Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Apple, McDonald's, Microsoft, Netflix & more
Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Jefferies downgrades Ford to hold from buy Jefferies downgraded the stock mainly on valuation. " Ford is back, with strong earnings and a repaired balance sheet. Shares have also re-rated on recovered earnings that now approach cyclical highs. All that leaves limited scope for positive surprises although the stake in non-core Rivian, expected IPO of Argo AI and the return of dividends provide strong support." Read more about this call here. Morgan Stanley reiterates Apple as overweight Morgan Stanley reiterated its overweight rating on the tech giant. The firm said it sees upside heading into earnings next week, but it's mostly priced in. "We expect AAPL to post upside to Dec Q Street ests with an in-line guide for March, although this appears relatively priced in by the market. Revenue stability, upcoming product launches, and expansion into new markets makes AAPL more defensive in a rising rate environment." Goldman Sachs upgrades Silvergate Capital to buy from neutral Goldman upgraded the stock after its earnings report earlier this week. The firm said it likes the company's strong growth and that it's a "major" beneficiary of higher rates. "Post SI' s 4Q21 earnings announcement, we are upgrading shares to Buy from Neutral with a $166 price target (from $190). On the back of a topline miss, SI shares were down 25%, with the market focused on the headline miss on net interest income." Goldman Sachs reiterates McDonald's as buy Goldman said in a note to clients that it's bullish on the fast-food chain ahead of its earnings report next week. "We continue to view MCD as one of the best stocks in our coverage, given the brand's meaningful share gains in the last several years, sharp strategy focus on core menu/culturally relevant marketing, strong digital trends, and a franchise models that helps insulate earnings from cost pressures." Credit Suisse names Amazon, Alphabet and Meta Platforms top 2022 picks Credit Suisse named Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook's parent company as top picks. The firm said it sees more upside in 2022. "Our order of preference for 2022 remains unchanged with Amazon , Alphabet, and Meta in that order, driven primarily by expectations for accelerating or decelerating FCF, particularly for 2H22. Morgan Stanley names Visa, Mastercard and PayPal top 2022 picks Morgan Stanley named several payment companies as top picks and said investors should be patient with the stocks. "As such, while we think there are clear opportunities to buy names throughout the Payments complex — and our favorites are unchanged: V, MA , PYPL , AFRM, GLBE — we generally think investors will have to be patient and wait for the market to gain conviction that the changes are coming and will benefit our favorite stocks." Piper Sandler downgrades Advanced Micro Devices to neutral from overweight Piper said in its downgrade of the semiconductor stock that it sees more downside risk than upside. "We are downgrading AMD to Neutral from Overweight and decreasing our price target to $130 from $140. Our downgrade is driven by a combination of factors: 1) our concerns about a slowdown in the PC market during 2022, 2) the earnings and growth headwind from closing the Xilinx deal, and 3) the broader market dynamics around high-multiple, high-growth technology stocks." Read more about this call here. Citi opens a positive catalyst watch on WW International Citi opened a positive catalyst watch on the stock formerly known as Weight Watchers and said it sees a favorable risk/reward. "That said, given our belief that there could be several events that help clarify and strengthen the WW story, we open a 90-day positive catalyst watch on the name. Indeed, we note that WW has been a good stock during years (e.g. 2017 and 2019) where we saw a combination of strong diet season demand, new program innovation, and relevant marketing." Evercore ISI reiterates Netflix as outperform Evercore reiterated its outperform rating on Netflix ahead of the company's earnings report on Thursday after the market closes. The firm said it's a "bellwether" for media stocks. "The current narrative in streaming is that new content drives gross adds while library titles increase engagement and minimize churn. Netflix's earnings this quarter will put this thesis to the test as the company had a very strong content slate in Q4 and the performance on subscriber net adds could determine if investors would underwrite net add growth for other streamers when they have a strong content slate." Bank of America downgrades International Paper to neutral from buy Bank of America downgraded the stock on valuation. "We now rate International Paper and WestRock as Neutrals (from prior Buy ratings), and keep Packaging Corp. at Buy, after the stocks have lifted a bit in 2022 (up 5-10% relative) on a cyclical/value rotation." Bank of America reiterates