(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Monday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) Analysts kicked off the week with an upgrade to a major electronics retailer. Jefferies raised its rating on Best Buy to buy from hold, and its new price target implies about 20% upside. TD Cowen, meanwhile, named Nvidia a top pick, with the firm expecting the chipmaker to build on its monster 2023 performance in the new year. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. 5:35 a.m. ET: TD Cowen names Nvidia a top pick Nvidia was the leader in AI this year, and TD Cowen doesn’t see that changing in 2024. Analyst Matthew Ramsay named the chipmaker a best idea for the new year, reiterating an outperforming rating on the stock. His price target of $700 per share implies upside of 47.3% from Friday’s close. Ramsay pointed to three factors driving his call: “The company is accelerating its hardware product roadmap cadence (with associated CUDA/other software) to a less-than-one-year cadence beginning with Blackwell in C2024.” “We believe the market remains very early in the era(s) of accelerated computing and generative AI where NVIDIA has a clear leadership position.” “We believe the current valuation near the low-end of its five-year range on most metrics already contemplates the potential for a ‘digestion’ year in C2025 despite our belief that year will be another strong growth year for the company across the franchise.” Nvidia has been the clear winner of 2023, surging more than 200% to lead the S & P 500 higher. NVDA YTD mountain NVDA in 2023 — Fred Imbert 5:35 a.m. ET: Jefferies upgrades Best Buy Best Buy is a call that “doesn’t take much to work,” says Jefferies. The firm upgraded shares to buy from hold in a Monday note. Its new price target of $89 from $29 implied 20% upside from Friday’s close. Analyst Jonathan Matuszewski cited conviction that a “replacement cycle” for pandemic buys is soon set to begin, as well as the company’s strong market share. “Demand linked to rising consumer interest in A.I. will be a ‘cherry on top’, hitting the P & L in C4Q’24 with a stock ‘halo’ prior. Web traffic, search trends, and checks support our view,” Matuszewski said. Shares jumped more than 2% on Monday before the bell. Year to date, it is down nearly 9%. — Hakyung Kim
