Here are Thursday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Citi reiterates Tesla as neutral Citi said it’s waiting for a better entry point for Tesla shares. “We remain on the sidelines on Tesla shares awaiting a more compelling entry point.” Piper Sandler initiates Edgewise Therapeutics as overweight Piper said it likes the biopharma company’s pipeline of products. “We are initiating coverage on Edgewise Therapeutics, Inc. with a $48 PT and OW rating.” Jefferies initiates Rivian as buy Jefferies said Rivian is on a “capital spending crash course.” “In our view, Rivian has looked closest to Tesla in ‘spirit’, with its own software stack, strong brand identity, global potential, and similar growth pains.” UBS reiterates Apple as neutral UBS said its checks show Apple’s February App Store revenue was solid. “Our analysis of Apple’s App Store suggests Feb revenue – accounting for the extra day in the Leap Year – was up 10.5% YoY (Source: Sensor Tower), more or less in-line with the ~10% growth trend seen since Sept-23 but notably better than January that was up ~5% YoY.” Bank of America upgrades SBA Communications to buy from neutral Bank of America said investors should buy the dip in shares of the cellular tower company. “SBAC is trading at multi-year lows, pricing in, we believe, known ’24/25 headwinds.” Mizuho reiterates Nvidia as buy Mizuho raised its price target on the stock to $1000 per share from $850. ” NVDA remains the biggest near-term AI winner, with AMD and AVGO also major beneficiaries.” Deutsche Bank reiterates Amazon as buy Deutsche said it’s bullish on Amazon’s ad opportunity. “Amazon should be able to deliver $4bn in Prime Video advertising dollars in 2024, with that number very easily growing towards $6bn by 2025…” Morgan Stanley initiates Arcellx as overweight Morgan Stanley said in its initiation of Arcellx that the cell therapy company has best-in-class potential. “Differentiated CAR-T [ Chimeric antigen receptor ] Platform Backed By Established CAR-T Partner; Initiate At Overweight.” JPMorgan downgrades Victoria’s Secret to underweight from neutral JPMorgan downgraded Victoria’s Secret following earnings. “Digging deeper on the cadence of Holiday, management cited positive comps in November eroded materially into the first two weeks of December, noting January finished in-line with the total quarter comp (-6%) cycling higher levels of units sold in the Semi- Annual-Sale period Y/Y.” Jefferies initiates Vertex as buy Jefferies said in its initiation of Vertex that the biopharma company is an “obesity player.” “Strong Mid-Stage Obesity Player with Scarcity Value; Initiate at BUY & $110 PT.” Jefferies downgrades Nordstrom to hold from buy Jefferies says Nordstrom margins continue to “disappoint.” “Downgrade to Hold; Growth Shows Signs of Stabilizing, But Margins Disappoint.” Jefferies reiterates Pinterest as a top pick Jefferies said investors should buy the dip in shares of Pinterest. “We would be buyers of the recent stock weakness as our bull case scenario suggests potential for 20%+ rev growth in ’24 coming from 1) higher ad loads, 2) 3P ad partnerships, and 3) a return to growth in ad pricing.” Bernstein reiterates Li Auto as outperform Bernstein said investors should buy the dip in the China auto company. “Li Auto’s stock price has corrected by over 19% since its MEGA launch event.” Goldman Sachs initiates TKO Group as buy Goldman said the UFC and WWE combined company is “well positioned.” “We initiate coverage of TKO Group (TKO) with a Buy rating and a 12-month price target of $102, representing 26% total return potential.” Evercore ISI reiterates Microsoft as buy Evercore said it’s bullish on the company’s AI opportunity. “When aggregating our bottoms up Gen AI analysis and taking a five year view, we now estimate Gen AI could drive ~$82.5bn in incremental revenue in CY28 for Microsoft based on our ‘base case’ scenario, which represents a 24% uplift to our CY28 revenue estimate.” UBS upgrades Sherwin-Williams to buy from neutral UBS said the paint company is “well prepared for a market recovery.” “As we start to see inflections in U.S. resi data, we believe SHW is in the prime position to capture this growth.” Telsey downgrades Foot Locker to market perform from outperform Telsey said the margin recovery looks slower for Foot Locker. ” FL – Downgrading to Market Perform on Slower Operating Margin Recovery.” Redburn Atlantic Equities downgrades On Holding to neutral from buy Redburn said in its downgrade of On that the shoe company is overvalued. “Our optimism about the long-run business potential is little changed, but the valuation has caught up with that positivity and industry conditions in Sportswear carry challenge as well as opportunity in 2024. With limited potential upside, we moderate our view.” Bank of America names UnitedHealth a top pick Bank of America said investors should buy the dip in the healthcare giant. “UNH is now trading at 82% of the market multiple (has traded above this level 95% of the time over the past 10 years), making it a compelling value, and we are making it our Top MCO Pick.” DA Davidson adds Deere to the gold trophy list DA said the stock is very attractive right now. ” Deere & Co. (DE) is the global leader in heavy tractors, combines, and related Ag equipment.” TD Cowen upgrades Shake Shack to outperform from market perform TD said it likes Shake Shack’s “margin expansion strategy.” “We increase our price target to $125 and designate shares as our top smid-cap & #2 overall pick.” RBC upgrades EVgo to outperform from sector perform RBC said sluggish demand is an opportunity for the charging company. “We believe sluggish EV demand and the high interest rate environment are keeping smaller competitors sidelined, presenting EVgo with an opportunity to further establish a competitive moat, continue to pursue disciplined investment opportunities, and grow revenues as utilization and charging rates move higher.” Bank of America initiates Catalyst Pharma as buy Bank of America said the stock is an “undervalued biotech.” “We think Catalyst Pharma (CPRX) is a unique aggregator of innovative therapies in the premium-multiple rare disease space.” Baird upgrades Akamai to outperform from neutral Baird said investors should buy the dip in shares of the cloud computing company. “We are raising our rating of AKAM from Neutral to Outperform, taking advantage of recent weakness.” Bank of America upgrades Edward Life Sciences to buy from neutral Bank of America said “double digit growth is back” for the med tech company. “We now believe EW has a higher probability of sustaining double-digit revenue/EPS growth going forward.” Stifel upgrades Micron to buy from hold Stifel said Micron is at an inflection point. “Thus we see the leverage returning for Micron (est. DRAM 80%+ of profits, historically), and believe consensus estimates for CY25 are well wrong and too low.” Cantor Fitzgerald initiates Despegar.com as buy Cantor said Despegar is a “LatAm travel leader with out of whack valuation.” “We are initiating coverage of Despegar with an OW rating and 12-month $11 PT.”
