(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Friday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) Netflix and a semiconductor maker were among the stocks being talked about by analysts on Friday. Analysts around the Street gave their assessment of Netflix’s second-quarter results. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley raised its rating on Arm Holdings to overweight from equal weight. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 6:07 a.m.: Barclays downgrades Molson Coors to underweight A lack of compelling opportunities within the beverages and broader consumer staples sector has Barclays becoming bearish on Molson Coors . The investment bank downgraded the beer company to underweight from equal weight. Barclays also lowered its price target to $47 from $55, indicating 11.4% downside from Thursday’s close. Year to date, shares are down by around 14%. However, a challenging industry backdrop and macro headwinds are likely to put more pressure on shares, according to Barclays. “On one hand, our sense is that the underperformance in TAP’s stock over the last few months was enough to prompt some investors to ask ‘how low is too low?.’ But on the other hand, we struggle to wrap our heads around this stock working so long as the market doesn’t view the company’s medium-term outlook as credible,” analyst Lauren Lieberman wrote in a note. BUD YTD mountain BUD year to date — Hakyung Kim 5:47 a.m.: Wall Street remains confident on Netflix Netflix’s strong second quarter results and full-year outlook increase has analysts staying bullish in the streaming giant’s growth outlook. The company reported an earnings and revenue beat in the second quarter. Global subscriber count and ad-supported memberships also rose more than analysts had forecasted. Morgan Stanley reiterated its overweight rating on the stock. Analyst Benjamin Swinburne has a $780 price target on shares, indicating shares could rise 20% from Thursday’s close. “The stronger than expected 2Q results reinforce our confidence in Netflix’s ability to deliver on our forecast for double-digit revenue,” Swinburne wrote in a Friday note. JPMorgan’s Doug Anmuth also reiterated his overweight rating and $750 price target on shares. He highlighted Netflix’s shift to focusing on advertising monetization over membership numbers, which the company will stop providing quarterly updates on beginning in 2025. To be sure, Anmuth said there would likely be some pushback from the slightly below-consensus third quarter revenue guidance. “Still, NFLX’s 3Q revenue outlook translates to +19% ex-FX, which we also project for the full year 2024. We continue to believe NFLX can drive solid subs through healthy organic/secular growth & ongoing Paid Sharing benefits while building advertising scale, with our estimates for advertising (ex-subscriptions component) reaching more than 10% of total revenue in 2027,” Anmuth said in a client note on Friday. Wells Fargo, which is also overweight on Netflix, said the company “is still a clean story, consistent grower and share gainer.” Looking ahead, analyst Steven Cahall believes Netflix’s focus on revenue growth and margin expansion will help share gains continue. “We think simplicity+consistency makes NFLX an easier stock for long-term investors,” he said in a note. Cahall raised his price target to $758 from $726, suggesting nearly 18% upside potential from the stock’s close price on Thursday. — Hakyung Kim 5:47 a.m.: Morgan Stanley upgrades Arm Holdings Morgan Stanley expects Arm Holdings to build on its strong year-to-date performance. Analyst Lee Simpson upgraded the chipmaker to overweight from equal weight. His new price target of $190, up from $107, implies upside of 20% from Thursday’s close. “We view Arm as a bunch of options on the emerging Edge AI space with potential for upside through custom silicon, new designs and extensions,” Simpson wrote. “GenAI has surged into focus and semis has been seen as an enabler of cloud AI infrastructure needed to support AI data centres/servers. In the midst of this concentration on large scale AI, we believe the market could be missing the emerging Arm opportunity at the edge,” he added. “We think of Arm products as fundamental to the successful emergence of edge AI – mobile, autos, PCs and more.” Arm Holdings is up more than 100% year to date. Shares also gained more than 2% in the premarket following the upgrade. ARM YTD mountain ARM year to date — Fred Imbert
