05 Apr Wall Street’s top analyst calls on Wednesday
Here are Wednesday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Bank of America reiterates Disney as buy Bank of America said Disney remains “best-in-class.” “DIS has a collection of best-in-class premiere assets. The presence of Bob Iger as CEO should support investor sentiment. Near term catalysts include: (1) additional updates on the strategic outlook for DIS, (2) continued robust theme park demand and (3) sports betting optionality at ESPN.” Wells Fargo reiterates BlackRock as overweight Wells said its standing by its overweight rating on the asset manager. “We remain at Overweight, mainly on the relative prospects for BLK’s fund flows and the firm’s financial strength.” Cowen initiates Arhaus as outperform Cowen said the luxury furniture company has a fast trajectory to growth. ” ARHS is attractively positioned in the $94bn luxury furniture industry & remains early in its growth journey.” Piper Sandler upgrades Douglas Emmett to overweight from neutral Piper said it sees more upside in shares of the real estate investment trust. “As DEI laid out at last week’s Hawaii event, its core small tenants remain active, while its multifamily deliveries are exceeding pro forma.” UBS upgrades First Citizens BancShares to buy from sell UBS said it’s bullish on the company’s acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank’s assets. “We are double upgrading FCNCA to Buy from Sell and increasing our PT to $1,206 from $538 following the announcement of the company’s acquisition of SIVB.” Read more about this call here. Baird upgrades Zions Bancorporation to outperform from neutral Baird said in its upgrade of the bank that it likes its diversified footprint. “Upgrading ZION to Outperform with the stock trading at levels not seen since the GFC.” UBS upgrades Sealed Air to buy from neutral UBS said the selloff in shares of the air packaging products company is overdone. “2H inflection to lift sentiment & stock. We believe the market is pricing in ~10% lower EBITDA vs 2023 cons, reflecting ~12% organic Y/Y EBITDA declines and minimal growth into 2024.” Raymond James upgrades Clean Energy to outperform from market perform Raymond James said in its upgrade of Clean Energy Fuels that it sees a “tactical” buying opportunity right now. “This stock’s always-volatile attributes — it is emphatically not a buy-and-hold name — makes it essential to be tactical, and that means short-term trading calls.” Read more about this call here. Piper Sandler reiterates Apple as overweight Piper said its survey checks show Apple is still a top pick for teens. “Overall, we view the survey results as a sign that Apple’s place as the dominant device brand among teens remains well intact.” Jefferies reiterates Meta as buy Jefferies said the social media giant is well positioned for the long term. “We believe META can accelerate rev growth in 2H23.” Deutsche Bank initiates Wyndham Hotels and Resorts as buy Deutsche said in its initiation of the hotel company that the selloff in shares is overdone. “We believe the recent underperformance in WH shares, which have underperformed the lodging C-Corp peer group average by ~1,500 bps in the YTD is overdone and primarily related to regional banking concerns on funding availability for development / unit growth.” Baird downgrades ON Holding to neutral from outperform Baird said it’s reducing exposure on the stock as consumers rein in spending. “Using strength to further reduce exposure; downgrading ONON, XPOF, EWCZ. We are further reducing group exposure by downgrading several high-quality stocks following sharp year-to-date gains.” Bank of America upgrades Livent to buy from neutral Bank of America said the lithium company’s “value proposition” has increased. ” LTHM’ s conservative pricing strategy has resulted in a more modest earnings growth profile vs. its aggressive peers.” Raymond James upgrades Cigna and United Health to strong buy from outperform Raymond James upgraded several health care company’s on Wednesday and said the “the set-up has improved markedly with the valuation reset amid the improving regulatory backdrop.” “We are upgrading shares of UNH and CI to Strong Buy while also raising our price target on UNH to $630 and maintaining our CI price target of $350. Read more about this call here. Needham reiterates Amazon as buy. Needham said it’s bullish on Amazon’s ad infrastructure known as the retail media network. “AMZN’s retail media network (RMN) dollars are coming from the shopper marketing TAM of $100B globally and $60B in the US.” Morgan Stanley upgrades SLM to overweight from underweight Morgan Stanley double upgraded the student loan company and said it sees “better-than-feared credit quality” for SLM. “Double Upgrade to OW; Relative Call in a World of Deteriorating Consumer Credit.” Wedbush upgrades Dutch Bros to outperform from neutral Wedbush upgraded the coffee chain and said it sees more upside. “We also view BROS’ current valuation as an overly pessimistic assessment of its medium- and long-term annual growth algorithm. Therefore, we upgrade to OUTPERFORM from NEUTRAL.” Read more about this call here . Bank of America reiterates Apple as buy Bank of America raised its price target on Apple to $168 per share from $158 and said it sees iPhone trends stabilizing. “Our checks suggest that iPhones and Services are stable to better additionally aided by incremental FX tailwinds.” Argus upgrades Meta to buy from hold Argus said it likes Meta’s cost cutting initiatives. “Meta is making deep cost cuts that should boost profitability even in an uncertain macroeconomic environment.” Citi adds a positive catalyst watch on United Airlines Citi said the selloff in the airline’s shares is overdone. “Although United Airlines’ shares have outperformed this year, they have lost ca. 22% of their value over the past month. With a view at upcoming 1Q results, a modestly good 2Q guide and the carrier maintaining a strong 2023 guide, we think United could recoup lost ground, over the next month.”