Here are Tuesday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Morgan Stanley names Taiwan Semiconductor a catalyst driven idea Morgan Stanley said it’s bullish heading into the semiconductor company’s earnings report later this month. “What and when is the catalyst? TSMC will report 1Q23 results and provide 2Q23 guidance on April 20.” Goldman Sachs upgrades WW International to buy from neutral Goldman said in its upgrade of the company formerly known as Weight Watchers that the turnaround is starting after WW’s acquisition of Sequence closed Monday. “WW’s subscriber base and earnings power has been shrinking, but we believe a catalyst for a turnaround has emerged with its new obesity drug on-ramp solution. With the now completed acquisition of Sequence, WW will begin to offer a pharmaceutical based clinical subscription service that it can integrate with its legacy behavioral based weight management offering.” Goldman Sachs upgrades Whirlpool to buy Goldman said it sees a compelling entry point for Whirlpool . “More recently, our channel checks indicate a stabilization in the promotional cadence in North America through March, supporting industry pricing as commodities remain volatile, driving profitability ahead of 2019.” Read more about this call here. Baird initiates Bumble and Match as outperform Baird said it sees a significant runway for growth for the dating companies. “Moreover, we expect BMBL and MTCH to sustain healthy competitive positions and attractive financial profiles over time.” Morgan Stanley names UnitedHealth a top pick Morgan Stanley says the healthcare company is best positioned in a recession. “We favor United’s diversification/vertically integrated model in providing greater immunity against potential PBM (pharmacy benefit management) regulatory concerns and recession risk.” Read more about this call here. Morgan Stanley reiterates Netflix as equal weight Morgan Stanley said Netflix is the “streaming winner” but that it’s “priced as such.” “We see a balanced view of the upside and downside potential in shares at current prices.” Citi opens a positive catalyst watch on Norfolk Southern Citi said it likes the setup heading into the railroads earnings later this month. “Conversely, we see a favorable setup for NS and are neutral on other rails.” JPMorgan initiates Upstart as underweight JPMorgan initiated the consumer lending company and says it has funding concerns. ” Upstart’s AI-driven, two-sided marketplace brings together borrowers and lenders, leading to expanded credit access, higher approval rates, and lower interest rates (historically at lower or similar loss rates) than legacy credit underwriting models.” Read more about this call here. JMP initiates Chewy as outperform JMP said in its initiation of Chewy that the pet website company is best-in-class. “Best-of-breed Platform with Impassioned Audience & Autoship.” Wolfe initiates Array Technologies as outperform Wolfe said it sees upside for the solar stock due to the Inflation Reduction Act. “We see ARRY as an alternative way to gain exposure to largescale solar at a reasonable valuation with the potential for upside from Inflation Reduction Act tax credits.” Citi opens a negative catalyst watch on LPL Financial Citi opened a negative catalyst watch on the stock and said it sees an earnings miss later this month. “We continue to like the long-term story at LPLA , but are opening a negative catalyst watch into earnings as we are 7% below consensus for 1Q23.” Morgan Stanley downgrades Nasdaq to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley said that it has growth concerns for the exchange operator. “Downgrade NDAQ to EW (from OW). We see risks to the Solutions business growth outlook that comprise > 70% of firmwide revs.” Jefferies upgrades New York Community Bank to buy from hold Jefferies said it likes the regional bank’s valuation. “Post the FDIC-assisted deal for SBNY, we like NYCB’s balance sheet positioning given dramatic improvement in the liquidity profile as well as increased scale and diversification within the loan portfolio.” JPMorgan upgrades Federated Hermes to overweight from underweight JPMorgan said the rate environment makes the capital market company’s stock more attractive. “We are upgrading Federated Hermes to Overweight as we see the potential for strong industry growth of money market funds as the interest rate cycle becomes even more attractive.” Loop upgrades Mohawk to buy from hold Loop said margins are improving for the flooring company. “We are upgrading our Hold rating to Buy and maintaining our $115 price target on shares of MHK . We think most investors already expect a recession to pressure sales and earnings this year. The long-term margin outlook is improving as we see raw materials and logistics costs reverting to historical norms.” Morgan Stanley upgrades AstraZeneca to overweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley said the pharmaceutical company is “leading the race” to outsmart cancer. “We expect AstraZeneca to be a leading player in the ‘smart chemotherapy’ race.” Wells Fargo upgrades Range Resources to overweight from equal weight Wells said the natural gas exploration company should outperform peers. “We upgrade RRC to OW, as we expect the company to relatively outperform gas peers in a weak gas price environment.” JPMorgan initiates LendingClub as overweight JPMorgan said it likes the financial management company’s competitive positioning. “We like LendingClub’s marketplace-bank model, which combines the fee income of a marketplace with interest income of a bank, personal loan market opportunity, and competitive positioning.” Read more about this call here. Cowen reiterates Amazon as outperform Cowen said it’s standing by its outperform rating heading into Amazon earnings later this month. “We expect 1Q23 revenue of $126BN, 1.2% above consensus, driven by a resilient NA segment, as the consumer likely held up better than expected, though AWS rev should decel further given macro conditions.” Piper Sandler upgrades Akamai to overweight from neutral Piper said investors should buy the dip in Akamai share. “Investing in technology tends to favor growth names, though the market has started to favor margin / GARP names this year that show expanding margins.” JPMorgan opens a positive catalyst watch on UPS JPMorgan said it’s bullish heading into earnings later this month. ” UPS goes on the Positive Catalyst Watch into earning as 1Q23 consensus is already resetting lower but we expect the company’s 2023 guidance range will remain unchanged and the Parcels can still benefit from the tepid interest in the Rails which is still falling, especially in the U.S.” Evercore ISI naming NXP Semiconductors as a top pick Evercore added the semiconductor company to its top picks list and said it sees upside to consensus. “Adding NXPI to Our Top Picks List with Underappreciated Fundamental Upside. The analog market appears to be holding in better than feared led by continued strength in Automotive and Industrial.” Barclays reiterates Apple as equal weight Barclays said its checks show iPhone trends are stable but that Apple Wearables are underperforming. “Our checks also suggest iPads and Wearables are underperforming with continued order cuts. The iPhone trend was stable in March-Q with 10% growth in China sell-through units, partially on better supply dynamics and pro model 10% price discounts in China.” UBS upgrades WisdomTree to buy from neutral UBS said in its upgrade of the fund management company that it likes its diverse array of products. “We are upgrading WT to Buy from Neutral, based on the firm’s effective product diversification and consistently strong net inflows.” Guggenheim reiterates Disney as buy Guggenheim said it’s standing by its buy rating on the stock but questions still remain for Disney. “CEO Bob Iger has triaged the most critical items upon his return, including employee morale, corporate structure, and initial cost-control initiatives. … We expect this uncertainty to limit near-term share appreciation toward an asset and operating value that we see as above the current share price.” Baird initiates Spotify as outperform Baird said it sees an “attractive” buying opportunity for Spotify shares. “For SPOT, we see a variety of drivers supporting revenue growth and margin expansion that create an attractive opportunity in shares.” Truist upgrades Murphy Oil to buy from hold Truist said the oil company is one of the few that will have lower spending but higher production this year. ” Murphy is one of very few E & Ps we forecast will have higher production while also having lower capital spending this year.”
