Here are Wednesday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Morgan Stanley reiterates Rivian as overweight Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Rivian to $17 per share from $13. “The VW partnership gives RIVN the chance to attempt a ‘Houdini-like’ escape maneuver from the burden of manufacturing EVs.” Susquehanna reiterates Nvidia as positive Susquehanna said it’s sticking with its positive rating on shares of Nvidia. “For AI, checks remain robust but continue to believe the bar ratchets higher and upward revisions to prior AI guidance (for NVDA, AMD, AVGO, MRVL, etc.) will be needed to propel shares higher.” UBS reiterates Apple as neutral UBS said it sees Apple results as “in-line” when the company reports on August 1. “Although the market is focused almost exclusively on FY25 financial metrics, recent checks and an analysis of demand trends suggest an in-line June print and Sept guide, albeit with some minor adjustments.” Jefferies upgrades UnitedHealth to buy from hold Jefferies upgraded UnitedHealth following earnings. “U/G to Buy: 2Q Clean Enough to Focus on Superior ’25 Setup.” KBW upgrades Progressive to outperform from market perform KBW upgraded the stock following earnings. “We upgrade PGR’s shares to Outperform from Market Perform and raise our target price to $245 from $210 following its June 2024 earnings report.” Bernstein downgrades Chevron to market perform from outperform Bernstein said in its downgrade of the stock that it’s concerned about oil prices. “We reduce our oil price outlook for the next 18 months by a modest $5/bbl. That somewhat modest change results in us recommending an odd rotation from CVX (downgrading to MP) into HES (upgrading to OP).” UBS initiates Sweetgreen as buy UBS said the restaurant chain has “margin potential.” “We initiate on SG w/ a Buy rating and $31 PT.” TD Cowen downgrades Charles Schwab to hold from buy TD Cowen downgraded Schwab following earnings on Tuesday. “Cognizant of the 10% drop on 7/16 post 2Q24 (see 7/16) and disappointing Q call, we nonetheless reduce our rating from Buy to Hold; lower ’24-26E EPS and decrease our 12- month SOTP price target to $71 vs. $88 prior.” Deutsche Bank adds a catalyst call buy on International Flavors Deutsche said it’s bullish on shares heading into earnings in early August. “We expect this ‘beat and raise’ to be driven by improving volumes across the majority o f IFF’s businesses, pricing and productivity actions resulting in more tailwinds than headwinds in ’24.” Mizuho upgrades Valero to buy from neutral Mizuho said it sees a slew of positive catalysts ahead for the petroleum refinery company. “..we believe that amongst the large-cap names VLO offers the best exposure to key themes for the sector, namely: (1) higher exposure to U.S. coastal markets, (2) complexity to modify crude diet, (3) low secondary product and higher gasoline yields..” Morgan Stanley downgrades Five Below to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock following earnings. “Management transition adds uncertainty over unit growth and investments required to reinvigorate sales. Estimates going lower and risks may still be to the downside.” Citi adds a negative catalyst watch on Hershey Citi lowered its price target on the stock to $188 per share from $204 and said it’s sticking with its neutral rating. “We see risk to HSY’s 2H24 sales and earnings outlook, with more challenges in 2025 when high-priced cocoa begins to flow through the P & L. We remain Neutral the shares, but the nearer-term setup seems challenging (hence, the negative 30-day Catalyst Watch).” TD Cowen downgrades American Airlines to hold from buy TD Cowen said it sees downside risk for the airline. “We are downgrading AAL from Buy to Hold. We have been concerned by the carrier’s aggressive discounting this summer and believe there is downside risk to 2H24 RASM/EPS [revenue per available seat mile] estimates.” Barclays reiterates Tesla as equal weight Barclays raised its price target on the stock to $225 per share from $180 heading into earnings next week. ” Tesla approaches its 2Q EPS call with an interesting set-up.” Evercore ISI adds AutoZone to its fab five list Evercore added the stock to its fab five portfolio. The firm has an outperform rating on the stock. ” AZO remains a favored name, up 10% since we removed it in February, while comps look set to improve in coming quarters and the stocks trades at just 17.5x 2025 estimates.” Citi adds a positive catalyst watch on MasterCard Citi said it’s bullish heading into earnings next week. “We look for in-line-to-better June-24 quarter results for Mastercard with modest upside possible.” Oppenheimer downgrades Morgan Stanley to perform from outperform Oppenheimer downgraded Morgan Stanley following earnings mainly on valuation. “Solid Quarter But Downgrading Shares to Perform as They Outstrip Target.” Bank of America initiates Axon as buy Bank of America said the safety tech company is well positioned for upside. “We initiate coverage of Axon Enterprise (NASDAQ: AXON) with a Buy rating and price objective of $380.” HSBC downgrades Qualcomm to hold from buy HSBC said it sees a lack of catalysts for Qualcomm . “Smartphone concerns remain while AI PC narrative is less bullish than expected. Downgrade to Hold; raise TP to USD200 (from USD190).” Guggenheim reiterates Netflix as buy Guggenheim said it’s sticking with its buy rating on Netflix heading into earnings Thursday. “We see the company as well-positioned for sustained operating margin expansion well into the mid-30% over the next five years, which underpins our bullish long-term outlook and BUY rating. We raise our price target to $735 (from $700) as detailed within.” UBS reiterates Micron as buy UBS said it’s sticking with its buy rating on shares of Micron. “We remain bullish on the stock as HBM [high bandwidth memory] creates the potential for a much more durable cycle and the path of least resistance remains upward as gross margin moves higher through C2025.” Bank of America reiterates Microsoft as buy Bank of America raised its price target on the stock to $510 per share from $480. “We concluded a round of Microsoft partner calls ahead of Q2FY24 results, to be reported on July 30. Most partners tracked above or in line with expectations, largely consistent with Q3.” Needham reiterates Amazon as buy Needham raised its price target on the stock to $210 per share from $205. “Our AMZN investment thesis is that: a) it is a Services company with rapidly expanding margins, and a warrant upside on GenAI; and b) AMZN’ s track record of building large businesses from scratch (eg, Cloud and Advertising) lowers its reported operating margin and hides value creation in the shadows.”
