Here Wednesday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Morgan Stanley reiterates Disney as overweight Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $110 per share from $105 and says it’s sticking with Disney. “We remain OW as we see its Parks assets limiting downside risk, and see opportunities for the company to improve and unlock value in its Media businesses.” Bank of America names General Electric a top pick The firm said GE is a “pure-play aviation stock” for 2024. ” GE is on track to spin-off Vernova (GE’s Renewable Energy & Power segments) in April. We see GE as benefiting from competitors’ distractions at both Aerospace and Vernova. We view the cancelation of one of three of GE’s offshore wind projects as a positive, as it allows GE to avoid a loss-making contract.” KBW upgrades D.R. Horton to outperform from market perform KBW said the homebuilder’s outlook looks positive. “We upgraded DHI to Outperform (OP) and reiterated OP ratings on LEN and TOL due to positive earnings and book value growth, healthy liquidity, and track record of delivering value to shareholders via stock buybacks.” Morgan Stanley initiates DoubleVerify as overweight Morgan Stanley said the ad software company is innovative. ” DV addresses a significant industry challenge and $215bn of total digital ad spend. We see its leading product offering and innovation pipeline (particularly in activation/programmatic) driving 22% sales/23% EBITDA CAGRs through ’27.” Bank of America reiterates Apple as neutral Bank of America said it sees a balanced risk/reward for Apple. “We rate Apple Neutral as we see risk-reward as balanced. Negatives are: a) weaker iPhone 15 cycle on consumer spending and China risk, b) weaker n-t services trajectory where App Store & Licensing can decelerate.” Wolfe initiates Thermo Fisher as outperform Wolfe said it sees share outperformance for the life sciences company. “We expect that TMO shares will outperform the peer group over the next year as confidence builds in the outlook for a return to MSD/HSD [mid single digit/ high single digit] revenue growth and sustained margin improvement.” JPMorgan initiates Kanzhun as overweight JPMorgan initiated the China online recruiter and said it has a strong network. ” Kanzhun has emerged as a disruptive leader in China’s online recruitment market, underpinned by its innovative matching model, scale advantages and strong network effect. HSBC downgrades Ferrari to hold from buy HSBC downgraded the stock mainly on valuation. “In many ways Ferrari is an unusual car company – by virtue of demand outstripping supply (the order book now extends to end-2025) it doesn’t have to deal with the volatility most other OEMs face around demand and/or model changeovers. Arguably this is reflected in the valuation – currently.” Bank of America reiterates Broadcom as buy Bank of America raised its price target on the stock to $1,250 per share from $1,200 and said it’s “best-in-class.” “Reiterate Buy, raise PO to $1250 from $1200 following virtual investor meeting with Broadcom CEO Hock Tan, CFO Kirsten Spears, and Head of IR Ji Yoo.” Wells Fargo downgrades Johnson & Johnson to equal weight from overweight Wells said in its downgrade of the stock that it’s concerned about “muted” earnings per share growth. “We are downgrading JNJ to EW from OW and lowering price target to $163 (from $170).” JPMorgan upgrades Health Catalyst to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said the data analytics healthcare company has “upside potential.” “We are upgrading Health Catalyst to Overweight, as we see the valuation as not reflective of earnings potential.” Wells Fargo initiates Roblox as overweight Wells said in its initiation of Roblox that it has a “growing audience platform.” ” RBLX: Audience Platform w/ Advertising Upside; Initiate at OW, $49 PT.” Morgan Stanley names L3 Harris as a top pick Morgan Stanley said the defense company is its new top pick. “While LHX’s new targets are somewhat muted, we think they could represent a new floor. Risk-reward skews positive on upside potential.” TD Cowen initiates Cava as outperform TD said it likes the Mediterranean restaurant’s long-term growth. “We are bullish on CAVA’s long-term story as the category leader in the attractive Mediterranean segment, while encouraging new unit economics demonstrate portability and lend confidence to the targeted 1,000+ U.S. stores by 2032.” Wells Fargo names AT & T a top pick Wells said the stock is a top idea in 2024. “We believe T provides the most balanced growth in 2024, and we see upside to lowered expectations for postpaid phone net adds and FCF.” Morgan Stanley downgrades Coherent to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley downgraded the laser systems solutions company mainly on valuation. “Downgrading COHR to EW from OW given