Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls: Apple, Western Alliance, Berkshire Hathaway, Wix & more
Here are Thursday's biggest calls on Wall Street: Bank of America moves to a no rating on Western Alliance Bank of America said it's moving to a no rating on shares of the regional bank, noting Western Alliance is caught in a "negative feedback loop." "We believe that WAL, and the broader regional banking group, are caught in a negative feedback loop driven by steep sell-off in stock prices that are feeding into deposit attrition fears. Raymond James upgrades Wix.com to outperform from market perform Raymond James said in its upgrade of Wix.com that it sees strong margins for the website developer. "Our upgrade is based on: 1) We expect continued steady bookings and revenue growth in 2023 (~10%) with continued strength in revenue/ subscriber. Additionally, we expect sub growth comps to ease in 2H23. 2) Expect Strong Margin Improvement in 2023/2024 and beyond." Citi downgrades Wingstop to neutral from buy Citi downgraded Wingstop mainly on valuation. "When married with a valuation (absolute/relative) approaching multi-year highs, we find it difficult to argue for much greater upside in shares over the next twelve months and therefore move to the sideline." DA Davidson initiates ZoomInfo as buy DA said the software data company is attractively valued and a Buffett-like investment. "We are initiating coverage of ZI with a BUY rating and a $30 target as a rare value investment within software. We see a strong competitive moat, substantial long-term opportunity and a uniquely attractive valuation." Goldman Sachs upgrades Cemex to buy from neutral Goldman upgraded the building material due to a "better than expected pricing environment." "We upgrade Cemex to Buy reflecting a better than expected pricing environment as evidenced by 1Q23 results." Read more about this call here. Berenberg initiates Mobileye and Ambarella as buy Berenberg said in its initiation of Mobileye that the autonomous driving tech company is an AI beneficiary. The firm also initiated Ambarella and said it's a "up-and-coming competitor with a differentiated offering, ex-automotive revenue, and long-term SAM expansion opportunities, all at a reasonable valuation." "We have entered a period of transformative innovation in the automotive industry, primarily driven by developments in AI and computing." Bank of America upgrades Verisk Analytics to buy from underperform Bank of America said the data analytics and risk assessment company is "defensive." "We upgrade Verisk Analytics to Buy from Underperform. We think the shares look attractive here due to VRSK's 1) defensive business model in an uncertain environment; 2) accelerating sales growth, which drives our higher EPS outlook." Citi upgrades Deutsche Bank to buy from neutral Citi said the global investment bank is at an "attractive entry point." " Deutsche Bank is one of the most de-rated banks YTD, yet the 1Q23 results demonstrated potential for further consensus earnings upgrades." Read more about this call here. Mizuho reiterates Robinhood as buy Mizuho said it's standing by its buy rating on the stock trading app company heading into earnings May 10. "In the midst of a turbulent earnings season, we expect a relatively 'boring' 1Q, which should be well-received. When it comes to financial stocks, boring is a good virtue to have." Rosenblatt reiterates Apple as buy Rosenblatt said it's standing by its buy rating heading into earnings on Thursday after the bell. " Apple confronts its March quarter earnings report post-close. We like the company longer term. In no way are we pushing investors to aggressively accumulate shares ahead of this report. A pullback might happen near term and provide a better opportunity. DA Davidson downgrades PacWest Bancorp to neutral from buy DA said in its downgrade of the PacWest that it sees too much uncertainty for the regional bank. "While the company has discussed certain asset sales (lender finance), an outright sale seems unlikely, in our view, given the current environment." Goldman Sachs upgrades Procore Technologies to buy from neutral Goldman said in its upgrade of the construction management software company that it sees "top line resilience." "We highlight the following key reasons for the upgrade: 1) Gaining conviction that Procore can deliver breakeven proﬁtability in F24, beneﬁting from sustained revenue outperformance and higher marketing efﬁciency, 2) Ability to deliver upside to revised F23 guidance for 26% revenue growth." Baird upgrades Blackbaud to outperform from neutral Baird said the software solutions company for nonprofit and education is seeing " bottom-line improvements." "We believe BLKB 's pricing and crosssell initiatives can drive improved growth, while cost discipline should drive continued bottom-line improvements." Susquehanna downgrades Frontier to neutral from positive Susquehanna said in its downgrade of the discount airline that it sees slowing growth. "That said, with now 2 cuts to FY23 capacity guidance, we see elevated risk to Frontier's growth profile for FY23-24 and are moving to the sidelines." CFRA reiterates Berkshire Hathaway as hold CFRA said it's standing by its "fairly valued" hold rating heading into Berkshire earnings on Saturday. "CFRA believes Berkshire Class B shares are fairly valued versus historical averages, though the year-to-date performance of the shares has been aided by a rotation into value stocks and by Berkshire's balance sheet strength." UBS initiates Ferguson as buy UBS said the construction supply company is resilient. "We expect the US residential business ( > 50% of FERG's revenue) to remain relatively resilient, despite macro uncertainty, which underpins our above consensus topline growth forecasts for the company." Bernstein reiterates Qualcomm as outperform Bernstein said it's standing by its outperform rating on Qualcomm after its earnings report on Wednesday and that it "ought to be bought." "While we believe investors were expecting a miss, this was admittedly a somewhat sobering report. That being said, there were some promising signs to latch on to as well."