Here are Wednesday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Bank of America reiterates Boeing as neutral Bank of America said Boeing has become a turnaround story. “Balancing short-term catalysts against long- term issues and challenges is the key to understanding BA’ s stock, in our view.” Credit Suisse initiates ChargePoint as outperform Credit Suisse said in its initiation of ChargePoint that it has an early first-mover advantage. “We are positive on ChargePoint , as it benefits from a capital-light growth model, first-mover advantage with integrated solutions, and an attractive valuation.” Read more about this call here. Morgan Stanley downgrades AstraZeneca to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley said it sees a more balanced risk/reward for the biopharma company. ” AZN shares have benefited from an attractive GARP profile and positive R & D catalysts in 2022. Despite numerous pipeline catalysts ahead in 2023, we have downgraded to Equal-weight to reflect near-term earnings risk, above-peer exposure to US drug pricing legislation and relative valuation considerations.” RBC initiates Petco as outperform RBC said the pet retailer is well positioned to take share. “While near-term noise amid a weakening consumer environment is inevitable, we believe much of the risk is baked in at these levels. Longer term, we believe the company is well positioned to take share of the already fast-growing U.S. pet category given its revised company strategy, structurally advantaged real-estate portfolio, and vet expansion opportunity.” Wolfe upgrades Pinterest to outperform from peer perform Wolfe said in its upgrade of the stock that it sees several positive catalysts ahead. “We are upgrading PINS to Outperform with $28 PT using 30x FY23 EBITDA. Our bullish view is centered on PINS’s LT user growth and monetization potential under the new CEO.” Read more about this call here. Jefferies initiates Red Rock Resorts as buy Jefferies said the casino company is a “compelling growth story.” ” Red Rock presents a compelling growth story, in our view, with valuable real estate assets strategically located across a booming area of Las Vegas.” Goldman Sachs reiterates Apple as neutral Goldman said investors should watch closely for pricing details when Apple makes its product announcements on Wednesday afternoon. “Heading into Apple’s big annual iPhone event we are most interested in how the company will approach pricing. We do not believe it is likely that Apple raises Pro model prices because we believe this potentially would generate lower gross profit contribution by prompting Pro owners to downshift in greater numbers to lower ASP (average selling price) non-Pro devices.” Cantor names Sprout Social a best idea Cantor said shares of the social media software company are underappreciated. ” SPT is a provider of social media management (SMM) software. Effectively, brands rely on SPT to coordinate, execute, and gain transparency into their social media strategy across all major platforms.” MKM downgrades Electronic Arts to neutral from buy MKM said in its downgrade of the video game maker that it sees “further margin compression.” “Although the depth of EA’s development pipeline remains sizable, we believe a meaningful acceleration in releases will not occur as previously anticipated in FY24, but rather FY25.” Barclays reiterates Starbucks as overweight Barclays said it’s very bullish on shares of Starbucks ahead of the company’s investor day next week. ” Starbucks will host their ’22 Investor Day on Tuesday, 9/13, in Seattle. We view Starbucks as a premiere, large-cap, high- growth, global consumer company led by a dominant US retail & consumer product platform, significant int’l growth led by China & a best-in-class digital platform. And we are excited by the new CEO hire.” Macquarie upgrades Netflix to neutral from underperform Macquarie said it’s getting more constructive on the company’s new ad tier platform. “Globally, we model an ad revenue opportunity of $8.5bn or an incremental $2.1bn in total revenue in 2025E, if Netflix were to ramp up its international ad sales efforts that quickly, and assuming the ad tier attracts an additional 10% to its sub base in EMEA, LatAm, and APAC.” Morgan Stanley names Biogen a catalyst driven idea Morgan Stanley named the stock as a catalyst driven idea and said it has a “favorable upside skew and see positive risk/reward” for shares of Biogen. “Topline Ph3 data for Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab is expected in the fall. Our base case is that the study fails, in-line with the market expectation, but we have a more favorable upside skew and see positive risk/reward for BIIB.” Telsey reiterates Bed Bath & Beyond as underperform Telsey said it remains concerned about sales declines as the company operates with an interim CEO and CFO. “Our key takeaway from last week’s strategic update was that Bed Bath & Beyond had enhanced its liquidity position and is making more aggressive cuts to align its cost structure with the lower sales level, but there has been no positive change in direction in its sales trend in recent months, with the 2Q22 comp coming in at (26%).” DA Davidson reiterates Amazon as buy DA Davidson kept its buy rating on shares of Amazon but said video content from “Lord of the Rings” combined with a Prime cost increase could cause subscribers to cancel. “A large number of consumers may not be interested in LOTR (Lord of the Rings), may not be happy about the increase in prime membership (to $139 from $119) that reflects the cost of video content (such as LOTR), and, therefore, may be more likely to cancel their memberships.” Bernstein names Grab Holdings as a best idea Bernstein named the multinational tech company a best idea, noting it benefits from a lack of disruptive competitors. “We expect Grab’s ride-hailing bookings to grow at a 29% CAGR over CY22-24, with EBITDA/GMV (gross margin value) sustaining at c12%. This level of profitability, even after factoring in overheads and payment costs, still stands as the best globally.” Bank of America reiterates Warner Brothers Discovery and Disney as buy Bank of America said Warner Brothers and Disney were best positioned capitalize on an ad video on demand platform. “While still very early, in our view, DIS and WBD are best positioned in the AVOD marketplace given their scale, breadth and depth of content Piper Sandler reiterates McDonald’s as overweight Piper said the fast food giant “dominates the affordability positioning.” “We reiterate our Overweight rating while raising our price target to $270 per share (vs. $263 prior) on MCD shares. McDonald’s dominates the affordability positioning, which is not a proxy for the industry per se, and is based on their global scale advantage.”
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