Here are Wednesday's biggest analyst calls: Apple, Tesla, Alphabet, Microsoft, AMD, Meta, Spotify and more
Here are Wednesday's biggest calls on Wall Street: Morgan Stanley reiterates Microsoft as overweight Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock to $465 per share from $450 following earnings. "Q2 results well illustrated Microsoft's leading position in GenAI and unique ability to monetize this technology." Morgan Stanley reiterates Alphabet as overweight Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock to $165 per share from $150 and said it's standing by Alphabet shares after earnings on Tuesday. " GOOGL's efficiency workstreams shined thru, driving higher EBIT/FCF (even with higher capex)." Bank of America reiterates Meta as buy Bank of America said it's bullish heading into Meta earnings on Thursday. "We think Meta's strong AI assets could lead to positive product surprises and revenue momentum in 2024. Maintain Buy." Bank of America reiterates Advanced Micro Devices as buy Bank of America said it's standing by its buy rating following earnings on Tuesday. "We rate AMD Buy. It serves a $80bn+ addressable market opportunity in PC, server, high-end gaming, deep-learning and related markets where AMD has less than 30% value share currently." Citi downgrades Deutsche Bank to neutral from buy Citi downgraded Deutsche Bank ahead of its earnings report on Thursday. "We see few positive surprises with 4Q23, as we model a small PBT [profit before tax] miss during the quarter and expect existing revenue and capital return guidance to be reiterated and, if anything, we also see a risk of heavier cost guidance." Deutsche Bank downgrades Johnson Controls to hold from buy Deutsche Bank said investors should wait for a better entry point for the multinational conglomerate. "It is not easy to downgrade a stock after multiple years of underperformance vs. peers, and while we could continue to wait for a better exit point, we no longer feel that we can pitch JCI with conviction to institutional investors." William Blair upgrades Check Point to outperform from market perform William Blair said the software company is at an inflection point. "We are upgrading our rating on Check Point Software from Market Perform to Outperform based on our belief that the stock can reach an inflection point in 2024 and has a significant valuation gap relative to competitors such as Palo Alto Networks." KeyBanc upgrades Commvault to overweight from sector weight KeyBanc said in its upgrade of the data protection and management software company that Commvault's value proposition is increasing. "Stabilizing model transition and GM [gross margin] with expanding product set and value proposition drive upgrade." Roth MKM upgrades Plug Power to buy from hold Roth MKM said it's getting more confidence in the stock after visiting the company's plant. "Upgrading shares of Plug to Buy (from Neutral) and raising our target to $9 (from $4.50). Our visit to the Georgia green hydrogen plant gives us confidence the facility is ramping smoothly and all major technical issues are handled, addressing our prior concerns about backlog and margin visibility." Argus downgrades UPS to hold from buy Argus downgraded the stock following earnings on Tuesday. "Though UPS appears well positioned to benefit from a number of positive trends, including the continued growth of e-commerce, recent results have disappointed at both the top and bottom lines." Canaccord upgrades Stryker to buy from hold Canaccord upgraded the biomedical stock after its earnings report. " SYK delivered a strong Q4 in the face of a tough Q4/22 comp, beating on the top and bottom lines and continuing to note healthy capital demand." UBS upgrades TechTarget to buy from neutral UBS upgraded the marketing services company and said it's bullish on its proposed transaction with media marketing company Informa Tech. "We are upgrading TTGT shares to Buy from Neutral." Morgan Stanley downgrades SoFi to underweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley said in its downgrade of SoFi that it sees too many "near-term revenue headwinds." "Revenue growth is still set to slow meaningfully in '24, as Lending pressures grow and keep a lid on growth over the medium-term. Downgrade to UW." Barclays downgrades Verizon to equal weight from overweight Barclays downgraded the stock on valuation. " VZ valuation more fairly aligned with trend improvements; Downgrade to EW." JPMorgan reiterates Apple as overweight JPMorgan said it's standing by Apple heading into earnings on Thursday. "Heading into the EPS print, we believe the range of outcomes on revenue are narrower than perceived by the debate on iPhone momentum, and instead the bigger driver of the stock price and ability to retain the premium multiple might be the direction of earnings revisions, lead by margins." Baird reiterates Tesla as outperform Baird designated the stock as a "bearish fresh pick" after a judge ruled to strike down Tesla CEO Elon Musk's pay package. The firm said it was sticking with its long-term outperform rating. "A court decision this afternoon ruled to strike down Elon Musk's pay package which was initially drafted in 2018. We believe this will create a negative overhang on the stock until additional clarity is given and expect shares to trade down on this news." UBS initiates GFL Environmental as buy UBS said it sees "rate cycle tailwinds" for the waste management company. "We see a buying opportunity with GFL shares trading near an all-time ~3.0x EV/EBITDA discount to peers and expect continued deleveraging to be a re-rating catalyst." Wells Fargo reiterates Spotify as overweight Wells Fargo raised its price target on the stock to $280 per share from $250. "We raise our target from $250 to $280 as we bake in SPOT's significant cost cuts."