stable growth and given its relatively smaller scale, mgmt believe there is still room for it to grow user base thru investment in merchandising.” Morgan Stanley downgrades Energizer to underweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock after its earnings report and said it sees too much risk. “We see visibility as lower and topline risk as higher at ENR than its peers, along with muted LT growth potential (and LT EPS risk).” Bank of America upgrades American Eagle to neutral from underperform Bank of America upgraded the stock ahead of earnings next week. “We are upgrading AEO to Neutral from Underperform and see near-term momentum for upward est revisions driven by stronger than expected revenues.” Barclays initiates American Express as overweight Barclays said the credit card company’s shares are compelling. “We see the most compelling value in AXP and rate the shares Overweight. Bears will argue the company’s 10%-plus revenue growth target for 2024 and beyond could be at risk. We think those targets are achievable, particularly after AXP revenue growth stabilized at 12-13% y/y the past two quarters.” Bank of America adds Netflix to the US1 list Bank of America added the stock to its top ideas list. “We are adding Netflix Inc (NFLX), Sealed Air Corp (SEE), and Vertiv Holdings Co (VRT) to the US 1 List. Wells Fargo initiates Warner Music Group as equal weight Wells said it needs more clarity to become constructive on the stock. “We view WMG as a company in transition with new leadership developing a tech focused strategy. While the cadence of new releases has improved, we remain on the sidelines until we see sustained share recovery and get more clarity on tech investments. JPMorgan upgrades V.F. Corp to neutral from underweight JPMorgan said after a series of meetings with management that investors should buy the dip in shares of the owner of brands like Vans. “We hosted VF Corps CEO Bracken Darrell, Chief Financial Officer Matt Puckett, and VP of Investor Relations Allegra Perry at our 5th Annual Global Luxury & Brands Conference in Paris.” Redburn Atlantic Equities downgrades Raytheon to neutral from buy Redburn said in its downgrade of the stock that it sees too many risks. “Despite its valuation discount to peers, RTX will remain grounded until it can effectively demonstrate that the Geared TurboFan engine risks are starting to recede. We downgrade the stock to Neutral.” JPMorgan downgrades Canadian Solar to underweight from neutral JPMorgan said in its downgrade of the solar company that it’s waiting for near term visibility to improve for Canadian Solar. “While the solar industry clears channel inventory over the coming quarters in certain markets (Europe, US), we expect other areas of the value chain which have relatively more pricing power (e.g. trackers, inverters) to recover sooner than modules, leading us to a relatively less favorable view towards CSIQ near-term.” Mizuho reiterates Affirm as buy Mizuho said Affirm is on track to become the “Tesla of payments.” “Like Tesla’s beginning, AFRM currently enjoys a small penetration of a massive TAM rapid product innovation & adoption like the Affirm Card and transactional accounts, and a clear plan to more than doubling GMV [gross merchandise volume] over the medium-term.” Cantor Fitzgerald downgrades Bristol-Myers to hold from buy Cantor said in its downgrade of Bristol that it sees too many risks. “We’ve been hoping things would turn around for a while now, but the new launch thesis just hasn’t materialized – and there’s no line of sight to restoring investor confidence in the new product launches/pipeline.” Bank of America upgrades Generac to neutral from underperform Bank of America said channel destock risks have played out for Generac. “Side-stepping as the channel destock looks mostly played out – upgrade to Neutral.” Deutsche Bank reiterates Disney as buy Deutsche lowered its price target on the stock to $115 per share from $120 but said it’s standing by its buy rating. “We remain Buy-rated on Disney and believe the company has turned a corner, shifting from four consecutive quarters of flat to down OI growth, to solidly positive OI growth in F4Q that should continue in F2024 and F2025.” Citi reiterates Nvidia as buy Citi said it’s bullish heading into earnings next week. “Going into earnings, we believe investors are focused on a) the US restrictions of AI chips to China and its impact on NVDA’s data center sales outlook in FY25/26 b) overall data center sales’ sustainability and early data points from Gen AI applications/products; and c) NVDA’s new AI hardware roadmap.” Barclays upgrades Wix.com to overweight from equal weight Barclays said in its upgrade of the Israeli website company that “AI tools could help WIX take price in 2024.” “We upgrade WIX to OW from EW. Partners is scaling well; few competitors address this channel effectively.” UBS reiterates Dollar Tree as buy UBS said it’s standing by its buy rating on the stock heading into earnings later this month. “Overall, we think DLTR’s 3Q print will help re-establish some credibility with the market. Until now, the retailer’s transformation has moved in fits and starts. Morgan Stanley reiterates DraftKings as overweight Morgan Stanley said it sees more upside for the stock after its investor day. ” DKNG’ s Investor Day outlined EBITDA targets above consensus, with details affirming our more positive view. Importantly, the outlook was built off of several assumptions that could prove conservative or provide flexibility to reinvest: structural hold, market share, and promos.”
