Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls: Amazon, Sunrun, Qualcomm, Eli Lilly, SolarEdge, Estée Lauder and more
Here are Thursday's biggest calls on Wall Street: Bank of America reiterates Qualcomm as buy Bank of America said it's standing by its buy rating on the stock after its earnings report Wednesday. "We believe that Qualcomm is a long-term beneficiary of growing 3G/4G/5G smartphone, tablet and cellular enabled machine to machine adoption worldwide." HSBC initiates Amazon as buy HSBC said it sees an "attractive entry point" for investors. " Amazon's structural opportunity in cloud surpasses even the lock-in effect with consumers in Ecommerce." BMO downgrades Sunrun to market perform from outperform BMO said a rebound for Sunrun is "elusive." "We appreciate RUN's cautious approach to residential solar growth compared with its rooftop solar peers, which has been a relative positive. However, RUN's cut to its capacity growth outlook this late in the year suggests a market rebound is elusive." Seaport upgrades KB Home and Toll Brothers to buy from neutral Seaport upgraded several homebuilders Thursday and said it sees a "favorable environment for early cycle builders." "Consequently, we upgrade KB Homes (KBH), M.D.C. Holdings (MDC), Meritage Homes (MTH), Taylor Morrison (TMHC), and Toll Brothers (TOL) to Buy (from Neutral) with valuation at ~1.0x book, acknowledging fundamental headwinds are rising, yet a historically favorable environment for "early cycle" builders." JPMorgan initiates WK Kellogg as neutral JPMorgan said it's uncertain about EBITDA growth for the cereal company. "We see the potential for gross margin expansion over time, powered by supply chain investments. However, we are not sure if this will translate into quite the level of EBITDA growth that KLG expects." Truist upgrades Amgen to buy from hold Truist said Amgen could be an obesity drug beneficiary. "We also note GLP-1/obesity data could be near-term catalysts that could drive up the stock." Bank of America upgrades Oscar Health to buy from neutral Bank of America said it's bullish heading into the insurer's earnings report next week. "We are upgrading OSCR to a Buy from Neutral as we expect the insurer to report strong Q3 results and positive 2024 guidance." Truist downgrades SolarEdge to hold from buy Truist said it sees too many negative catalysts ahead for the solar company. "Further we believe the rapid change in volume/margin outlook demonstrate the worryingly limited visibility SEDG has into sell through levels." UBS downgrades Eastman Chemical to neutral from buy UBS said it sees a more balanced risk/reward for the stock. "We downgrade EMN stock to Neutral, as we believe some of the benefits of market stabilization and new recycling initiatives are offset by a lower base earnings than our prior expectations." Citi reiterates Eli Lilly as buy Citi said it sees further upside after the company's earnings report Thursday. "In the absence of safety concerns for its existing or future incretin portfolio and with accelerating momentum as Mounjaro capacity increases, we continue to see upside to Lilly's already rich valuation." KBW upgrades Janus Henderson to market perform from underperform KBW said the asset management company is on the right track. " JHG's solid third-quarter result, better expense guidance, and meaningful share buyback authorization represents a confirmation that the transformation is on the right path." Seaport upgrades Rayonier to buy from neutral Seaport said in its upgrade of the timberland real estate investment trust that it sees an attractive entry point for Rayonier. "Bottom line, fundamentals have been challenging, but the stock, down ~24% ytd, trades at a wide discount to our assessment of NAV (net asset value). Management agrees and is doing something about it. Upgrade to Buy (from Neutral) with $32 price target." RBC downgrades Estée Lauder to sector perform from outperform RBC downgraded the stock after the company's earnings report. "While EL's F1Q'24 played out better than expected, the material guidance cut was a major disappointment. While the data points around China were negative during the quarter, we thought EL's guidance (provided last quarter) already embedded this dynamic. We were clearly wrong." Citi upgrades Clorox to buy from neutral Citi said in its upgrade of the stock that the worst of the negative catalysts is behind it. "We are upgrading CLX to Buy (from Neutral) as we believe the worst of the negative impacts from the August cyberattack is largely behind." Bernstein upgrades Chevron to outperform from market perform Bernstein said it likes the company's deal for Hess. "We're card carriers and as CVX communicates the value of HES growth to its value oriented shareholders, more will join. We expect geopolitical tensions wane and a return of CVX Israeli gas." Pivotal upgrades Roku to hold from sell Pivotal upgraded the stock after its earnings report Wednesday. " ROKU occupies an attractive position in the content ecosystem with penetration in the all-important US market of 50% of U.S. broadband households, scale (that management appears intent on proving out financially) and currently have the best product of any streaming aggregator." Guggenheim downgrades SolarEdge to neutral from buy The firm said it's "giving up" on its positive stance on the stock. "We are giving up on our positive stance on SEDG as the depth and duration of the downturn in revenue has exceeded our expectations. On one hand, it is tempting to buy into what will doubtlessly be a significant decline today, but on the other hand we don't see the company getting back to positive EBITDA until the second half of 2024." Stifel upgrades Generac to buy from hold Stifel said it sees an attractive risk/reward for the backup battery company. "After being on standby since assuming coverage about a year ago, we believe the risk/reward in the shares is favorable."