Here are Friday's biggest analyst calls: Tesla, Netflix, Qualcomm, Apple, Coinbase, Walmart, Amazon and more
Here are Friday's biggest calls on Wall Street: Oppenheimer reiterates Netflix as outperform Oppenheimer raised its price target on the stock to $600 per share from $475. "We believe NFLX's initiatives such as password sharing rules, advertising and optimizing subscriber plan choices will drive subscriber growth and average revenue per membership (ARM), therefore leading to higher revenue." Goldman Sachs reiterates Monster as buy Goldman Sachs said the upcoming investor day will be a positive catalyst for the stock. "We reiterate our Buy rating on MNST ahead of its upcoming Investor Meeting on 1/16 in NYC, which we believe will be a positive catalyst for the stock, especially considering mgmt will be in-person for the ﬁrst time in the past several years and will spend time ﬁelding investor questions." RBC upgrades Pentair to outperform from sector perform RBC said the worst is behind the water treatment company. "We are upgrading Pentair from Sector Perform to Outperform as (1) the worst of the post-COVID-tough pools comps and destocking appear to have passed; (2) self-help/transformational initiatives could drive an incremental +200 bps margin upside to 23% by 2025." Barclays downgrades Snowflake to equal weight from overweight Barclays said the stock's valuation looks full right now. "For SNOW , we are not comfortable to push the current high multiple further as there is a lot of consumption recovery or new product contribution needed to deliver accelerating product growth." RBC upgrades Regeneron to outperform from sector perform RBC said in its upgrade of Regeneron that it's "one of the most dynamic all-around stories in large-cap biotech." "While shares have appreciated and we acknowledge some may prefer to wait for a pullback before stepping in, with these near-term overhangs removed and considerable room for additional fundamental upside, we believe this is as good a time as any to own one of the most dynamic all-around stories in large-cap biotech." Berenberg upgrades Autoliv to buy from hold Berenberg said the automotive safety supplier has an attractive risk/reward. "We believe that Autoliv will be well positioned in 2024 as its dominant (and growing) market position in passive safety should continue to allow it to deliver steady growth." Bank of America reiterates Coinbase as underperform Bank of America said the newly approved bitcoin exchange-traded fund could be a "threat" to Coinbase. "These ETFs could also represent a competitive threat to crypto exchanges such as COIN." Baird reiterates Tesla as outperform Baird said it's standing by its outperform rating but that "disruptions in the Red Sea may lead to longer wait times as supply chains are rerouted." "TSLA announced today that its Berlin gigafactory will suspend the majority of production from January 29-February 11 as a result of component shortages. The shortages are due to a change in shipping routes caused by the Red Sea armed conflict." RBC upgrades Taylor Morrison to outperform from sector perform RBC said in its upgrade of the homebuilder that it has an attractive valuation. "We are upgrading TMHC to Outperform from Sector Perform and raising our PT to $57 (from $43) in conjunction with our 2024 Outlook." Goldman Sachs initiates Rio Tinto as buy Goldman Sachs said the metals and mining company has a robust balance sheet. "GLEN and RIO present the strongest balance sheets, coupled with strong cash flows with the most valuation upside." Jefferies upgrades International Flavors to buy from hold Jefferies said in its upgrade of the stock that it's bullish on management changes. "The CEO change, in our view, finally positions IFF for several years of sustainable structural improvement." Bank of America reiterates Alphabet as buy Bank of America said it sees more layoffs ahead for Alphabet and that some jobs will be replaced by artificial intelligence. " Alphabet has reportedly eliminated hundreds of positions from its core engineering division, Google Assistant (voice-operated virtual assistant), and hardware division that makes Pixel phone, Fitbit watches and Nest thermostat. … Our Take: We think many of these jobs will be replaced by AI engineers." Piper Sandler upgrades Twilio to overweight from neutral Piper Sandler said it now sees "material upside" for the stock. "After 6 months of the stock digesting top-line estimates coming down, we are upgrading shares from Neutral to OW and raising our PT to $82 (prior $75). Our updated view is primarily based on: there is material upside potential to FCF estimates as Twilio has executed better on profitability initiatives." Roth MKM upgrades Live Nation to buy from hold Roth MKM said "above trend growth" will continue for the concerts company. "Positive secular demand for live events/concerts positions Live Nation well, in our view, for above trend growth over the next several years." Truist reiterates Amazon as buy Truist raised its price target on the stock to $180 per share from $176. "That said, we expect AMZN to come in at the very high-end of expectations on higher ecommerce and Ad revenue, supported by our Truist Card Data." RBC downgrades Johnson Controls to underperform from sector perform RBC said in its downgrade of the stocks that it sees "lukewarm" earnings growth. "We are downgrading JCI from Sector Perform to Underperform as we see (1) risks to its margin expansion targets, (2) lukewarm earnings growth, (3) potential spillover repercussions from the cyberattack, and (4) persistently low earnings quality." Bernstein reiterates Apple as market perform Bernstein said the risk/reward remains "neutral to slightly negative" for Apple. "We see risk-reward as relatively neutral to slightly negative, given AAPL's valuation remains elevated vs. peers and history, we are below consensus on FY 24 revenues and believe the company will likely struggle to grow in FY 24 amid a muted iPhone cycle." Evercore ISI upgrades Ciena to outperform from in line Evercore ISI said the networking solutions company is a "premium asset at a discount price." "We are upgrading Ciena to Outperform as we think the recent earnings report has sufficiently reset expectations and enabled a path to beat and raise as we go through FY24." Citi upgrades Qualcomm to buy from neutral Citi said in its upgrade of the stock that it sees upside. "Our industry checks also indicated inventory replenishment in the wireless end market continues and we expect upside to Qualcomm print and guide and are raising numbers, rating, and launching a positive catalyst watch." Barclays reiterates Walmart as overweight Barclays said Walmart continues to take share. "Industry trends through Dec. seem weak with consumables slowing (disinflation with no volume improvement) and gen merch underperforming. We think lower prices are needed. In the meantime, WMT is taking share, which should continue." Barclays reiterates Nvidia as overweight Barclays came away from the Consumer Electronics Show noting AI is a "bright spot" for Nvidia. "AI is clearly a bright spot with NVDA and MRVL both sounding incrementally positive." Bank of America names Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix and Spotify top picks Bank of America named several media stocks as top picks in 2024 on Friday. "For 2024, we are generally bullish on large-cap Media ( WBD, NFLX and SPOT ) and more cautious/neutral on Cable.