Here are Wednesday’s biggest calls on Wall Street: Barclays initiates Penn as overweight Barclays initiated several casino and gaming companies, saying they are attractively valued. “We’re positive on diversified land-based gaming (CZR, PENN, BYD), and select companies across Lodging and Leisure, based on demand exposures and/or valuation.” Read more about this call here. Raymond James upgrades Ulta to strong buy from outperform Raymond James said in its upgrade of the stock that “beauty/going out remains in demand.” “We are upgrading Ulta Beauty to Strong Buy from Outperform and raise our PT to $485 from $475 as the retailer’s wide range of price points from prestige to mass should mitigate the impact of potential trade-down, while beauty/going out remains in demand.” JPMorgan downgrades Bath & Body Works to neutral from overweight JPMorgan downgraded Bath & Body Works due to what the firm called a “multi-year model reset.” “We are lowering our FY23 EPS to $3.30 (below Consensus at $4.90) based on the following: low-singledigit same-store-sales growth equating to a high-single-digit 2019-23 comp CAGR.” Loop downgrades JOANN to hold from buy Loop said it sees an “elevated risk profile” in the fabric retailer. “We were disheartened to hear of CFO Matt Susz’s unexpected death two weeks ago, and we think this adds risk to Joann’s near-term execution and investor-facing communications.” Barclays initiates Marriott as overweight Barclays said in its initiation of the hotel chain that it sees “beats and raises” in the quarters ahead. ” MAR leading position in luxury global travel stands out to us in terms of its ability to produce beats and raises over the next several quarters.” Barclays initiates Royal Caribbean as overweight Barclays initiated coverage of the cruise company and said it’s the “highest quality operator in the space.” “We see RCL as the highest quality operator in the space, and well positioned to re-establish its pre-pandemic operational momentum relative to the broader cruise industry.” DA Davidson upgrades O’Reilly to buy from neutral DA Davidson said the auto parts store is a “share gainer.” “Our upgrade is based on four points, including: (1) Increasing estimates as auto parts are navigating consumer headwinds better than other areas; (2) ORLY is a long term share gainer; (3) Vehicle aging is a long term positive; and (4) Price pass through mitigates some of the margin pressures.” Bank of America upgrades Goldman Sachs to buy from neutral Bank of America said Goldman is well-positioned in a tough macro environment. “Our ratings change (first upgrade of 2022) does not indicate an improved outlook for bank stocks. To the contrary, we see the stock as well-positioned to outperform in what is likely to be a worsening economic backdrop that could weigh more materially on the EPS outlooks for its balance sheet lending heavy peers.” Read more about this call here. Wells Fargo initiates Generac as buy Wells said the battery backup company has “potential upside.” “The company has a wide array of backup power products, but its core product is the home backup generator that runs off natural gas and retails for $8,000-10,000 for most homes.” Atlantic Equities upgrades McDonald’s to overweight from neutral Atlantic Equities said in its upgrade of McDonald’s that it’s a “defensive value play.” “Adding to the company’s appeal are the positive changes it has been undertaking as it becomes largely a franchise business, accelerated by the Russia exit, and as digital, with all its positive tailwinds around ticket, loyalty and marketing, plays an ever more important part.” Read more about this call here. Goldman Sachs reiterates Tesla as buy Goldman said in its autos previews note on Wednesday that it it expects weak results for Tesla when it reports earnings in late July. “For Tesla , while the company is a clear beneficiary of the ongoing EV mix shift, as evidenced by its leading margins and large backlog, we expect weak 2Q results.” Citi adds Synchrony Financial to the focus list Citi said the consumer financial services company is undervalued. “We are adding Synchrony Financial to our conviction buy list and are opening a pair trade idea of long SYF against Neutral rated AXP.” Barclays downgrades Altria to underweight from equal weight Barclays downgraded the tobacco company due to weak cigarette volumes. “Due to weak cigarette volumes, we think MO could cut FY22 EPS guidance. We downgrade to UW, $36PT.” Redburn initiates Amazon & Microsoft as buy Redburn said it sees significant upside in cloud services for the two tech giants. “AWS accounts for less than 20% of Amazon’s revenues but is worth $3trn, or almost 3.0x its current market cap. There is no sugar-coating the weak performance of non- AWS in H1, but we do not think the business is structurally broken. … .The upside for Microsoft from Azure is more limited, but it is still significant.” Bank of America downgrades Qorvo and Skyworks to underperform from neutral Bank of America downgraded several semiconductor companies due to rising competition. The firm also downgraded Texas Instruments to neutral from buy due to rising capex pressures. “We lower ests./downgrade smartphone vendors SWKS, QRVO to Underperform from Neutral on maturity of 5G smartphone cycle, elevated inventory, and rising competition from QCOM.” Morgan Stanley downgrades Upstart to underweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley it sees too many downside risks for Upstart. “Deteriorating relative underwriting performance and increasing required returns from institutional partners have shifted our view incrementally negative, and we see downside risk to estimates and valuation as the platform’s cyclicality is tested.” Read more about this call here . Morgan Stanley reiterates Carnival as underweight Morgan Stanley revised its bear case forecast on shares of Carnival to $0 due to weakening pricing and elevated costs. “We reduce our forecasts again following the weak 2Q22 and guidance. Our FY22 EBITDA forecast drops from $0.9bn to $(0.9)bn due to weaker than expected occupancies, weakening pricing, elevated unit costs and higher fuel costs.” JPMorgan reiterates Amazon and Uber as overweight JPMorgan lowered its estimates on shares of Amazon and Uber on Wednesday, but said that a softer macro environment is already priced in. “While our projections come down, we believe buyside expectations & many equity prices already reflect a softer macro environment. AMZN, BKNG, & UBER remain our best ideas.”
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