These are Friday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: JPMorgan raises Chubb from neutral to overweight. JPMorgan said the insurance company is defensive. “Our long-term fundamental outlook for CB was positive, but we were reluctant to recommend the stock due to concerns about slowing price increases in the commercial lines market and the share’s valuation.” CFRA upgrades Whirlpool to buy out of hold CFRA said in its share upgrade that shares are attractive. “Despite weak demand for appliances, we believe WHR stocks are attractive as a market leader in the US.” KeyBanc Reiterates Apple Overweight KeyBanc said iPhone demand “remains resilient amid macroeconomic concerns.” “We continue to believe that AAPL is one of the best opportunities within our coverage given AAPL’s resilient product/subscriber base, ability to grow key markets such as China and India, solid margin expansion potential and AAPL’s shareholder-friendly capital allocation.” Wells Fargo raises Warner Brothers Discovery to overweight of equal weight Wells said in the stock upgrade that it sees attractive risk/reward. “We threw everything and the sink at a Downside Case scenario for WBD, and it still yields up to 3x by ’25E. We now have conviction in FCF to limit the downtrend, while the stock has an asymmetric upside.” Read more about this call here. Wedush downgrades First Republic’s rating to neutral from outperform Wedbush said an acquisition could wipe out the value of the bank’s equity. “We are downgrading First Republic’s stock to NEUTRAL from OUTPERFORM because we believe a distressed M&A sale could result in minimal or no residual value for common stock holders due to FRC’s significant negative tangible book value, taking into account fair value markings on its loans and securities.” Read more about this call here. Citi initiates Bumble as buy Citi said the dating app continues to gain market share. “Bumble currently has one of the best growth rates within our internet coverage, with modest EBITDA margin expansion also expected.” Read more about this call here. Oppenheimer upgrades Synchrony to outperform Oppenheimer said the consumer financial services business is a “safety game, not for the faint hearted.” “We think the liquidity scare in the banking sector caused a downward trend in valuations from the recession, and we expect a rapid pullback before the ultimate lows.” Morgan Stanley raises Nvidia to equal weight overweight Morgan Stanley said the AI story is “too strong to be sidelined” on Nvidia. “Having been EW for a major inventory move, we still see evidence of LLM (big language model) enthusiasm turning into stronger spend, both in the near and long term; we’ve been too data point focused around a positive bigger picture, but the story is too strong to stay on the sidelines.” Read more about this call here. JPMorgan reiterates First Republic as overweight JPMorgan said it stands on shares of First Republic. “However, with the stock trading well below TBV (tangible book value), we see this as a higher risk but potentially very high reward name.” Read more about this call here. Cowen reiterates that Netflix is outperforming Cowen said it sees long-term benefits as the streaming giant tackles password sharing. “Our own research continues to suggest that NFLX’s paid sharing measures could add significant numbers of paid sharers in the US and add new members in ’23. In 1Q23 through February, ~40% of password sharers want to maintain access.” Citi repeats Nvidia as buy Citi said it is optimistic about Nvidia’s adoption of AI. “We are increasing our TP from $245 to $305 with a $400 bull case for accelerating generative AI adoption across multiple cloud service providers such as AWS, MSFT, Alphabet and Baidu comments this week.” UBS echoes Alphabet as buy UBS said it is becoming increasingly bullish on shares of the internet giant. “We view the cost risk associated with integrating generative AI into Google search results as manageable.” Truit initiates Churchill Downs as purchase Truit said the horse racing company’s brand is “iconic.” “As sports teams, leagues and high-end brands see record valuations, we see room for CHDN and its iconic Kentucky Derby race (or rather brand) to value accordingly.” Canaccord reiterates Rivian as buy “We believe Rivian is on track to capture its slice of the EV market through a thoughtful vertically integrated strategy.” Bank of America reiterates FedEx as buy Bank of America said it is sticking to its buy rating on FedEx following the company’s earnings report on Thursday. “We are raising our PO to $305 (from $233), at 16x our F24E EPS (from 13x), above the midpoint of its 12x-18x trading range, as we believe F23 represents the lowest profit.” Stifel Downgrades Shopify to Stop Buying Stifel resumed Shopify’s coverage with a downgrade, noting it’s seeing margin pressure. “However, the company’s investments to expand its platform capabilities are putting pressure on gross margins and driving higher near-term CapEx, weighing on the company’s ability to deliver meaningful profitability and free cash flow in ’23/’24. generate.” Morgan Stanley reiterates overweight Microsoft Morgan Stanley said he was optimistic about Microsoft’s AI capability. “Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and CVP of Modern Work and Business Applications Jared Spataro hosted a webcast focused on the role AI will play in impacting productivity.” Citi reiterates Meta as buy Citi said it appreciates Meta’s improved operating leverage. “Meta is a top choice in 2023, as outlined in our comprehensive analysis of 11 key internet trends highlighting Meta’s increasing engagement, newer ad products such as Advantage+ (resulting in increased ROAS), and improved operational leverage.” Argus Downgrades Bath & Body Works Rating to Hold Buy Argus said in its downgrade of the stock it sees too much “economic uncertainty”. decline for the index. Given increasing pressure from online retailers and economic uncertainty, we are downgrading our rating to HOLD.”
Regional banks are among Wall Street’s largest analyst visits on Friday