Here are Wednesday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Susquehanna upgrades Carnival to positive from neutral Susquehanna upgraded the cruise operator after its earnings report Monday, noting it sees a “unit margin recovery.” “The 2023 Wave Season looks to be one for the books, with volumes and pricing for liners CCL, NCLH, and RCL tracking solidly above 2019 levels.” Wells Fargo upgrades AvalonBay to overweight from equal weight Wells called AvalonBay a top pick. “Surprisingly low supply risk & strong liquidity despite largest MF (multi-family) development pipeline.” Baird reiterates Tesla as a top pick Baird said it’s bullish heading into Tesla’s delivery numbers this weekend. “Reiterate Outperform rating ahead of deliveries. Although sentiment (and share price) have improved from Q4, we still like the setup into deliveries and the remainder of the year.” Wells Fargo upgrades Hershey to equal weight from underweight Wells said in its upgrade of the chocolate company that it has “EPS visibility.” “Go to Equal Weight on HSY, tgt to $255. 2 things: 1) micro – new pricing action changes things, protecting EPS well into ’24, a unique tail of EPS visibility—key driver of upgrade ; 2) macro – defensives now back in play and there are few like HSY.” Goldman Sachs upgrades Hartford to buy from neutral Goldman the insurance company could “surprise to the upside.” “Our reserve analysis on Hartford suggests the potential for a very significant redundancy in the company’s workers’ compensation reserves.” Goldman Sachs upgrades Marathon Petroleum to buy from neutral Goldman said the petroleum company has a “best-in-class capital returns story.” “we upgrade Marathon Petroleum Corporation from Neutral to Buy on (a) consistent earnings execution across segments, (b) positive MPLX view, and (c) best-in-class capital returns story.” Read more about this call here. UBS downgrades Foot Locker & Urban Outfitters to sell from neutral UBS said it’s getting “increasingly bearish” on softline stocks. “We forecast Softline industry CY23 earnings decreasing 6% y/y.” Read more about this call here. Morgan Stanley downgrades Ciena to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley said it sees some cloud “digestion.” “With Ciena noting some digestion from cloud customers, we think it would be challenging to see revenue upside not tied to backlog release, which is unlikely to get rewarded in multiple expansion in the near term.” Bernstein reiterates Apple as market perform Bernstein said it’s standing by its market perform rating after Apple debuted Apple Pay Later on Tuesday. “We view Apple’s payments and financing offerings as principally being ecosystem enhancing, and relatively immaterial in the context of Apple’s overall finances.” Citi upgrades Lululemon to buy from neutral Citi upgraded Lululemon after its earnings report Tuesday. “We are upgrading shares from Neutral to Buy and raising our TP from $350 to $440. While we liked the stock coming into 4Q (3/24 note), we feel even better following 4Q results and the F23 outlook.” Guggenheim reiterates McDonald’s as buy Guggenheim says it sees “substantial” near-term and long-term upside for McDonald’s. “One of the few brands with accelerating global store development.” Daiwa initiates Deere as outperform Daiwa said the agricultural equipment company is well positioned going forward. “Our Outperform rating reflects Deere’s strength in precision technology and a solid market position, while recognizing risks from weak construction spending and a sharper decline in farm income.” Baird reiterates Amazon as outperform Baird said it sees several positive catalysts ahead for Amazon . “While shares have underperformed other mega-caps over the past year, we believe improving margins in 2H23, some stability in AWS growth (after one more cut?), and/or improving e-commerce trends each could prove to be catalysts.” Piper Sandler reiterates SoFi as outperform Piper said the company is a beneficiary of the bank fallout. “In our view, SOFI is in a strong position to meet or exceed its 1Q23 guide for $40-45M of EBITDA due to strong growth in net interest income.” UBS downgrades Medtronic to sell from buy UBS downgraded the medical tech company, noting it’s concerned about a lack of a return to growth. “Our Sell rating is predicated on our lack of conviction that MDT can return to sustainable mid-single-digit top-line growth and drive consistent operating margin upside in the medium-term.” Goldman Sachs reiterates Regions Financial and Fifth Third as buy Goldman said in a note Wednesday that several regional banks are key beneficiaries of the larger bank fallout. “While estimates are likely to be pressured across the board, we believe RF, HBAN, and FITB appear better situated to manage the impacts. Goldman Sachs reiterates Micron as buy Goldman said it’s standing by its buy rating after Micron’s earnings report on Tuesday, noting it sees “supply discipline and [an] improving demand outlook.” “We maintain our Buy rating on the stock as we expect supply discipline across the industry coupled with an improving demand outlook, albeit off a low base, to drive sequential growth in pricing, margins, earnings power and FCF in FY4Q (August) and through FY24.” JPMorgan reiterates Alibaba as overweight JPMorgan said it’s bullish on the China e-commerce company’s reorganization announcement on Tuesday. “From an investor sentiment impact perspective, we liken Alibaba’s reorganization to Google’s transformation to Alphabet, a clear sentiment booster that should drive near-term stock price.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Meta as overweight Morgan Stanley said Meta is best positioned in a ban on TikTok. “While uncertain, momentum to ban TikTok appears to be growing. 53bn US consumer hours could be up for grabs. Behavior will move to many media, but short-form video alternatives (Reels, Shorts, Spotlight) are best positioned. META has the most upside.”
