Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls: Nvidia, Apple, Eli Lilly, Salesforce, Snowflake, Snap, Pinterest and more
Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Berenberg reiterates Eli Lilly as buy Berenberg raised its price target on the stock to $680 per share from $600 and says the drugmaker is delivering for shareholders. "Eli Lilly (Lilly) has delivered the strongest share price performance in the global large pharma sector [year to date] but we think there are reasons to continue to buy this name into next year." Wells Fargo reiterates Nvidia as overweight Wells Fargo is standing by its overweight rating on the dominant artificial intelligence chipmaker after a meeting with company management. "While NVIDIA has quickly scaled supply thus far, it remains supply constrained and will take some time before equilibrium is reached; supply continuing to increase q/q into fiscal 2025." BTIG downgrades Farfetch to neutral from buy BTIG said in its downgrade that the shares are "unanalyzable." "We are downgrading shares of FTCH to Neutral from Buy. Given recent events, shares have become almost unanalyzable, in our opinion, and the unexpected possibility the JV with luxury conglomerate Richemont may not close introduces significant additional downside risk." Jefferies upgrades Pinterest and Snap to buy from hold Jefferies sees growth upside in 2024 for both stocks. " SNAP is our more controversial call where we believe the stock re-rates higher on North America revenue growth reaccelerating into the mid-teens in '24. Our PINS upgrade is based on increasing conviction in PINS's ability to grow rev 20%+ in FY24. The key risk to both upgrades is a macro slowdown weighing on ad budgets." Bernstein upgrades QSR to outperform from market perform Bernstein said in its upgrade of the owner of Burger King that it sees "value creation." "With fears of consumer spending slowdown, and pressures in the BK US system, investors have maintained a neutral stance on the stock over the past 6 months (-4%). Yet, with the momentum built up since the beginning of the year we now see a clearer path toward QSR' s LT value creation." Wolfe upgrades Ally Financial to outperform from peer perform Wolfe said in its upgrade of the financial company that it's well-positioned. "In an environment where the probability of a mild recession or soft landing both appear plausible, we believe ALLY is well positioned to outperform in either scenario and upgrade shares to Outperform." TD Cowen downgrades Okta to market perform from outperform TD Cowen downgraded the stock after its earnings report Wednesday. "We are downgrading OKTA to Market Perform from Outperform and lowering our price target to $74 from $100 following 3Q24 results that indicate a top-line deceleration heading into FY25." Stifel initiates Veralto as buy Stifel said in its initiation of the water tech company that it's bullish. "Through core offerings in water analytics, water treatment, marking and coding, and packaging and color, customers use Veralto solutions to help ensure the safety, quality, efficiency and reliability of their products, processes and people globally." Raymond James initiates Ecolab as outperform Raymond James said in its initiation of the water treatment company that it sees "incremental uplift to estimates." "When most of us think of water technology, what comes to mind are proverbial 'pipes and pumps' – a one-time sale. Ecolab's approach is different: as one of the leading players in water treatment chemicals, its revenue from the water value chain is nearly all recurring." UBS initiates Service Corporation as buy UBS said the funeral home company is a "shareholder-friendly compounder." "We believe SCI is in the midst of transitioning back to its historical pattern of delivering 8-12% EPS growth, post pandemic." Deutsche Bank initiates Lattice Semiconductor as buy Deutsche Bank said the semiconductor company is "reprogrammed for growth." "We see LSCC (~$8b market cap) as offering the rare combination of above-industry revenue growth alongside industry leading gross margins (second only to NVDA & AVGO)." Loop reiterates Apple as neutral Loop said in a note that it's uncertain if Apple has real plans for a "true medical device." "The trials and tribulations of the Blood Glucose Monitoring saga suggest AAPL's original plans for a true medical device are far from a certainty." JPMorgan downgrades Nokia to neutral from overweight JPMorgan said in its downgrade of Nokia that it's "difficult to stay bullish." "Nokia's restructuring will help 2H24 earnings but with initial indications of 1H24 to be so difficult, it is difficult to stay bullish despite the valuation, which is well below historic levels." JPMorgan upgrades STMicroelectronics to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said shares of the European semiconductor manufacturer are cheap. "Infineon stock was up on meeting expectations for the full year and thus if STMicro beats expectations, we would expect the stock to be up. Hence, we place the stock on positive Catalyst Watch for full year results expected on Jan. 26th." Morgan Stanley upgrades Hewlett Packard Enterprise to equal weight from underweight Morgan Stanley said in its upgrade of Hewlett Packard Enterprise that it sees an AI opportunity. "We would have liked more derisking of Intelligent Edge estimates heading into FY24, but given where we are in [the] hardware cycle, and the longer term AI opportunity, we see little opportunity for further multiple compression; Upgrade to EW." Barclays downgrades Bilibili to underweight from equal weight Barclays said in its downgrade of the China video website that it sees slowing growth. "Inline-ish Q3 results but weaker-than-expected Q4 revenue growth outlook now is compounding the challenges BILI has been dealing with to fix its long standing bloated cost structure. We are cutting estimates and lowering PT to $10." Jefferies initiates GE Healthcare as hold Jefferies said in its initiation of the stock that value is "fair" right now. "Post-spin, GEHC is a more focused company, led by strong franchises in its core markets. Mgmt is prioritising a shift to high-growth areas through internal/external investment, and we see runway for margin expansion, but view this as mostly baked in." Baird upgrades Spirit AeroSystems to outperform from neutral Baird said in its upgrade of the aerospace company that it's a "turnaround story." "New interim CEO, Pat Shanahan is wasting no time in tackling high-urgency problem areas within SPR, setting up 2024 as an execution year and improved financial performance. Revising the Airbus production contract is the likely next catalyst for SPR which is expected by February 2024." Wells Fargo downgrades Petco to equal weight from overweight Wells Fargo said in its downgrade of the pet product retailer that shares are in the "dog house" right now. " WOOF's Q3 update represents another disappointing shortfall, w/ comps/GM/EPS well below our model. Shares are justifiably lower and likely remain in the dog house considering ongoing discretionary headwinds & another round of negative EPS revisions." Bank of America reiterates Salesforce as buy Bank of America stood by its buy rating on the stock after earnings on Wednesday. "We continue to believe that Salesforce is on track to become the next quality [growth at a reasonable price] stock." Goldman Sachs reiterates Snowflake as buy Goldman Sachs stood by its buy rating on Snowflake after earnings on Wednesday. "Stabilizing Consumption Trends, Easing Optimization Headwinds Drive Beat and Raise, Augments Confidence in F25 Growth Outlook." Wells Fargo upgrades Duke Energy to overweight from equal weight Wells Fargo said in its upgrade of the utility that it sees a "return to form." "After a lengthy period of underwhelming EPS execution, DUK appears poised to reclaim its position as one of the premium names in the sector. Upgrade to OW. Increase PT to $103 (vs $94)—a 0-5% P/E multiple premium vs. peers (3-4% discount currently)." HSBC initiates Molson Coors as hold HSBC sees too much uncertainty for the alcohol and beverage company. "After a big volume jump in 2023, Molson Coors needs share gains, pricing, and innovation to generate sustained growth."