Here are Thursday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Baird reiterates Meta as outperform Baird said it’s bullish heading into Meta’s Connect event next week. “And will this year’s event next week remind investors about the part of Meta they’d rather forget? We think it will be a little different – for one, we get launch details on Meta Quest 3 (Oct. 10 likely release) – Qualcomm chipsets. Secondly, we should learn more details about Meta’s mixed reality strategy – integrating the physical and digital worlds – perhaps with new sunglasses.” Bank of America upgrades Nutanix to buy from neutral Bank of America said it sees numerous positive growth drivers ahead for the computer software company. ” NTNX recently launched “GPT-in-a-Box”, a full stack, software-defined platform that provides AI-ready infrastructure which customers can use to run generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs). Read more about this call here. Guggenheim reiterates Sunrun as buy Guggenheim said Sunrun is the best positioned solar company. “RUN is in a good position to take market share in 2024.” Evercore ISI reiterates Costco as outperform Evercore said it’s bullish heading into Costco earnings next week. ” COST’s share gain, traffic, potential fee hike, impenetrable balance sheet and net cash position in a rising rate world keeps it in our Top Five portfolio. We find Costco’s defensive growth appealing with a potential dual catalyst path of a special dividend and fee increase providing co. specific catalysts for late ’23 or ’24.” Goldman Sachs reiterates Alphabet as buy Goldman said Alphabet remains a favorite as ad trends stabilize. ” GOOGL (scaled multi-year investments in AI for both consumers and enterprises beginning to be realized by investors; stable/rising advertising trends compared to investor fears of share loss; continued progress on operating efficiencies as potential margin narrative into 2024 & beyond; stable growth and rising margin narrative for Google Cloud segment).” JPMorgan reiterates Disney as overweight JPMorgan said it’s standing by its overweight rating on Disney. “We remain Overweight with a $125 target though we recognize it could take a couple of quarters before we have better clarity into the company’s direction and shares begin to work.” Jefferies initiates Petrobras as buy Jefferies said the LatAm oil and gas giant is an “upstream volume growth story.” “We launch on PBR at Buy. Its new strategic/financial envelope has removed uncertainties, turning PBR into a CF [cash flow] & upstream volume growth story.” Read more about this call here. Wedbush reiterates Microsoft as outperform Wedbush said it’s standing by its outperform rating on shares of Microsoft. “We believe while management has talked about a ‘gradual ramp’ for AI monetization in FY24 we believe so far the adoption curve is happening quicker than expected based on our recent checks.” UBS reiterates Walmart as buy UBS said Walmart is firing on all cylinders. “The bullish investment case for the world’s largest retailer is as good as it’s been in a while.” Deutsche Bank upgrades Five9 to buy from neutral Deutsche said it sees bookings strength for the software company. “We upgrade Five9 shares to Buy, with 20% potential upside to our $80 PT. Simply put, we believe momentum from recent bookings strength (amidst a favorable backdrop for cloud contact center spend) is likely to re-accelerate revenue growth, with current valuation that is roughly half of year ago levels.” Read more about this call here . JPMorgan reiterates Uber as overweight JPMorgan reiterated Uber as a top pick and says it sees rideshare resiliency. ” Uber Mobility trends remain resilient 3Q QTD through August w/stable or accelerating DL [download] growth across most markets, and Lyft DL growth inflected positive & is tracking up +5% Y/Y 3Q QTD (vs. -4% in 2Q).” Piper Sandler upgrades European Wax Center to overweight from neutral Piper said the wax retailer is well positioned and that management is executing. “We are upgrading EWCZ to Overweight and raising our PT to $22 given improved comfort around overall guest health amidst the current macro environment and a deep dive on the laser hair removal industry and opportunity.” Bank of America reiterates Exxon as buy Bank of America kept its buy rating on the oil and gas giant on Thursday and says it sees “differentiated growth.” “We believe ExxonMobil is poised for a relative recovery after several years of lagging performance.” Bank of America reiterates Marriott as buy Bank of America said it’s bullish heading into Marriott’s analyst day next week. “We reiterate our Buy rating and raise our PO to $225 (from $215) with our target multiple tweaked slightly higher but still approximately 16x 2024E EBITDA.” Citi downgrades Frontier to neutral from buy Citi said in its downgrade of the airline that it sees increased share price volatility. “Although the weak share price performance somewhat shields Frontier from a more bearish view, management’s demand comments, along with weak December booking curve data, now seem to leave little recourse but to downgrade Frontier from Buy to Neutral and add a High Risk rating on increased earnings and share price volatility.” Seaport upgrades Enphase Energy to buy from neutral Seaport said investors should buy the dip in shares of the solar company. “We think as ENPH benefits from ongoing share repurchases; continued robust growth in Europe’s residential solar market as it both thrives in existing countries and enters new ones; and, by mid- to late-2Q24, a clear emergent recovery in U.S. residential solar installations, the stock will experience multiple re-expansion.” Read more about this call here. Wolfe reiterates Micron as outperform Wolfe said it’s bullish heading into earnings next week. “We expect MU to express a positive tone on earnings next week given signs of stabilizing pricing ahead of seasonal demand improvement in 2H23.” Baird upgrades HealthEquity to overweight from neutral Baird said the fintech and health savings company is well positioned in the current rate environment. “We view HQY as an attractive investment in a higher interest rate environment that can function as a portfolio diversifier, particularly in a ‘higher for longer’ interest rate environment.” Wells Fargo reiterates Amazon as overweight Wells said it sees several “discreet headwinds” for Amazon that investors may not know about it. The firm said it’s standing by its overweight rating, however. “Believe external pressure from fuel and heightened eComm competition likely to weigh on 4Q OI [operating income] as well.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Howmet as overweight Morgan Stanley said the aerospace company is an attractive top pick at the firm. “We visited Howmet’s Whitehall facility. The company’s investment in technology and automation underscores how it was able to take market share, increase price, and expand margins. HWM is our Top Pick in Aerospace.” Truist upgrades International Paper to buy from hold Truist said it sees demand improvement for the company. “We upgrade IP to Buy from Hold given our improved outlook for the containerboard market due to upcoming demand improvement and the end of destocking.”
