Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Netflix, UPS, Coinbase, Nvidia, Hershey & more
Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Deutsche Bank initiated CrowdStrike as buy Deutsche Bank initiated the cyber security and said the stock was underappreciated. "We see CrowdStrike in the sweet spot for two important secular trends of this decade: the rising importance of cybersecurity and cloud adoption. We think investors are underappreciating the incremental dollars flowing into endpoint security, a total addressable market we peg at $35bn, with CrowdStrike currently only ~5% penetrated." Goldman Sachs upgraded Hershey to buy from neutral Goldman upgraded the candy company and said it was in the midst of a "three-plus year cycle of outsized growth." " HSY delivered its most robust year of EBIT growth since 2014 last year as price-driven sales growth drove gross margin expansion that was ampliﬁed by expense controls; Covid-related impact was only a modest positive. Rather than a one-off, we believe 2020 was the beginning of a three-plus year cycle of outsized growth as the confection industry leverages its unique pricing power to expand the revenue and proﬁt pool at a time when input costs are non-daunting." Oppenheimer named Micron and Marvell top picks Oppenheimer named the semiconductor companies as top picks and said it saw upside heading into earnings. "We see a beat and raise set-up for most in the group, with upside capped by widespread supply constraints. … Comps get tougher in 2H. We remain stock selective favoring structural growth. Our top picks are MPWR, MRVL , and NVDA. Our top value/ income pick is AVGO." BTIG initiated Coinbase as buy BTIG initiated the cryptocurrency platform company after it made its trading debut on Wednesday and said it would be a "primary" beneficiary in the adoption of bitcoin. "We believe COIN, the most popular consumer-facing cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., is positioned to be a primary beneficiary of the increased adoption of bitcoin and other digital assets as it continues to scale in the U.S. and internationally." Read more about this call here . Baird reiterated Netflix as outperform Baird reiterated its outperform rating on the streaming giant ahead of its earnings report next week and said it was "well positioned near and long term." "We expect solid overall Q1 results, and while recent price increases and increased competition have raised some investor questions, we believe NFLX remains well positioned near and long term." Barclays upgraded XPO and Canadian Pacific to overweight from equal weight Barclays said in its upgrade of rail company Canadian Pacific that it had "long-term potential." The firm also upgraded XPO and said the shipping giant had an attractive valuation, among other things. "Upgrade Canadian Pacific to Overweight on long-term potential of the pending Kansas City Southern acquisition, but wary of sizable rail exposure given tax risk. … Upgrade XPO to Overweight given low valuation, solid fundamentals and a clearer post-split future." Morgan Stanley reiterated its overweight rating on Boeing Morgan Stanley reiterated its overweight rating on shares of the aerospace giant and said the stock was "attractive." "We remain comfortable with our Overweight rating on Boeing at current levels and believe the stock is attractive despite a 50%+ run over the last two quarters. Recent aircraft orders from United and Southwest alongside the resumption of 787 deliveries are positive catalysts for the company and a sign of growing stability in the market." Atlantic Equities initiated Medtronic and Boston Scientific Atlantic Equities initiated several med tech companies with overweight ratings and said they presented several "attractive" opportunities. "While some markets are mature and have aging intellectual property, there are a number of emerging and fast-growing markets that provide attractive opportunities for the companies in this sector. We initiate on the five dominant participants in these markets; Boston Scientific , Dexcom, Medtronic. " Needham initiated Teladoc as buy Needham initiated the telehealth company with a buy rating and said Teladoc would be a winner even after the coronavirus passes. "While investors may question the sustainability of this usage, particularly as the global population gets vaccinated, our research suggests that telehealth usage will remain above pre-pandemic levels after the current crisis subsides. We expect that continued investment in telehealth and virtual care will be the catalyst for broader digital health spend." Raymond James upgraded Nvidia to strong buy from outperform Raymond James said in its upgrade of the stock that it was well positioned in "both the short and long term." "Our call is not really new, as we've been positive on NVDA for some time. Our call today rather is meant to express our conviction in both the short and long term. In the short term, we think results will be more dependent on supply than demand given widespread shortages – and we do expect incremental supply to become available as the year progresses." Stifel initiated Elanco as buy Stifel initiated the animal health company with a buy and said "innovation is improving." "In short, 2019 earnings misses are in the past, the heavy-lifting from the Bayer acquisition is in the late-innings, innovation is improving, and there is line-of-sight into margin improvement and deleveraging. Med-tech investors have a soft spot for revenue acceleration + margin improvement stories, which we believe will be Elanco' s narrative." Raymond James initiated Advanced Micro Devices as outperform Raymond James initiated coverage of the semiconductor company and said it was a "secular winner." "We are initiating coverage of AMD with an Outperform rating and $100 price target. We are using the pullback since the start of the year to get involved with AMD, which we expect to be a secular winner due to what we believe to be a durable technical advantage vs. Intel." Citi opened a positive catalyst watch on UPS Citi opened a positive catalyst watch on the shipping giant and said shares look attractive ahead of the company's earnings report. "We believe the set up for UPS over the next few months is quite constructive, as we expect strong 1Q results to be followed by positive Domestic targets at the company's June Investor Day. As a result, we are opening a 90-day positive catalyst watch on shares and taking our price target up to $200." Piper Sandler raised its price target on Moderna to $234 from $208 Piper raised its price target on shares of Moderna to a Street high and said the company's coronavirus vaccine has helped make it profitable. "Based on historical trends of other novel viral pandemics, SARS-CoV-2 is here to stay. While we expect transition from pandemic to endemic (seasonal) infection, SARS-CoV-2 will likely be a risk to human health and require immunization for years to come, especially in under vaccinated areas." Raymond James downgraded Intel to underperform from market perform Raymond James said in its downgrade of Intel that it was skeptical about the company's direction and ability to spend on investments. " Intel 's stock has risen of late due to optimism that new leadership from their very capable new CEO will allow them to turn around their manufacturing issues and return to their former dominance. Our Underperform rating reflects not just the risk that Intel won't reach that goal, but also the pain they will likely endure in pursuit of that goal in terms of capex, lost market share, and a shifting landscape in datacenter that will make the industry less dependent on Intel." Barclays upgraded Anheuser-Busch InBev to overweight from equal weight Barclays said in its upgrade of the beverage giant that the market is "underestimating" the company's margin potential. "With high leverage and a depressed rating, in our opinion ABI is the only beverage stock under our coverage with a share price that could theoretically double during 2021. We believe that the market is materially underestimating the margin potential this year, which could be rectified as soon as the Q1 statement on 6 May." JPMorgan named Dell a favorite idea JPMorgan named Dell a favorite idea for the second half of 2021 and said it was unlocking value by spinning off its stake in VMware. "We are constructive on the enterprise hardware stocks heading into the second half of 2021, but the VMW spin makes DELL our favorite idea in this space. We remain Overweight DELL."

Chocolate bars are displayed for sale at Hershey's Chocolate World store in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2018. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images