Here are Thursday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Stifel downgrades Simon Property Group to hold from buy Stifel downgraded the real estate investment trust company mainly on valuation. “While SPG will likely experience a drag on growth from bankruptcies and store closures, retailer demand and leasing leverage are stronger at higher-productivity centers.” Wells Fargo initiates Blackstone & Apollo as a top pick Wells initiated several alternative asset managers and said they are the “best kept secret.” “Top picks: TPG, SF, APO , BX .” Wells Fargo initiates Blackrock as overweight Wells Fargo said the asset manager is well positioned. ” BLK is the clear industry leader, producing durable fund flow, revenue, and margin results, and recent M & A supports the growth profile.” Stephens initiates Carvana as overweight Stephens called the online used car company a “category killer.” “We are initiating coverage of Carvana Co. (CVNA) with an OW rating and $190 PT.” Bernstein reiterates Nvidia & Broadcom as top ideas Bernstein said both stocks remain top picks at the firm and that margin fears are overdone. “And with Blackwell delays a seeming nothing-burger we believe the new platform can continue to drive upside, with margin concerns overblown ( AVGO and NVDA rated OP).” Bernstein reiterates Oracle as a top idea Bernstein said it sees “increasing revenue growth” for Oracle. ” Oracle is our top investment idea given the combination of 1) downside protection due to the mix of very large customers and critical enterprise workloads; 2) increasing revenue growth driven by Oracle’s Cloud offerings.” Bank of America upgrades Diageo to buy from neutral Bank of America said in its upgrade of Diageo that the worst is over for the British beverage company. “After two years of earnings downgrades and share price underperformance, we believe the worst is behind.” Barclays initiates Flutter as overweight Barclays said Flutter is the “undisputed leader” in the digital gaming space. “Attractive combination of product moat, unmatched scale, and global TAM [total addressable market] opportunity ahead. Initiating coverage on FLUT with OW.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Amazon, Alphabet and Meta as overweight Morgan Stanley said the three internet giant’s are well positioned in the ad market. “We continue to see a strong US ad market in ’24, driven by performance advertising across digital media, along with ecommerce fueled retail media and CTV. We recommend OW’s META / GOOGL / AMZN in Internet…” Goldman Sachs reiterates FedEx as overweight Goldman said FedEx is best positioned heading into earnings next week. “Revisiting our sum of the parts valuation illustration, we see further attractiveness to the shares.” Jefferies reiterates McDonald’s as buy Jefferies said the fast food giant is best positioned for back-to-school. “In our view, MCD is most favorably positioned heading into the promo-heavy BTS season.” UBS reiterates Costco as buy UBS said it’s bullish heading into Costco earnings later this month. ” COST’ s upcoming 4Q print should point to steadiness.” Bank of America upgrades PotlatchDeltic to buy from neutral Bank of America said it sees margin expansion for the lumber company. “Fundamental catalysts may be lacking in the near term but PCH offers 20%+ total upside potential to our $51 PO.” Wolfe upgrades Roku to outperform from peer perform Wolfe said “sales growth is poised to accelerate” for Roku . “However, the company’s recently trimmed cost structure, evolving sales strategies, and successful defense of its lead in connected TV (‘CTV’) have convinced us that Roku’s fundamental risks are falling while its sales growth is poised to accelerate.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Apple as overweight Morgan Stanley named Apple to its Vintage Values list as a stock to own for the next 12 months. “When combined with consistent, double digit services growth and gross margins that are flat to expanding, we believe Apple can generate $8.70 of earnings power in FY26, 7% above Consensus.” Raymond James reiterates Micron as outperform The firm cut its price target to $125 per share from $160 but says it’s standing by the stock. “High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for AI applications is an incremental opportunity for the company and we expect Micron to gain its fair share over time.”
