Here are Friday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Goldman Sachs reiterates Bank of America and Wells Fargo as top picks Goldman said Bank of America and Wells Fargo are its favorite names heading into 2023. “We believe Both are best positioned to benefit from higher rates, with industry leading deposit franchises (in terms of low-balance retail), suggesting that they will be among the last banks in the industry to become liability sensitive.” Telsey downgrades Under Armour to market perform from outperform Telsey said it’s concerned about too much inventory weighing on the stock. “Given the pressures being faced by the sporting goods brands and Under Armour’s positioning in the marketplace—with slower sales growth and more apparel exposure—we are downgrading our rating to Market Perform from Outperform.” Read more about this call here. Truist upgrades AT & T to buy from hold Truist said it sees accelerating revenue growth for the telecommunications company. “We are upgrading AT & T following more than 15 years of underperformance now that it has demonstrated an ability to focus on core business as opposed to acquisitions of loosely related companies at market high valuations.” Bank of America downgrades Snap to neutral from buy Bank of America downgraded the stock after its “mixed” earnings report. ” Snap’ s 3Q Rev/EBITDA at $1,128/$73mn was mixed vs Street at $1,137mn/$21mn as challenging macro continued to weigh on ad demand, but cost cutting initiatives helped deliver higher profitability.” Raymond James upgrades Juniper to strong buy from outperform Raymond James said in its upgrade of the networking company that consensus estimates are too low. “We upgrade Juniper to Strong Buy from Outperform. We see new router wins initiating a new cycle, led by deals like Verizon and Google. We consider consensus 2023 estimates low.” Read more about this call here. JPMorgan reiterates Coca-Cola as outperform JPMorgan lowered its price target on Coke to $63 per share from $70, but said it’s staying bullish heading into earnings next week. “We don’t think there’s much concern around underlying trends in the quarter or for FY22 as 2H22 guidance appeared relatively conservative with the three-year CAGR implied by guidance decelerating to +4.5% in 2H vs. +6.5% in 1H despite strong pricing actions and what appears to be largely resilient consumption trends.” Bernstein downgrades Snap to market perform from outperform Bernstein downgraded the company after its earnings report on Thursday and said Snap seems to have “lost all momentum.” “With a stock down -85% over the past 12 months, suggesting that investor expectations were low going into earnings is an understatement. Yet low expectations offered no support for a company that seems to have lost all momentum.” Read more about this call here. RBC reiterates Shopify as outperform RBC called the e-commerce payment platform company one of the most compelling stocks in the firms coverage. “While macro uncertainty and higher risk-free rates are likely to continue to weigh on Shopify’s valuation through the end of 2022, we believe Shopify is one of the most compelling long-term growth stories in our coverage universe.” JPMorgan reiterates Apple as overweight JPMorgan said investors are too focused on iPhone growth heading into Apple earnings next week. “Investor focus remains as always on the iPhone at this time of the year; however, for a year in which investor expectations are ranging from revenue declines in the bear case to modest growth in the bull case, every driver of growth matters.” Oppenheimer reiterates Netflix as outperform Oppenheimer said it thinks pandemic subscriber headwinds are in the rearview mirror for Netflix. “Moreover, the strong 3Q, despite significant content competition, shows the pandemic unwind is slowing and NFLX is still a core streaming service for consumers.” Goldman Sachs initiates Workiva as buy Goldman initiated the software-as-a-service company and said it sees upside to consensus for Workiva . “Under current conditions, we believe software supporting essential business processes will be an outsized priority within software budgets, particularly in cases where digital transformation projects have already commenced.” Read more about this call here. Barclays reiterates Microsoft as overweight Barclays says macro issues remain but that it sees a “solid setup” heading into Microsoft earnings next week. “We see a solid set-up in the quarter that could certainly yield a beat to numbers. However, macro and its impact is a looming question mark, and we think investor focus this quarter could hang on outlook commentary, as some are beginning to question whether the FY23 guidance for double-digit y/y growth on the top and bottom lines can hold.” Raymond James downgrades KB Home, Toll Brothers and PulteGroup to market perform from strong buy and D.R. Horton to outperform from strong buy and Lennar to market perform from outperform Raymond James downgraded several homebuilders due to rising mortgage rates. “Housing affordability crippled by 7% mortgage rates. Begrudgingly, we are tapping out on the homebuilders after a relentless 200 bp increase in 30-year mortgage rates over the past 2.5 months. With this industry note, we are lowering ratings on all our covered homebuilders and cutting EPS estimates to new Street lows. KBH , LEN , MDC, PHM, and TOL are all revised to Market Perform, and DHI is lowered to Outperform.” Cantor initiates Palo Alto Networks as overweight Cantor said in its initiation of the cyber security company that it “offers customers superior threat intelligence & performance vs. point products.” “We are initiating coverage on Palo Alto Networks the most comprehensive next-gen security platform in our view, with an Overweight rating and 12-month price target of $220.” SVB Securities upgrades Moderna to market perform from underperform SVB upgraded the biotech company mainly on valuation. “We are upgrading MRNA to MP, after an extended period of underperformance, in stark contrast to the other commercial stage/mature larger cap companies in our universe, IONS and ALNY.” JPMorgan reiterates Amazon as a top pick JPMorgan lowered its estimates on the e-commerce giant but said it’s still a top pick heading into earnings next week. “We trim AMZN estimates & lower our PT to $175, but AMZN remains our favorite name both short and long term.” JPMorgan adds IAC to the focus list JPMorgan added the media and internet brands holding company to its focus list and says it sees an attractive risk/reward. “While not a call on 3Q earnings, we are adding IAC to the JPM Equity Analyst Focus List given our view that the dislocated stub value (~$1B) presents an attractive risk/reward over a longer time horizon.”
