Here are Wednesday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Credit Suisse upgrades Foot Locker to outperform from neutral Credit Suisse said it sees a “profitable path” ahead for Foot Locker. “While FL’s stock is already up +15% YTD we think sentiment on the stock remains overly bearish and focused on the negative thesis of Nike pulling back from FL. We see consistent evidence that the Nike relationship is improving, and we’re increasingly convinced that the planned pullback from FL will be far less damaging than we initially expected.” Goldman Sachs downgrades Hasbro to neutral from buy and Funko to sell from neutral Goldman downgraded Hasbro and Funko mainly due to execution risk. “High degree of execution risk to consensus growth expectations with rich valuation” Read more about this call here. UBS downgrades Snap to neutral from buy UBS downgraded Snap after its earnings report on Tuesday, noting it sees a more balanced risk/reward. “On the upside, we see potential rev reacceleration on solid user growth and traction on ad tech driving eventual spend. On the downside, we see increasing competition everywhere.” Read more about this call here. Bank of America reiterates Exxon as a top pick Bank of America said the oil and gas giant is still a top pick after its earnings report on Tuesday. The firm said it likes the company’s growth outlook. “We see XOM differentiated vs peers from a strong organic queue of investment opportunities driving counter cyclical growth in an up-swinging commodity price environment.” Morgan Stanley reiterates PayPal as overweight Morgan Stanley said it’s standing by shares of PayPal but that Apple Pay is a formidable competitor for the company. “Still, Apple Pay has unique advantages in tech, demographics, and retention that create a long-term to-do list for PayPal. Loop reiterates Apple as buy Loop said it’s standing by its buy rating on Apple but that it sees some “downside risk.” “The long and the short of it is that while we believe Street continues to have iPhone estimates set high Dec Q ’22 – Dec Q ’23 we also continue to see the potential for future downside risk.” Morgan Stanley initiates Rocket Pharmaceuticals as overweight Morgan Stanley said in its initiation of Rocket Pharmaceuticals that it likes the company’s pipeline. “Leading Gene Therapy Company with a Robust Cardiovascular Pipeline; Initiate at Overweight.” Bank of America upgrades TransUnion to buy from neutral Bank of America said in its upgrade of the stock that it’s underappreciated. “We think recession risk is priced in and TRU’ s 2023 EBITDA margin expansion potential from M & A is underappreciated.” Deutsche Bank reiterates Amazon as buy Deutsche said it’s cautious heading into Amazon earnings on Thursday. “We believe that 4Q earnings is likely somewhat of a mixed bag. We expect that the better holiday season should support upside to 4Q Street revenue numbers and we are ~2% ahead of the Street.” Morgan Stanley reiterates General Motors as equal weight Morgan Stanley said after the company’s earnings report on Tuesday that GM has a “significant opportunity to improve its returns.” “We stay EW as we wait for a capital discipline story to emerge.” Bank of America initiates New Fortress Energy as buy Bank of America said in its initiation of the clean energy company that it sees earnings power. “Our Buy rating and $67 PO reflect what we perceive to be meaningful upside to consensus estimates given New Fortress Energy’s significant LNG supply position amid a favorable commodity price environment.” Goldman Sachs reiterates Advanced Micro Devices as buy Goldman said it’s standing by its buy rating on shares of AMD after the company’s better-than-expected earnings report on Tuesday. ” AMD provided a better-than-feared 1Q23 revenue outlook predicated on sustained strength in the Embedded business offset by seasonal declines in Client and Gaming and a double-digit (%) qoq decline in Data Center.” Read more about this call here. Goldman Sachs reiterates Target as buy Goldman said Target’s outlook remains strong. “Given TGT’s strong positioning in omnichannel, fulfillment, merchandising, and value, we believe it should continue to take share.” Bernstein reiterates Nike as outperform Bernstein said it’s bullish on the stock over the long term. “The combination of higher top line, higher margins and higher ROIC means the DTC shift will make Nike a much more attractive stock over time.” JPMorgan reiterates Caterpillar as overweight JPMorgan said it’s standing by shares of Caterpillar after the company’s “The stock’s pullback post earnings, we believe, was driven by the stock running up into the print on high expectations, while management’s muted commentary around volume growth in 2023 as CAT laps $2.4B of dealer restocking in 2022 further weighed on results.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Amazon as overweight Morgan Stanley said it’s bullish on Amazon’s Buy with Prime service for merchants. “We believe Buy with Prime shipping is priced competitively vs peers while also offering the fastest delivery.” Deutsche Bank reiterates Salesforce as buy Deutsche said it’s standing by shares of Salesforce. “There are multiple opportunities for Salesforce to become a healthier, more streamlined version of itself, which can set the company up for an enduring future; the most obvious being more disciplined capital allocation.” Craig-Hallum downgrades Advanced Micro Devices to hold from buy Craig-Hallum downgraded AMD mainly on valuation after the company’s earnings report on Tuesday. “In addition to the broader macro headwinds the company is facing in the near term across PCs and cloud customer digestions we believe the company may be hard pressed to drive topline growth in 2023, following multiple years of very strong double-digit topline growth. Therefore, with shares already trading at 20x our lowered 2024 EPS estimate we are stepping to the sidelines and downgrading shares to a Hold.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Walmart as overweight Morgan Stanley said growth remains strong for the Walmart’s subscription service, Walmart+. ” Walmart+ strategy may be evolving from optimizing the experience to driving faster membership growth.” Morgan Stanley reiterates McDonald’s as overweight Morgan Stanley said the fast food giant is well positioned for 2023 after it reported strong earnings on Tuesday. “4Q ended a stand-out year for MCD on top line, positioned well heading into ’23 with new LT plans to be laid out later this year.”
