Here are Thursday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Credit Suisse initiates WeWork as outperform Credit Suisse said in its initiation of the stock that it’s well positioned to capitalize on the work-from-home phenomenon. “After the meaningful cost restructuring (~$2.6B) post the failed IPO, we believe WeWork is well positioned to take advantage of the structural demand drivers for the flex office industry, as we view Work From Home as a long-tailed overhang to demand for traditional office space.” Read more about this call here. Goldman Sachs initiates Veeva Systems as buy Goldman called the cloud computer company a “long-term compounder.” “We view Veeva as a long-term compounder because of its competitive moat and exposure to technology adoption in Life Sciences.” Read more about this call here. JPMorgan upgrades Snowflake to outperform from neutral JPMorgan said the stock is attractively priced and that the company has an excellent standing among customers. “In addition, we are incrementally confident that Snowflake is reaching an inflection point in terms of material FCF generation, and we think that trendline has the potential to surprise positively, creating the initial framework toward FCF-based valuation support.” Read more about this call here. Loop downgrades Leslie’s to hold from buy Loop said it doesn’t see any near-term positive catalysts. “For LESL , we struggle to find a catalyst into next year especially as we expect sales growth rates to slow, target and customer file growth is starting to reflect more normal periods, and the company will be facing tough comparisons into next year.” Cowen names Deckers a top idea Cowen named the shoe company a top idea, noting it has excellent brand awareness. “Our estimates are fairly in line with consensus and guidance for FY23, but our confidence level in DECK’s multiyear growth profile relative to consensus expectations is higher relative to our coverage list.” Raymond James upgrades Southwest to strong buy from outperform Raymond James said in its upgrade of the airline that investors should buy the dip. “We view the recent pullback as an attractive entry point and, in turn, upgrade shares of LUV from Outperform to Strong Buy.” Bernstein reiterates Apple as equal weight Bernstein said it worries about slowing growth for the tech giant in the months ahead. “On net, we see some opportunity for Apple to potentially outperform modestly over the next few months per its historical pattern, but we believe risk/reward over the next 6 months to 2 years is neutral to modestly negative.” Bank of America reiterates Netflix as underperform Bank of America lowered its price target on Netflix to $196 per share from $240 and says it sees a “worsening macro.” “As the domestic subscription run up for Netflix seems to be at or very near its peak, the availability of more services in addition to more compelling competitor value propositions have led customers to subscribe to more services on the whole while still keeping Netflix.” Read more about this call here. MKM initiates O’Reilly, Advance Auto Parts and AutoZone as buy MKM said in its initiation of O’Reilly, AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts that the companies have pricing power. “We favor the safer auto parts retailers for the time being, given a number of secular factors still intact and outsized pricing power.” Bank of America reiterates Disney as buy Bank of America lowered its price target on Disney to $122 per share from $140, but said it’s sticking with its buy rating on the entertainment giant. “We will continue to monitor trends near term for any signs that inflation or moderating travel is impacting longer term bookings. We also moderate our FY23 linear advertising forecast to flat (from +1%) to reflect the softening advertising market.” Citi reiterates Spotify as buy Citi kept its buy rating on the streaming company and said it sees further gross margin expansion. “For several years, Spotify has been building a broader audio platform that spans both Music and Podcasts. To date, these investments have not helped — or hurt — gross margins. However, with larger tail winds from Marketplace and smaller headwinds from Podcasting, we expect gross margin expansion in 2023 and beyond.” JPMorgan upgrades Funko to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said in its upgrade of the toy company that the stock has an attractive valuation. “We are upgrading FNKO to Overweight and raising our Dec. 22 PT to $28 based on: expected upside to Street 2022 revenue estimates given the strong content rebound with FNKO’s stable of evergreen properties providing a consistent ballast to the business.” Wolfe upgrades MetLife to outperform from peer perform Wolfe said in its upgrade of the insurance company that it should benefit from higher rates. “We upgrade MetLife to Outperform from Peer Perform, and our $74 target price is based on a sum-of-the parts analysis. We view MET risk-adjusted free cash flow outlook as most attractive relative to valuation, and think the company is best positioned to benefit from a higher interest rates + lower equity markets setup.” Morgan Stanley downgrades AGCO to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley downgraded the agriculture company due to a “peaking commodity backdrop.” “Our downgrades of both A GCO and WAB to EW are primarily driven by a reduction in exposure to the consumer complex, Europe and a potentially peaking commodity backdrop, all of which are expected to moderate in a more draconian macro/recession scenario.”