Microsoft as a top pick Bank of America said in a note to clients that it sees more upside for the tech giant's stock in 2022. "We believe that Microsoft is well positioned to generate sustained low double-digit growth in the coming 3-5 years, led by continued adoption of Azure cloud infrastructure platform, cloud based Office 365 productivity suite and more profitable Games and Game Pass revenue in Xbox." Bank of America names Dick's Sporting Goods a top 2022 leisure pick Bank of America said Dick's Sporting Goods has an attractive valuation. "However, new consumer habits established during COVID should continue to support elevated spending trends that benefit well positioned Leisure Brands & Retailers that have: 1) large market share penetration opportunities; 2) accelerating brand momentum; 3) product innovation pipelines; and 4) enhanced digital/omni-channel strategies: We also favor stocks with attractive valuations relative to ROIC." Bank of America names FedEx a top 2022 focus pick Bank of America said it sees more upside in the shipping giant in 2022. "Within Airfreight, we have Buys on FedEx and UPS, with UPS posting solid performance (we look for a 33% dividend hike this month), and FedEx led by its TNT integration and potential to gain share into UPS' union negotiation." Morgan Stanley upgrades Sealed Air to overweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley said in its upgrade of the packaging company that it's more bullish on the stock as raw material prices decline. "Rather than a 'rising tide lifts all boats' scenario against a deflationary backdrop, we think pricing power holds the key to differentiated earnings performance in 2022 and prefer a stock-picking approach. With key raw materials prices declining more slowly than anticipated, we upgrade Sealed Air to Overweight (PT to $79) as our preferred play on this theme." KeyBanc downgrades Walmart to sector weight from overweight KeyBanc said that it sees more inflationary pressure for the big-box retailer. "Since our initiation, WMT has undergone a transformation into arguably one of the strongest omnichannel U.S. retailers. However, we believe that the lack of stimulus tailwinds and continued inflationary pressure may disproportionately impact WMT's 'middle of the middle' U.S. consumer near term." Read more about this call here. Loop downgrades Burlington to sell from hold Loop said in its downgrade of the off-price department store that it's concerned about inflationary pressure. "We are downgrading our rating from Hold to Sell and cutting our PT from $255 to $190 on Burlington as inflation and reduced stimulus may lead to reductions in consensus estimates." RBC initiates coverage of Maxar as outperform RBC said that it sees several positive catalysts for the space tech company in 2022. "We are initiating coverage of Maxar Technologies with an Outperform rating and a $40 price objective. After multiple delays on the launch of its WorldView Legion satellite constellation, the expected 2022 launch of the six-satellite constellation will be a positive catalyst." Deutsche Bank reiterates Roku as buy Deutsche said the stock's sell-off is overdone. " Roku' s stock price has dropped ~50% in the last 3 months and while short-term headwinds have increased during this time, we believe this pullback is overdone as Roku remains well positioned and the market leader in the rapidly growing connected TV (CTV) market." Baird reiterates Amazon as outperform Baird kept its outperform rating on the e-commerce giant and said it expects "decent" earnings when the company reports its results. "We expect decent top-line results with ongoing operating margin headwinds related to the logistics/infrastructure build-out. While Q1 guidance will likely fall a little short of consensus, we would focus on strong growth in services revenues, easing growth comps, and potential operating leverage." UBS reiterates Disney as buy UBS kept its buy rating on Disney ahead of its earnings report early next month and says it sees better direct-to-consumer subscriber growth. "DTC (direct to consumer) remains the most important driver and an improved outlook for net adds should support the investment case." UBS initiates KB Home and D.R. Horton as buy UBS said in its initiation of KB Home and D.R. Horton that it likes homebuilders with significant free cash flow generation. "Against this backdrop of cresting demand, we seek stocks with above market growth, margin resilience and cash flow generation." KeyBanc reiterates Peloton as overweight KeyBanc kept its overweight rating on the fitness company but lowered its price target to $60 per share from $114 due to uncertain demand and tough comps. "We are lowering 2022 and 2023 revenue and EBITDA estimates for PTON based on a heavy promotional environment in 2Q and into 3Q as well as tough compares in 2022 and uncertainty of demand levels in 2023."

The logo of Apple company is seen outside an Apple store in Bordeaux, France, March 22, 2019. Regis Duvignau | Reuters