Here are Wednesday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Citi initiates FedEx and UPS as buy Citi said in its initiation note that FedEx and UPS are well positioned. “In our view, investors should be positioned for a cyclical recovery, with attractive opportunities in companies that are leveraged to realize outsized benefits as freight conditions tighten.” Jefferies upgrades Southwest to hold from underperform Jefferies said Southwest is taking steps in the right direction. “Mgmt is taking the right steps in our view (cabin segments resulting, Atlantic partners, lower net capex on fleet monetization) but the numbers seem lofty & execution is key. Upgrade to Hold.” Deutsche Bank reiterates Netflix as hold Deutsche raised its price target on the stock ahead of earnings next week to $650 per share from $590 but said its valuation is full. “Netflix remains a compelling growth story with significant room for revenue, earnings, and FCF growth over the next several years.” Guggenheim initiates Crocs as buy Guggenheim said the shoe brand is “here to stay.” “We are initiating coverage of Crocs, Inc. ( CROX) with a Buy rating and $182 price target, just 13x our FY25 estimate.” TD Cowen initiates MetLife as buy TD Cowen said it’s the insurance company is well positioned. “Attractive, market-leading Group Benefits and international operations position MET for 10%+ EPS growth with relatively low macro / market sensitivity.” Morgan Stanley initiates GitLab as overweight Morgan Stanley said the company is an “emerging enterprise platform.” “We see GitLab as a key consolidator in a large market positioning the company as the next enterprise platform story in software – Initiate at OW with $70 PT.” Barclays initiates Shift4Payments as overweight Barclays said it’s bullish on the payments company. “We initiate coverage of Shift4 (FOUR) with an OW rating and $120 price target.” Piper Sandler downgrades Blackstone to neutral from overweight Piper said in its downgrade of the private equity investment company that the good news is already priced in. “While we continue to believe there is pent up demand and the likelihood that activity will return meaningfully in 2025, we believe much of that good news has been priced into the stock with BX up 20%+ in the last three months and up 40%+ in the past year.” Piper Sandler reiterates Apple as neutral Piper said in its latest survey teens that iPhone upgraded expectations are lower than in prior years. “However, we note upgrade expectations are up from the 20% level in our Spring 2024 survey. In addition, only ~30% of teens are upgrading any of their Apple hardware in the next six months due to Apple Intelligence, which to us feels low given the enthusiasm.” Wells Fargo upgrades Valero to overweight from equal weight Wells said the company is one of the “best independent refiners.” “We upgrade VLO from Equal Weight to Overweight.” Jefferies initiates Reddit as buy Jefferies said the social media website company is well positioned. ” RDDT is combining AI-driven product enhancements with a robust archive of contextual content to spur trial and engagement, resulting in recent user growth accelerating to the highest level in 2+ years.” Wolfe downgrades Vale to underperform from peer perform Wolfe said in its downgrade of the metals and mining company that iron ore demand is in decline. “We downgrade VALE to Underperform with a new $10 PT, and now see iron ore demand in structural decline. Deutsche Bank initiates New York Times as buy Deutsche said the newspaper company has robust fundamentals. “The bottom line of our investment thesis is this: New York Times’ digital-first subscription model and strong fundamentals including healthy engagement trends, an expanding TAM, demonstrated pricing power, and advertising growth…” Wells Fargo upgrades LPL Financial to overweight from equal weight Wells said the financial services company has an attractive risk/reward. “Risk/reward has dramatically improved post sweep rate cuts, and recent data points have been positive. LPLA’s valuation has contracted; we view the discount vs peers as attractive.” TD Cowen initiates Chewy as buy TD Cowen said the online pet company is best positioned. ” Chewy is the leading pure play eCommerce offering in the $144BN US Pet Industry; the company has a strong retail biz coupled with a growing pet health offering, including the largest online pet pharmacy.” Morgan Stanley upgrades Affirm to equal weight from underweight Morgan Stanley said it’s getting more constructive on shares of the fin tech company. “We are upgrading AFRM to EW as the company has demonstrated how better distribution, 0% promos, & lower pricing could attract & retain higher income consumers.” Mizuho reiterates Nvidia and Broadcom as outperform Mizuho said it’s sticking with its outperform ratings on Nvidia and Broadcom. “…we see NVDA maintaining its lead with a strong AI roadmap and AVGO positioned well with strong custom/networking portfolio…” Loop upgrades Home Depot and Lowe’s to buy from hold Loop said demand is “bottoming” for the home improvement retailers. “We are upgrading Home Depot and Lowe’s from Hold to Buy following recent store checks and management conversations. Our price target on HD is raised from $360 to $460, and for Lowe’s from $250 to $300 as the Fed moves to lower interest rates.” Wells Fargo reiterates Roblox as overweight Wells Fargo raised its price target on Roblox ahead of earnings in late October to $54 per share from $46. “Raising 3Q total bookings to above guide on strong engagement. The market continues to question the durability of engagement strength. We believe another reported strong quarter and healthy guidance will be constructive to investor confidence.” BTIG initiates Blue Bird as buy The firm said it’s bullish on shares of the school bus company. ” Blue Bird (BLBD) is a top 3 US school bus original equipment manufacturer (OEM) with a market leading position in the alternative fuel (gasoline, propane, natural gas, electric) school bus market.” Citi upgrades Norwegian to buy from neutral Citi said it likes the cruise company’s strategy. ” NCLH’ s shift in strategy gives us confidence that the considerable pricing opportunity will not be offset by runaway costs.” Evercore ISI reiterates Amazon as outperform Evercore said it’s bullish on the company’s satellite opportunity. “With AMZN beginning to launch satellites in Q4 in support of its Project Kuiper satellite-based Internet service, we expect investors to focus more intently on the service’s associated costs and revenue opportunities.”
