Here are Monday's biggest analyst calls: Tesla, Walmart, First Republic, Nikola, McDonald's & more
Here are Monday's biggest calls on Wall Street: Bernstein reiterates Tesla as underperform Bernstein said more price cuts are coming for Tesla. "Make no mistake - the price cuts reflect Tesla's need to stimulate demand and are an explicit trade off of margins for volume. While many investors have been hopeful that Q1 margins might be bottom, we don't believe that will necessarily be the case, particularly given our belief that further cuts are likely." Morgan Stanley reiterates Walmart as overweight Morgan Stanley said its latest survey shows Walmart+ membership is at a record. "Walmart+ membership reached a record ~19.3m in our latest survey." Evercore ISI reiterates Nikola as in line Evercore cut its price target on the stock to $1 per share from $2, noting it sees too many headwinds. " Nikola recently announced the retirement of CFO Kim Brady with former VP & Corporate Controller Anastasiya Pasterick taking the vacant seat as successor. Outside of this shift in management, the company continues to battle funding headwinds." Citi opens a positive catalyst watch on Ingersoll Rand Citi said the air and gas compressor manufacturing company is well positioned. "Potentially better than expected order resilience coupled with what we think are likely to be sustainable ongoing M & A related tailwinds at IR should drive topline and earnings resilience." Truist initiates Warner Bros Discovery as buy Truist said it likes the direct-to-consumer opportunity for the media company. "We initiate coverage of WBD at Buy, expecting: 1) The HBO Max relaunch to drive renewed subscriber and ARPU momentum; 2) Multi-year deleveraging to support equity value; 3) DC to pursue the Marvel playbook with opportunity to narrow a significant IP exploitation gap;" Deutsche Bank initiates New Fortress Energy as buy Deutsche said New Fortress is well positioned in the liquified nat gas sector. "We believe there will be increased global demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the coming years, which has potential to create outsized investment opportunities." DA Davidson upgrades Weyerhaeuser to buy from neutral DA said the paper company has a "portfolio unlike any other." "We are upgrading shares of WY from Neutral to BUY, the pullback in the stock over the past two months creating an attractive entry-point, in our view." KBW downgrades Block to market perform from outperform KBW said it sees too many headwinds for the payments company. " SQ is facing a growing number of risks that we think will keep investors out of the name over the next year, primarily around rising competition in acquiring, and potential for regulatory scrutiny in Cash App." Read more about this call here. Stifel upgrades NetApp to buy from hold Stifel said it sees several positive catalysts ahead for the cloud company. "We hosted investor meetings with NetApp CFO Mike Berry and IR VP Kris Newton. The execs acknowledged that predicting when the current demand cycle bottoms continues to be difficult. But they also pointed to several company-specific initiatives/catalysts that should help boost margins and EPS in coming quarters, regardless of how macro plays out." Read more about this call here. UBS reiterates McDonald's as buy UBS said the fast food giant is extremely well positioned. "We believe MCD's continued global sales momentum, core competitive advantages, and compelling strategic initiatives should support further outperformance for shares, particularly in a difficult macro environment." BMO reiterates Nike as outperform BMO said it's standing by its outperform rating on the stock. "We continue to favor size and scale as long-term competitive advantages but remain concerned over hopes for meaningful margin growth." Goldman Sachs removes Norfolk Southern from the conviction buy list Goldman said it sees some uncertainty from the railroad company and removed the stock from its conviction list. "Simply put, the uncertainty around productivity recovery and/or costs makes it temporarily less precise to forecast margins and in turn EPS." UBS upgrades Regions Financial to buy from neutral UBS said in its upgrade of the regional bank that it likes the company's balance sheet. "We believe CFO David Turner deserves significant credit for astute balance sheet management, which positions RF to weather the current interest rate storm better than peers." Read more about this call here. KeyBanc reiterates Micron as overweight KeyBanc said it's standing by its overweight rating on the stock after Samsung announced memory production cuts. "Although NT demand and pricing dynamics still remain challenging, we are encouraged by this long-awaited production cut as this is expected to 1) facilitate a quicker return to supply-demand balance and potential rebound and 2) largely remove investors' concern on irrational supply behavior and help regain confidence regarding disciplined capex investments in memory. We view this announcement as positive to MU, and remain OW with a $70 PT." Northcoast upgrades McDonald's to buy from neutral Northcoast said it sees improved profitability for McDonald's . "We are raising our rating from NEUTRAL to BUY, encouraged by stronger US performance to date and the potential to improve profitability from recent corporate restructuring." Wells Fargo reiterates First Republic as equal weight Wells Fargo says it sees a possible "path to survival" for the regional banks. "There is still concern over what the future holds for FRC, and we still believe there is risk of resolution for the bank and investors." Goldman Sachs downgrades Cushman & Wakefield to neutral from buy Goldman downgraded the real estate company due to concerns about free-cash flow and slowing groth. "We downgrade CWK to Neutral from Buy on slowing topline, high leverage ratio and high interest expenses, and low free cash flow conversion." Read more about this call here.