Here are Thursday’s biggest analyst calls: Apple, Roblox, Nvidia, Disney, Boeing, Axon, Block & more
Here are Thursday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: CLSA downgrades Block twice to keep pace with purchase CLSA said it was concerned about Block’s long-term growth. “We are moving away from Block as our concerns about the macro environment now overshadow our ongoing enthusiasm for long-term growth prospects.” Barclays initiates PagSeguro due to overweight Barclays said the Brazilian payment processing company has pricing power. “We like the company’s ambitious yet focused strategy of (a) integrating its own consumer- and merchant-facing digital bank (Pag Bank) into its payment processing service and (b) moving “upstream” by signing larger merchants as clients.” Credit Suisse Upgrades RingCentral to Neutral Credit Suisse upgraded the software company’s ratings following its earnings report on Wednesday. “RNG reported another strong finding that the company is structurally improving its profit profile.” KeyBanc upgraded Albemarle and Livent to overweight over the sector Key said in its Livent update that it sees an improvement in lithium demand. The firm also upgraded Albemarle and said its stock valuation is attractive. “We expect Chinese lithium demand to improve after the downturn that began in November 2022 and we think their revenue could rise to $30 billion (compared to $4-5 billion in FY22). Maintain the lead and the $190 goal.” Susquehanna upgrades International Game Technology’s rating from neutral to positive Susquehanna said the game company has many positive catalysts. “International Game Technology: U/G to positive; Fav. Loss Protection with Boost Catalyst Lottery. Goldman Sachs Downgrades Twilio to Neutral from Buy Goldman said it was concerned about Twilio’s growth slowdown. and a slowdown in data and application growth, as well as its ability to re-accelerate towards its medium-term growth target.” Bank of America Adds Progressive to US1 Listing Bank of America added an insurance company to its US1 listing and told shareholders “Taking advantage of Progressive’s (PGR) share price’s recent drop, we are adding shares to US1 listing. JPMorgan upgrades Norfolk Southern and JB Hunt from neutral to overweight JPMorgan said in its upgrade to Norfolk that it believes operations will improve. The firm also updated JB Hunt and said it sees “an end to destocking.” “Intermodal providers will also benefit from a change in TL (full truck load) traffic rates and we are upgrading JBHT to OW and SNDR to N, which also benefits from the recent progress in the West Coast port labor agreement, improved rail connectivity and the cessation of We are also upgrading NSC to OW as operations should improve once track restoration in East Palestine is completed in June and the network fully adjusts to proactive changes to mitigate the risk of derailment.” JPMorgan upgrades Axon from neutral to overweight JPMorgan said in an update on the stun gun maker that investors should buy the company’s shares. “We took advantage of the ~15% drop in AXON’s share price yesterday after the release (S&P up 80bp) and upgraded our rating from N to OW.” Roth MKM updates Roblox to buy from neutrals Roth MKM said a “tipping point” is on the horizon for Roblox. “We are more constructive with Roblox following comments from management that headcount growth and remuneration will slow down soon.” Credit Suisse upgrades Alcoa to neutral Credit Suisse said it sees a recovery in aluminum prices. “We are upgrading Alcoa to Outperform and adding it to the top as we see LME (London Metal Exchange) aluminum prices recover over the next year as global demand cycles pick up.” Read more about this call here. B. Riley initiates Children’s Place as buyer B. Riley said the children’s clothing retailer is well positioned. “Our investment thesis is that as the fog of the COVID era clears, investors will find that PLCE is at least as good as it’s ever been and will get a free option if it’s significantly better.” Barclays downgrades Northrop Grumman to equal overweight Barclays downgrades Northrop due to “deteriorating margins”. “Gap to peers likely smaller than expected due to worsening margins, downgrade to EW.” Bank of America Confirms Nvidia Buys Bank of America said it maintains a buy rating on AI beneficiary. “No-no, we maintain our Buy recommendation on NVDA (aside from growth driven by gaming recovery, data center/AI expansion, Morgan Stanley is echoing Advances Micro Devices as Morgan Stanley said AMD’s AI capabilities are rated as “ multiple.” “We tried to set conservative forecasts for AMD’s AI given historical false starts, but higher prices plus supply chain comment point to an opportunity that is multiples of our original target.” fertilizer companies on Thursday due to bearish data on US harvest: “We are downgrading CF, MOS and LXU stocks to neutral and downgrading PT to $80, $42 and $12 respectively from $110, $62 and $22 respectively for the last crop. Progress report sets the stage for possible record harvest corn in the US.” Goldman Sachs Reiterates Robinhood Neutral Goldman said it maintains a neutral rating for Robinhood stock following Wednesday’s earnings report. outperformed expectations, mainly due to higher income related to securities lending, while income related to transactions was about the same level, and expenses were better than expected.” Thursday’s earnings report. “Our view on F2Q results and implications for the outlook: F2Q results were mixed compared to our estimates, with overall segment OI above our estimate, but DTC revenue below.” Read more about this call here. Baird reiterates that Boeing is superior to Boeing, Baird said that the aerospace giant is “the best cyclical game ever.” “While BA stock is up just 5% year-to-date, we expect a solid uptick in the coming months as production ramps up and investors turn their attention to 2024 with much better revenue, earnings and free cash flow fundamentals.” Correction: The previous title was misspelled by Roblox.
