Here are Friday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Piper Sandler upgrades Rivian to overweight from neutral Piper said investors should buy the dip in shares of the EV company. “After watching last week’s live stream, re-assessing our capex outlook, and considering the post-Q4 selloff, we feel compelled to upgrade RIVN from Neutral to Overweight.” Bank of America reiterates Adobe as buy Bank of America said it was disappointed in the company’s earnings results on Thursday but that it’s standing by the stock. ” Adobe reported disappointing Q1 results and introduced uncertainty by not updating FY24E guidance for digital media net new ARR [annual recurring revenue] or EPS, which is a break from the past.” Citi upgrades Thor Industries to buy from neutral Citi said it see a “favorable event path” for the RV company. ” THO is the poster child for the early-cycle RV story, and yet anxious investors have been too quick to buy into the story on 2-3 occasions previously.” Morgan Stanley downgrades Republic Services to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock adding it sees a more balanced risk/reward. ” RSG has outperformed the S & P 500 and Waste peers by 12% Y/Y.” Citi initiates Pure Storage as buy Citi said in its initiation of Pure Storage that the data storage company is an AI beneficiary. “A Leading Beneficiary of AI-Induced Transition to Flash-Based Storage; Initiate with a Buy.” UBS upgrades Paccar and Cummins to buy from neutral UBS said in its upgrade of Paccar that the truck company is undervalued. The firm also upgraded Cummins and says the engine and power generation products company is not getting enough credit for growth. “We upgrade PCAR and CMI to Buy, from Neutral. While investor sentiment on the truck cycle is implicitly positive, we don’t think the stocks are adequately pricing in the next peak. For 2026, we are ~10-15% ahead of consensus EPS on both CMI and PCAR.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Microsoft as buy Morgan Stanley said the computer is the “cybersecurity leader.” ” Microsoft remains the cybersecurity leader with a large installed base and broadening platform addressing multiple product categories.” Baird reiterates Nvidia as outperform Baird said it sees a slew of positive catalysts heading into the company’s GTC event next week. ” Nvidia continues to demand more capacity for this year based on continued strong demand.” JPMorgan reiterates Coinbase as neutral JPMorgan raised its price target on the stock to $150 per share from $95 but said it’s sticking with its neutral rating. “Here, Ethereum use cases transcend the crypto ecosystem and we think create a robust earnings driver near term for Coinbase.” Baird reiterates Tesla as outperform Baird said Tesla as a prime beneficiary of AI in renewable energy. “The growing penetration of renewables in energy and electrification of the grid have created several use cases for AI in the transition away from fossil fuels.” Telsey upgrades Dollar General to outperform from market perform Telsey said in its upgrade of Dollar General that management is stabilizing. “In our view, the return of CEO Todd Vasos has brought stability to the business, instilled financial discipline, and renewed a sense of urgency to improve and grow.” Guggenheim upgrades Snowflake to neutral from sell Guggenheim said in its upgrade of the stock that it sees partner sentiment improving. “In our February checks, six partners met and one exceeded their benchmarks for Snowflake- related services during F4Q24, an improvement vs. F3Q.” Piper Sandler upgrades DoorDash to neutral from underweight Piper said in its upgrade of DoorDash that fundamentals are improving. “We are upgrading DASH to N from prior UW. UBER remains the category leader gaining scale internationally and having success with new products.” Citi reiterates Apple as buy Citi said it’s standing by its buy rating on shares of Apple. “We maintain Buy rated on AAPL and await WWDC [Worldwide Developers Conference] in June as the AI catalyst to drive upside to 2025 AI smartphone demand.” Morgan Stanley upgrades nCino to equal weight under weight Morgan Stanley said it sees improving revenue growth for the software company. “With the market now expecting FY25 estimates to be in-line with our below-consensus estimates and valuation more reasonable in context of continued margin / FCF expansion and recent underperformance vs. vertical software, we upgrade NCNO to EW with a $27 PT.” Bank of America reiterates Amazon as buy Bank of America said it’s bullish heading into Amazon’s Spring Sales event next week. “We would expect some debate on event timing, which is at end of the quarter, but the event could drive some upside to 1Q revenues, with modest margin pressure due to discounting.” Citi reiterates Micron as buy Citi raised its price target on the stock to $150 per share from $95 and says it’s bullish heading into earnings next week. ” Micron remains our top pick and Buy-rated.” Piper Sandler names Stellantis a top pick Piper said the auto manufacturer is setting the “standard.” “Like many carmakers, this builder of Ram pickups and Jeep SUVs may face margin pressure due to rising EV mix but with 6M+ units sold annually and best-in-class margins, STLA has margin to spare.” JPMorgan adds a positive catalyst watch on PDD JPMorgan said it’s bullish on shares of the China online retailer heading into earnings next week. “We are placing PDD on Positive Catalyst Watch and expect the stock price to respond positively to 4Q23/1Q24 results.” RBC initiates Five9 as outperform RBC said shares of the software company are undervalued. “We believe Five9, and the CCaaS [contact center as a service] space as a whole, will be a real beneficiary of GenAI, while we believe the market is currently treating Five9 as a GenAI loser.” Bank of America initiates TKO Group as buy Bank of America said the combined UFC and WWE company has a “striking financial profile with growth potential.” “We initiate TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (TKO) with a Buy rating and a $100 Price Objective (PO), implying ~25% upside.” Bank of America upgrades Valero Energy and HF Sinclair to buy from neutral Bank of America upgraded several refiners on Friday and said they are due for a rerating. “Arguments for a rerating: upgrade VLO, PBF, DINO to Buy. From a valuation standpoint, wider margin volatility for a single year has limited impact on value, but if we consider a sustainable increase in mid-cycle earnings, we believe the conditions for another step up in absolute valuations for US refiners is in place.” Truist initiates Golden Entertainment as buy Truist said the casino company is a “Nevada pure-play with a unique footprint.” “We initiate coverage of Golden Entertainment, Inc. (GDEN) with a Buy rating and$45 PT based on 7.5x our 2025E EBITDA.” JPMorgan reiterates Eli Lilly as overweight JPMorgan raised its price target on the stock to $850 per share from $775 after a series of meetings with company management. “We recently had the opportunity to meet with LLYs mgmt team, including Chairman and CEO, Dave Ricks, as well as Patrik Jonsson, President of Diabetes and Obesity, and want to share our key takeaways.”
