Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Tuesday:
TD Cowen names First Solar a top pick
TD says the solar company is a top idea in 2024.
“Within solar, we continue to favor utility over residential, which faces demand headwinds, elevated channel inventory, and high interest rates along with NEM 3.0 [net energy metering] implementation in the U.S. Top ideas are FSLR and SHLS for utility solar.
JPMorgan downgrades Pepsi to neutral from overweight
JPMorgan said nothing is wrong with the stock, but that the bank sees better value elsewhere.
“We dont see anything fundamentally wrong with PEP and continue to have confidence that the company is well positioned to deliver on its 2024 outlook that points to the high-end of its LT financial algorithm...”
Baird names Amazon a top 2024 pick
Baird named the e-commerce giant a top idea in 2024.
“Our top e-commerce sector pick is AMZN, although we note a range of attractive investments across market caps and profiles.”
Wells Fargo upgrades Rockwell Automation to overweight from equal weight
Wells said the automation company, which also supplies software services for supply chain management, a “mid cycle winner.”
“Historically, ROK shares have performed well relative to our group in mid-cycle settings.”
UBS names Meta a top 2024 pick
UBS said Meta is a top idea in 2024.
“This remains one of our top Buys in the megacap U.S. Internet space, trading at just 14.7x our base case ’25 GAAP EPS of $22.70 and 13.5x our upside-case ‘25E EPS of $24.61 and we think EPS consensus for ’25 at $17.54 looks low.”
Barclays upgrades Adobe to overweight from equal weight
Barclays upgraded the stock after the UK and EU put up regulatory hurdles blocking Adobe’s planned acquisition of Figma.
“We are upgrading Adobe to OW from EW following the news that the two companies will no longer pursue the deal.”
TD Cowen reiterates Nike as outperform
TD is standing by its outperform rating on the stock.
“The setup for NKE in Q2 starts from an inventory base that is much more aligned, down -10% y/y at the end of fiscal Q1 but includes very difficult top-line comparisons in North America and EMEA.”
Citi opens a positive catalyst watch on Pfizer
Citi said Pfizer is setting itself up to beat on guidance. The firm maintained its long-term neutral rating.
“We are opening a catalyst watch today on Neutral rated Pfizer following last week’s guidance downgrade.”
Oppenheimer names Microsoft a top pick
Oppenheimer said it likes Microsoft as a top pick for 2024.
“We like Microsoft to leverage their Generative AI (GAI) offerings to drive incremental revenue growth and ultimately hit our $410 PT next year.”
BMO upgrades Amgen to outperform from market perform
BMO said in its upgrade of Amgen that it offers a means of playing “obesity [treatments] at a reasonable price.”
“We are upgrading shares of Amgen to Outperform and increasing our target to $326 from $286 based on: budding oral and injectable metabolic pipeline gives investors the opportunity to play in the obesity metabolic space without the same premium as peers.”
Jefferies initiates Chewy as buy
Jefferies said it sees a compelling risk/reward for Chewy.
“Pet ecommerce pure-play with several growth & margin levers at its disposal. Pet health, ads biz, and automation are near-term drivers, but wide goalposts and ongoing cost pressures create a fluid timeline.”
Telsey names TJX Companies a top pick
Telsey said TJX is one of the firm’s top ideas heading into 2024.
“We continue to like TJX in the group as we view the company’s value-oriented offering for the family and home in off-mall locations, and its ability to attract shoppers across a wide span of incomes, as well-positioned to deliver ongoing earnings growth.”
Jefferies initiates Elanco as buy
Jefferies said in its initiation of Elanco that the pet health company has momentum in 2024.
“We are initiating at Buy w/ a $17 PT, given our belief that the past trend of mixed performance is inflecting, and we expect the recent 3Q momentum to continue in ’24 as investments in R&D begin to bear fruit via innovative launches.”
Piper Sandler downgrades Plug Power to underweight from neutral
Piper downgraded Plug Power due to its ongoing “financial risk.”
“We also downgrade PLUG to Underweight given financing risk.”
Piper Sandler upgrades Sunrun and Sunnova to overweight from neutral
Piper said it’s bullish on residential solar heading into 2024.
“We view the resi installers as the largest/immediate beneficiaries of lower rates. RUN/NOVA to OW on declining cost of capital.
Piper Sandler initiates Nextracker as overweight
Piper called the solar tracking solutions company a market share gainer.
“Finally, we believe the trend in NXT’s customer deposits indicate it is growing market share.”
KeyBanc reiterates Uber as overweight
KeyBanc says Uber represents “balanced growth between ride-sharing and delivery.”
“We believe Uber’s scale should translate to a healthy balance between gross bookings and EBITDA growth in 4Q23E-2025E.”
JPMorgan names Eli Lilly a top pick
JPMorgan said Eli Lilly is one of the firm’s top ideas for 2024.
“While shares trade at a significant premium to peers, we see LLY compounding 20%+ EPS growth for the foreseeable future with the company’s incretin franchise reaching $50bn by 2030 and continuing to grow from there.”
Deutsche Bank initiates Yum China as buy
Deutsche initiated coverage of the China fast food holding company as a buy and said the stock’s valuation is “undemanding.”
“We initiate coverage of YUMC with a Buy due to its visible margin growth amid pressures from local brands, and as the stock’s valuation looks undemanding at 19x 2024E P/E on a 2024-26E recurring EPS CAGR of 13%.”
MoffettNathanson names Charter a top pick
Moffett says the cable giant is a top idea in 2024.
“We believe it is important to view Charter through the lens of free cash flow yield before their investments in rural expansion; that is, one should view their rural builds as if they are M&A, a use of excess free cash flow.”
BMO upgrades AIG to outperform from market perform
BMO says the insurance company has upside.
“We upgrade AIG one notch to Outperform. Our increased $83 target price implies ~26% NTM [next twelve months] upside and is equal to 1.26x 2025E adjusted book value (P&C stand-alone basis), discounted back.”
KeyBanc names Nvidia, Marvell and Micron top ideas
Key said it likes stocks exposed to AI themes like Nvidia, Marvell Technology and Micron.
“From a stock positioning perspective, we recommend positioning in stocks that are further through the cycle and/or stocks that are exposed to key secular growth vectors, such as AI and thus favor NVDA, MRVL and MU.”
Morgan Stanley reiterates Macy’s as equal weight
Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock to $21 per share from $15.
“Our REITs team’s in-depth scenario analysis calculates M’s real estate is worth $6-7B in a base case, & points to a ~$23 pro forma stock price, albeit with a wide $11-35 bear/bull range.”
Loop reiterates Snap as buy
Loop raised its price target to $21 per share from $15 and said Snap is a generative AI “winner.”
“We are more confident in the turnaround in Snap’s advertising business and increasingly view the company as a gen-AI winner.”