(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Friday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) Analyst chatter Friday included another price target increase for Nvidia and a downgrade for a major apparel maker. UBS raised its price objective on Nvidia to $1,100, which implies 20% upside from Thursday’s close. RBC, meanwhile, lowered its rating on Nike following a mixed quarterly report that included weaker-than-expected guidance. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 5:53 a.m.: Best Buy to rally 25%, JPMorgan says Investors should pick up shares of Best Buy as consumer trends become more constructive, JPMorgan said. Analyst Christopher Horvers upgraded his rating on the electronics retailer to overweight from neutral and raised his price target by $12 to $101. Horvers’ new target implies a 25.6% upside. “We think it makes sense to potentially be one to two quarters early on BBY given margin control/upside given computing trends could kick in during back to school (July-Sept),” he said. And that’s “with the relative valuation and margin flow-through indicating a spring-loaded stock.” Horvers listed four main reasons for his improved outlook: The wallet pull-forward in computers, TVs and appliances should be at or near its end point. Pull-forward occurs when the price of goods with long shelf lives go on promotion and consumers capitalize on the discounted price. Deflationary headwinds are expected to begin moderating in the second half of 2024, which can aid unit growth dynamics. Computing innovation can bring in products at higher price points, also helping combat deflation. The company’s margin outlook if conservative, with long-term margin expectations of 4.1% well below the levels of 4.9% pre-Covid and 6% at peak. Unlike other stocks that have experienced a pandemic pull forward, Best Buy still has a relatively cheap valuation. The price-to-earnings multiple is about 6% below historical valuations, while other cyclical names tend to be significantly higher. Best Buy shares rose nearly 2% in Friday premarket trading. But the stock has underperformed the broader market this year, adding less than 3%. — Alex Harring 5:40 a.m.: Nvidia on ‘cusp of an entirely new wave of demand,’ UBS says UBS sees more room for Nvidia to run after the artificial intelligence powerhouse’s latest conference. Analyst Timothy Arcuri hiked his price target on the chipmaker by $300 to $1,100, which now implies the stock can rally another 20.3% over Thursday’s close. He also maintained his buy rating on Nvidia, which he said has essentially created its own market and has client interest just getting started. “We believe NVDA sits on the cusp of an entirely new wave of demand from global enterprises and sovereigns – with each sovereign potentially as big as a large US cloud customer,” Arcuri wrote to clients. Following the GTC conference and announce of its new generation of chips called Blackwell , Arcuri said he now expects another solid growth year in 2025 that should bring revenue near $150 billion. That would imply growth of around 30%. NIMs, or new pre-packaged and pre-trained modular AI models, also announced can help the “distribution flywheel” for Nvidia, the analyst added. To be sure, his concerns around topics such as supply and ability to beat consensus estimates have not totally disappeared following the updates. However, he said any near-term weakness from these would just create a buying opportunity “given what we think is still out in front of us.” The upgrade comes amid a monster rally for the stock as investors play the AI craze. Shares have soared more than 80% in 2024 alone, adding to last year’s gain of almost 240%. — Alex Harring 5:40 a.m.: RBC downgrades Nike after earnings RBC lowered its rating on Nike to sector perform and trimmed its price target on the stock to $100 from $110 — in line with Thursday’s close. The downgrade comes after the apparel giant’s fiscal third-quarter report included a lackluster outlook amid slowing sales in China . “Nike’s unexpected first glance guide for 1H25E implies no revenue growth for cal 2024, which leaves little to play for in the near term,” analyst Piral Dadhania wrote. “Organisational restructuring + product transition over the next few quarters add further uncertainty and guidance risk in our view.” “We have no doubt Nike will emerge on the other side a better company in a better phase of its business cycle; however, for now we prefer to follow the momentum,” Dadhania added. Nike shares were down more than 6% in the premarket. For the year, the stock is down 7.1%. NKE YTD mountain NKE year to date — Fred Imbert
