Here are Friday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Nikola, Boeing, Western Digital, Oracle & more
Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday: Barclays upgraded Oracle to overweight from equal weight Barclays said in its upgrade of Oracle that it sees "accelerating growth" which the firm said will drive "multiple expansion." "The two factors here are an improving cloud mix and a better IT spend environment. ORCL has been ignored by investors for a while. It had some cloud jewels but also many poorly performing segments, which resulted in overall growth in the low-single digits." JPMorgan downgraded Nikola to neutral from overweight JPMorgan said in its downgrade of Nikola that the "good news" is already priced in. "This is something of a tactical move, based on timing of catalysts. The 4Q report and guide provided investors with reassurance that the company is more focused, and has left much of the drama of 2020 behind. .... .This good news is now priced in the stock, so we step aside for now, but we believe the story should heat up again in mid/late 2021 if customer orders get announced, and as the first fuel cell electric vehicle prototype comes to life." Canaccord upgraded Boeing to buy from hold Canaccord upgraded Boeing on an "improving" 737 MAX outlook among other things. "Our upgrade is based on three factors: 1) the MAX return to service; 2) the improved outlook for travel and the airline recovery, which will correspond with a positive inflection in the aerospace cycle; and 3) the stabilization in the wide-body outlook." JPMorgan upgraded Cisco to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said in its upgrade of the stock that it's "inexpensive" among other things. "We are upgrading CSCO shares to Overweight on a combination of Enterprise IT spending recovery tracking ahead of expectation, on-track transformation to subscriptions, as well as still inexpensive valuation following underperformance to peers, including FFIV, DELL, HPE, HPQ, and XRX." Goldman Sachs upgraded Western Digital to buy from neutral Goldman upgraded the computer hard disk drive manufacturer and data storage company, and said it sees an "attractive" set up. "While the stock has had a strong start to the year (i.e. +26% vs. the SPX/SOX +3%/+10%), we believe the set-up is attractive given improving NAND supply/demand dynamics and our expectations for a recovery in the nearline market, and importantly, Western Digital' s market share in nearline." Craig-Hallum downgraded Smith & Wesson to hold from buy Craig-Hallum downgraded the firearms manufacturer and said the stock has likely "peaked." " SWBI is executing near flawlessly and capitalizing on surge demand as evident by record revenue and profitability, market share gains and significant FCF. ... .All that said, we think the stock will continue to be range bound over the near term as investment sentiment seems to be fading, gun stocks typically peak before earnings, and tough comps going forward will create challenging optics for the stock." Goldman Sachs added Fifth Third Bank to the conviction buy list Goldman added the regional bank to its conviction buy list and said it sees "cheap rate optionality." "While our near-term estimates are well above consensus (reserve release, continued beneﬁts of cost cuts), we view FITB as a 'cheap' way to play rate upside optionality with limited downside in a low rate scenario (-5.5%) and signiﬁcant upside (+50.5%) if higher rates do come through." Evercore ISI added T. Rowe Price to the tactical outperform list Evercore added a tactical outperform idea on the investment management firm and said it sees a "strong return" to organic growth. "We're adding T. Rowe Price to the Evercore ISI Tactical Outperform list, as we believe Feb '21's flow print will show a strong return to organic growth from a disappointing Jan '21; that the company's back-on-track in a seasonally strong flow quarter; & set-up to exceed 1Q21 consensus flow expectations." Morgan Stanley named Fisker as a favorite idea Morgan Stanley named the electric vehicle company as its top "preferred risk-adjusted" electric vehicle startup stock. "With nearly 80% upside to our $40 price target and nearly 300% to our $90 bull case, we position FSR as our preferred risk-adjusted EV startup stock." Stifel upgraded Bally's to buy from hold Stifel upgraded the gaming company on valuation and called it an "attractive" buying opportunity. "We think current valuation affords an attractive opportunity to acquire a compelling long-term omnichannel growth strategy at a fraction of the valuation priced into BALY 's peers. Jefferies initiated Interactive Brokers as buy Jefferies initiated coverage of the multinational brokerage firm and said higher interest rates represent a "tailwind" to earnings among other things. "We are initiating coverage of IBKR with a Buy Rating and an $89 price target. The combination of elevated retail activity and the potential for higher interest rates both represent tailwinds to earnings in 2021 and beyond." Truist named Booking Holdings, Expedia and Tripadvisor as favorite ideas Truist named the online travel companies as top picks and said it sees a "strong rebound" in leisure travel. "The pandemic is likely to remain a NT overhang on performance of online travel players, encouraging signs out of markets leading in vaccinations, pickup in the pace of US vaccinations and leading data trends in hotel bookings and surveys on consumer appetite for travel suggest a strong rebound in leisure travel is likely as we progress into the year. .... .Amid the recent run-up in stocks, we're reit BUY on BKNG , EXPE and TRIP , where we see room for upside/catalysts."

The Boeing logo is pictured at its Renton Factory, where the Boeing 737 MAX airliners are built in Renton, Washington on April 20, 2020. JASON REDMOND | AFP via Getty Images