Here are Thursday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: UBS upgrades Tesla to buy from neutral UBS said in its upgrade of the automaker that its “operational outlook is stronger than ever before.” “We upgrade TSLA to Buy (from Neutral) with an unchanged $1,100 PT. TSLA is down ~35% ytd in line with other tech stocks, but we believe the operational outlook is stronger than ever before.” Read more about this call here. Credit Suisse upgrades Freeport-McMoRan to neutral from underperform Credit Suisse said in its upgrade of the mining company that it’s getting more bullish on copper. “Copper Is a Winner in Stagflation Environment & Soft Landing – Upgrade FCX to Neutral.” Read more about this call here. Atlantic Equities reiterates Costco as overweight Atlantic Equities said Costco is inflation resistant. “The unique nature of the business model, with its cap on margin taken on item sourcing, the stability the membership income provides and the higher-income nature of the customer base make the company more resilient in the face of inflationary pressures.” JPMorgan upgrades Take-Two to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said in its upgrade of the video game maker that it’s well positioned after its acquisition of Zynga. “With the close of the Zynga acquisition, TTWO now offers a scaled portfolio of mobile games, in addition to leading PC/console IP and a pipeline of content set to ramp significantly.” Read more about this call here. KeyBanc reiterates Apple as overweight KeyBanc kept its overweight rating on the tech giant, but said its data checks show some signs of softening U.S. demand. “We recommend owning AAPL . Our Key First Look Data from credit cards suggests AAPL is tracking below historical seasonality with Indexed Spending -8% m/m in May, vs. the three-year average of +6%. -8% represents the weakest m/m May data point even going back pre-pandemic, likely suggesting softening U.S. demand.” Morgan Stanley downgrades Silvergate to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley said that Silvergate’s stock is highly correlated to bitcoin volatility. “The stock’s correlation with bitcoin and the impact of crypto prices on deposit growth drives a wide skew in potential outcomes.” UBS reiterates Microsoft as buy UBS trimmed its estimates on the stock on Thursday, but said investors should continue to own shares of Microsoft. “Bottom line, for FY23 we’re cutting our revs estimate from $229.2b to $225.1b and our EPS estimate from $10.77 to $10.39 with our estimate revisions extending beyond merely FX adjustments. Microsoft is messaging more firmly that ‘we are not immune to the macro’ and we are adjusting accordingly.” Loop reiterates Best Buy as buy Loop said that, after recent pricing checks, it sees “increased price competitiveness” for the electronics chain retailer. “We are encouraged to see Best Buy ‘s competitive prices, particularly given the fact we believe ongoing multi-decade high inflation is likely to make consumers even more price conscious than usual. We also think founder Dick Schulze’s recent stock purchases are a bullish sign.” Cowen initiates Deere as market perform Cowen said that the stock’s valuation is not compelling enough to warrant an outperform rating. ” DE is the largest and one of the most innovative companies in a sector enjoying positive secular trends as well as an ongoing replacement cycle. But we believe the decidedly favorable dynamics are well understood at this point.” Susquehanna initiates Royal Caribbean and Norwegian as positive Susquehanna said in its initiation of Royal Caribbean and Norwegian that industry fundamentals are improving. “Positively, the industry is on the mend; liners are planning to redeploy their full fleets into the summer and have a line of sight to profitability into 2023.” JPMorgan downgrades Scotts Miracle-Gro to neutral from overweight JPMorgan said in its downgrade of the lawn and garden products and chemical company that it sees too many negative catalysts. “Earnings for F2022 are likely to be even lower than we expected as the higher margin Scotts products — grass seeds and fertilizers — are struggling in a generally wet operating environment.” Morgan Stanley reiterates Home Depot and Lowe’s as overweight Morgan Stanley said its survey checks show home improvement is “healthy and moderating.” “AlphaWise survey indicates business conditions for contractors in Home Improvement are healthy and moderating off peak levels. OW HD and LOW. ” RBC upgrades Ollie’s to outperform from sector perform RBC said in its upgrade of the discount retailer that it sees fundamentals improving after the company’s earnings report on Wednesday. ” OLLI posted another tough quarter, but between the easing of supply chain pressures and contracted freight rates we are becoming increasingly confident that OLLI fundamentals will sequentially improve in the back half and beyond.” Citi reiterates FedEx as buy Citi said it’s staying tactically bullish heading into FedEx earnings later this month. “Into F4Q22 results we think the key question is whether there is just a short-term opportunity through results and the investor day, or whether something has changed and there is a longer-term story related to the CEO change.” Loop downgrades Honest to hold from buy Loop said it’s concerned about recent comments by the big box retailers. “We are concerned with comments from mass retailers, including HNST’s largest customer – TGT. Our PT moves lower on sales cuts and long-term estimates for lower gross margin as we expect inflation above our prior expectations.”
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