Here are Thursday’s biggest calls on Wall Street. BMO initiates HF Sinclair as buy BMO said in its initiation of the petroleum refiner that shares are cheap. ” DINO’s premium refining markets provide it with top-tier margins, while low leverage enables strong capital returns, and valuation remains inexpensive.” Stifel initiates Oculis Holding as buy Stifel said the biopharma company is well positioned. “We initiate coverage of Oculis (OCS) with a Buy rating and $35 target price. OCS has a bench of innovative technologies establishing a deep pipeline for multiple underserved ocular and retinal conditions due to current onerous administration profiles, lack of efficacy, or disease heterogeneity.” Wedbush initiates First Citizens Bancshares as outperform Wedbush said the regional bank is in a “strong position.” “Once a small, but high performing Southeastern-focused bank, First Citizens has quadrupled in size over the last 18 months owing to two high-profile acquisitions of CIT Group and the failed Silicon Valley Bank.” JPMorgan upgrades Live Oak Bancshares to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said it sees a compelling entry point for the regional bank. “We are upgrading LOB from Neutral to Overweight as the recent sell-off provides us with the entry point that we were waiting for.” Barclays reiterates Meta as overweight Barclays said Meta’s AI announcements last week could “mark the second major wave of consumer AI adoption.” “Potentially the most interesting thing that META announced last week was the “AI Studio” whereby sometime in 2024 many celebrities, influencers, and even business owners should be in a position to introduce their own custom built AI agents.” Bank of America initiates Wingstop as buy Bank of America said shares of the wing restaurant company are attractive. ” WING trades at a premium to peers (37x F24E EBITDA), commensurate with its superior growth and returns.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Ford as overweight Morgan Stanley said its survey checks show reduced EV spend will be a positive for shares of Ford and General Motors. “The majority of survey respondents expect a pullback in EV spending to cause a positive reaction in the share prices of the D3 OEMs (F, GM, STLA) – 57% of survey respondents expect a decrease (either modest or significant) in EV expenditures as a result of the UAW negotiations.” Bank of America downgrades Carrier to underperform from neutral Bank of America said it sees residential headwinds. “Relative to peers, CARR has the highest exposure to North American residential HVAC. We see headwinds to residential HVAC including concerns around excess channel inventory.” Bank of America upgrades Parker Hannifin to buy from neutral Bank of America said the manufacturing stock is at a “deep discount.” “Over the past several decades, PH has materially improved its returns and reduced cyclicality through operational excellence and strategic M & A. Our analysis indicates that PH offers growth and returns similar to best in class peers like ITW and AME.” Raymond James downgrades Clorox to market perform from outperform Raymond James said it sees “challenged near-term visibility” for Clorox. “After yesterday’s close, CLX provided an update on F1Q that was significantly worse than we expected due to the recent cybersecurity attack.” Evercore ISI reiterates Nvidia as outperform Evercore said shares of Nvidia are “cheap.” “Simply put, it is too early to get off the AI train – NVDA remains our favorite play here (and screening ‘cheap’ with EPS tracking to $20+ in CY24), with AVGO another key beneficiary.” Read more about this call here . RBC initiates Johnson & Johnson as outperform RBC said in its initiation of the stock that it has “unlocked potential.” ” JNJ is a global healthcare company uniquely positioned with Pharma and MedTech under one umbrella.” Wolfe initiates KKR and Blue Owl as outperform Wolfe initiated KKR and Blue Owl with an outperform rating and said the alternative asset managers are well positioned. “We are initiating on the Alternative Asset Management sector with a Market Overweight rating. The Alternative Asset Management industry has grown at a rapid pace since the GFC, [great financial crisis] with Private Markets AUM now comprising ~11% of global AUM vs. just 4% in 2007.” Bernstein initiates Instacart as market perform Bernstein started coverage of the delivery company with a market perform and said it sees increased competition. ” CART is a market leader in an attractive TAM, with inherent value residing in its digital advertising business (still sub-scale today). However, we expect market share and ad dollars will be hard fought, as the competitive intensity of the sector is increasing.” Deutsche Bank initiates AIG as buy Deutsche initiated the insurance company with a buy and says shares are de-risked. “Our top picks in P & C are Chubb, the best in class operator, and AIG , a company which is now greatly de-risked and just needs to fix its personal lines business over the next 12 months to complete its turnaround story.” Citi upgrades O’Reilly Automotive to buy from neutral Citi said it sees a compelling entry point for O’Reilly shares. “We think the recent pullback in the shares presents an attractive buying opportunity for the stable, defensive retail stock.” Bank of America reiterates American Express as a top pick Bank of America said the credit card company is its favorite idea in the sector. ” AXP is our top pick in the sector. We view the combination of high-end consumers and a commercial U.S. and international customer base favorably. Credit quality is also best in class.”
