Here are Friday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Wolfe upgrades Chewy to outperform from peer perform Wolfe said it sees a slew of positive catalysts in 2025. “Amongst our eCommerce coverage we have upgraded CHWY from PP to OP with a PT of $42 as we expect CHWY will benefit from operational efficiency gains, Chewy Health, private labels, and ad revenue growth.” Wolfe upgrades Diamondback Energy to outperform peer perform Wolfe named the hydrocarbon company a top idea in 2025. “In summary, while Diamondback has the scale and recent track record of strong operating performance as the largest ‘pure play’ Permian E & P, we see the pull back in FANG’s share price resetting the investment case to levels we believe can attract incremental investors vs the myriad of smaller peers.” Bernstein reiterates Apple and Dell as top picks The firm raised its price target on Apple to $260 per share from $240 and said it’s a best idea in 2025 along with Dell. “Our top picks entering 2025 remain Apple and Dell.” Evercore ISI reiterates Tesla as in line The firm raised its price target on the stock to $275 per share from $195 and said Tesla is a Trump beneficiary. “DJT presidency may lead to lower regulatory risk for AV/AI [autonomous vehicle] in general and thus quicker commercialization for the industry.” Jefferies upgrades Las Vegas Sands to buy from hold Jefferies said the casino and hotel company is a share gainer. “In our view, the improving macro conditions in Macau will increase the strength of the mass segment consumer, which LVS has significant exposure to, ultimately allowing for incremental growth to its estimates in the near-term.” Evercore ISI reiterates Microsoft as outperform Evercore said it sees a chance for a “mini revenge trade” potential for Microsoft shares in 2025. “Clearly, MSFT is a much, much bigger market cap company today but with investors largely ignoring it relative to the broader rally in software, we believe that there is potential for a ‘catch up’ trade in the shares in 2025.” Wolfe upgrades JPMorgan to outperform from peer perform The firm said JPMorgan is a top idea in 2025. “NII [net interest income] guide is conservative, higher expense risk is well telegraphed, and share gains are unmatched; we prefer JPM over the Trusts as a way to play quality / defense and barbell our bank stock picks.” Wolfe names Amazon a top pick in 2025 Wolfe said it sees retail margin upside in 2025 for the e-commerce giant. “In addition, we are ~3% above Street estimates for AMZN as we expect AMZN to benefit from Ad revenue growth, efficiency improvements, automation, and international margin expansion.” Raymond James upgrades Block to outperform from market perform Raymond James said it sees “sales momentum” for the payment tech company. “We are upgrading SQ to Outperform from Market Perform following a deep dive into the building blocks of Seller GPV [gross payment volume], which leaves us with greater confidence in the ’25 acceleration story.” JPMorgan reiterates Carvana as overweight JPMorgan said investors should buy the dip in shares of the online used car company following a short selling report on Thursday. “We believe the major CVNA -specific fundamental concern that Hindenburg Research’s report highlights is the unrealistic GPU [gross profit per unit], and in particular Other GPU and related practices around related party transactions for loan sales and warranty.” Wedbush upgrading PulteGroup to outperform from neutral The firm said the sell-off is overdone in shares of the homebuilder. “We are upgrading Pulte to OUTPERFORM from NEUTRAL since the recent stock price decline appears overdone to us.” RBC names Microsoft, Adobe and Snowflake top picks The firm said Adobe, Microsoft and Snowflake are its top large-cap ideas for 2025. “While we continue to recommend large-cap compounders that could accelerate share gains on platform consolidation, we also think investors should increase exposure to ideas with some controversy including SMID-cap software.” Wolfe names Meta a top idea in 2025 The firm said it sees a slew of positive catalysts in 2025 for Meta. “META is one of our top picks for 2025 as we believe video unification remains underappreciated in Street estimates coupled with multiple product catalysts (Threads, Business Messaging, META AI, and TikTok Divestiture call option), and cleaner AI narrative.” Susquehanna upgrades J.B. Hunt to positive from neutral Susquehanna said a freight recession appears to be coming to an end for J.B. Hunt. “Truckload-related transports open 2025 with pricing still weighing on near-term earnings power, but real reasons for optimism that a nearly three-year freight recession should move into the rear view through 2025 and closer to the elusive ‘mid-cycle’ in 2026.” Wedbush reiterates Nvidia as outperform Wedbush said it’s awaiting updates on Nvidia products heading into the Consumer Electronics Show next week. “With GPUs [graphic processing units] (and all of NVDA’s other businesses having been eclipsed by data center AI), we see the ramifications as potentially more significant for other participants in the gaming hardware space if NVDA’s new parts catalyze a gaming PC refresh cycle.”