recent performance captures NT upside, still like the stock over the LT.” Citi downgrades Church & Dwight to sell from neutral and names Clorox a top 2024 pick Citi said in its downgrade of Church & Dwight that it sees “slowing topline trends.” The firm also named Clorox a top pick for 2024. “Our Sell-rated stocks are CHD, KMB, BFB. We prefer names with inflecting results post temporary issues (CLX) or multinational names with higher topline growth potential, lower PL risk, pricing power, share gainers, and exposed to higher growth categories.” Morgan Stanley upgrades MSCI to overweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley said in its upgrade of the financial company that it’s defensive. “We upgrade MSCI to OW given its defensive characteristics and growth opportunities.” JPMorgan names Amazon, Alphabet & Uber top 2024 picks JPMorgan said Amazon, Alphabet and Uber are top ideas for 2024. “We anticipate our coverage universe will broadly re-accelerate revenue growth to more normalized levels, including mega-caps (3 of the Mag 7) returning to LDD% [low double digits] Y/Y growth.” Morgan Stanley upgrades Ally Financial and Capital One to equal weight from underweight Morgan Stanley said in its upgrade of Ally Financial that it sees “easing net interest margin pressure.” The firm also upgraded Capital One and says it sees slower credit deterioration. “As part of our shift in Industry View, from Cautious to In-Line, we upgrade ALLY to EW (easing NIM pressure as Fed no longer hiking rates) and COF to EW (credit deterioration slowing).” Evercore ISI reiterates Tesla as in line Evercore said Tesla remains the “king of EV’s.” ” Tesla remains (and will continue to remain) king of US EVs, as the ‘rise of others’ and the “incoming competition” that’s been discussed for years has still not taken place.” Bank of America names Humana a top pick Bank of America said Humana’s “earnings power” stands out. “We see multiple ways for the company to get to $37 in EPS in 2025, despite market concerns that the ramp may be too steep.” Truist initiates Microsoft as buy Truist said in its initiation of the stock that it’s AI execution has been “impressive.” “We are initiating coverage of MSFT with a Buy rating and three-year price target of $600. In a year when shares of the software behemoth have risen by over 50% (S & P500 up 19%), we expect many investors to be wondering where the upside potential is from here.” Evercore ISI reiterates Monster as outperform Evercore said the beverage giant is a top idea in 2024. ” MNST is our favorite large cap growth name for 2024.” Susquehanna initiates Impinj as buy Susquehanna said in its initiation of the radio frequency ID company that Impinj has an “underpenetrated” total addressable market. “The company holds incredible product and technology, with an expanding application set and commensurate TAM that can implement products for a low cost.” Goldman Sachs initiates Opera as buy Goldman said the web browser and content company has idiosyncratic levers. “We view Opera as positively levered to long-term secular tailwinds within digital advertising and idiosyncratically benefiting from geographic & product mix shift dynamics as a driver of sustained double-digit % growth over the next several years.” Oppenheimer downgrades Hertz to perform from outperform Oppenheimer said a transition year is coming for the rental car giant. “We move to the sidelines, as we believe next year will be a transition year for HTZ. Oppenheimer names Target a top pick Oppenheimer said it sees a “very attractive” risk/reward for Target in 2024. “We are adding TGT to top pick status as we see a very attractive risk/reward scenario and the potential for positive comps later in 2024. We are removing COST from the list due primarily to valuation.” Deutsche Bank names Wynn and Las Vegas Sands as top 2024 ideas Deutsche said in an outlook note on Wednesday that there are several casino stocks well positioned to outperform in 2024. “Not dissimilar to our view heading into 2023, which proved incorrect for a myriad of reasons, we believe WYNN and LVS represent the best opportunities for outperformance in 2024.” Jefferies adds Ulta to the franchise picks list Jefferies said the beauty company is best-in-class. “We flag ULTA as a best in class retailer, diversified across beauty product categories and price points.” B. Riley initiates Vizio as buy B. Riley initiated the consumer electronics company and says it’s underappreciated. “Although we recognize macro-related TV shipment volume headwinds, we believe these risks are more than priced into shares, with the stock underappreciating Vizio’s opportunity to grow gross profit, adjusted EBITDA, and FCF via Platform+ ARPU expansion as consumer behavior and, in turn, advertiser spend shift from linear to streaming environments.”
