Monday's analyst calls: Bank of America, AMC, Schwab, Roblox, Tesla
Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Monday: Citi opened a positive catalyst watch on Boston Scientific and Medtronic Citi added a positive catalyst watch on several medtech stocks on Monday morning and said earnings would be a "harbinger" for the second half recovery. "Thus the key will be management commentary on utilization patterns as vaccines become more pervasive and patients return to the physician's office for procedures. This should first benefit the orthopaedic stocks, followed by general surgery and structural heart procedures shortly behind. Therefore, we are opening a positive catalyst watch on BSX , MDT , SYK, and ZBH." Goldman Sachs added Charles Schwab to the conviction buy list Goldman added the financial services company to its conviction buy list and said it had a "robust" balance sheet among other things. "On the back of the considerable momentum for fundamentals, we are adding SCHW to the Conviction List, as the stock has lagged considerable improvements in reinvestment rates, and this, combined with robust balance sheet growth, is likely to continue to propel forward estimates and the stock in our view." Morgan Stanley upgraded MGM and Caesars to overweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley upgraded several casino stocks and said it believed consensus was "underestimating" the earnings power of the companies. "We visited Vegas last week and found the market is in the midst of a fast, strong recovery, with especially positive booking trends. We believe consensus is grossly underestimating the earnings power of companies exposed, and hence upgrade CZR and MGM to OW, reiterate OW BYD & WYNN." Goldman Sachs initiated Roblox as buy Goldman initiated the online gaming platform and said it sees more "upside" in the stock. "In our view, the creation & monetization of user-generated content effectively allows RBLX to outsource game development costs to its creators while retaining the economic upside with a diversiﬁed portfolio of content, reducing hit-risk." Wells Fargo initiated Ford as overweight Wells said in its initiation of the auto company that it had one of its "strongest lineups" in decades. "The turnaround is a massive change. Ford is no longer focused on having a product for all markets, but rather focused on delivering products in segments with competitive strength — pickups & SUVs. Ford N America has one of the strongest lineups in decades with a refreshed F-150, the Mustang Mach E, & new Broncos." Wedbush upgraded Tesla to outperform from neutral Wedbush upgraded the auto company and said its delivery numbers were "eye popping." "In our opinion the 1Q delivery numbers released on Friday was a paradigm changer and shows that the pent-up demand globally for Tesla 's Model 3/Y is hitting its next stage of growth as part of a global green tidal wave underway." Bank of America initiated Roblox as buy Bank of America began coverage of the online gaming platform and said it provides unique exposure to the mobile gaming market. " RBLX combines the communication utility of social networks (TikTok, SNAP) with the monetization/engagement of AAA gaming (Fortnite, Call of Duty, GTA Online), and has democratized content creation such that any user is a creator." Wells Fargo initiated General Motors as overweight Wells Fargo initiated coverage of the auto company and said it was a leader in the race to autonomous vehicles among other things. " GM is leading the way in the autonomous, electric, and connected future of mobility. GM's autonomous unit Cruise was recently valued at $30bn, in line with perceived leader Waymo. GM plans to roll out the 3rd generation of EV vehicles using its Ultium EV battery technology on exciting products like the new Hummer and Cadillac Lyric." Goldman Sachs initiated Coupang as buy Goldman initiated the South Korean e-commerce company and called its platform "unique." " Coupang has created a substantial moat around its 1P-centric e-commerce model with a nationwide in-house logistics and delivery network in Korea, which we view as among the more unique e-commerce markets globally with its high penetration and fragmentation." Bank of America upgraded Lamb Weston to buy from neutral Bank of America upgraded the food processing company and said it sees "multiple expansion" and "improved demand" among other things. "In our view, LW is poised to approach pre-COVID levels driven by improved demand and margin expansion potential. ... .In addition we see room for multiple expansion as foodservice distributors and restaurants have re-rated higher while LW shares have come under pressure, driven by a weaker F3Q." Raymond James upgraded JetBlue to outperform from market perform Raymond James said in its upgrade of the airline that it sees earnings momentum and upside. "We are upgrading JBLU to Outperform from Market Perform with a $24 target price on improving trends in its core markets, including the recovery in near-international, as well as the potential for normalized margin expansion if it were to execute on just a few of the identified earnings levers. Morgan Stanley added Alphabet to its fresh money buy list Morgan Stanley added the internet giant to its fresh money buy list and said it sees "margin upside" among other things. "Our analyst, Brian Nowak, sees GOOGL as a favored pick at ~13X '22e EBITDA with several upside drivers – dark horse travel trade, surging YouTube trends, continued Google Cloud Platform top-line traction, and potential margin upside with opex discipline." B. Riley upgraded AMC Entertainment to buy from neutral B. Riley said in its upgrade of the cinema exhibition company that it sees a "solid path to resurgence" and that it was "impressed" by management's ability to weather the pandemic. "We are also taking this opportunity to upgrade AMC Entertainment Holdings from Neutral to Buy along with raising our PT from $7 to $13. We have remained impressed with management's ability to weather the pandemic headwinds by both strengthening the balance sheet and negotiating with landlords to improve the cash runway into 2022." Goldman Sachs named Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Citi as top picks Goldman Sachs named Morgan Stanley , Bank of America and Citi as top stocks just ahead of their earnings reports and said it was "optimistic" as rates continue to rise. "Looking ahead to the balance of the year and into 2022, we expect an optimistic tone around the outlook, given that: 1) strong reserve releases look set to continue and contribute to an ongoing strong excess capital return story. Moreover, 2) we remain more optimistic about the net interest income trajectory, as rates continue to rise and banks remix cash into higher yielding assets."

Brendan McDermid | Reuters