Here are Wall Street’s biggest calls on Thursday: Bank of America reiterates Chevron as buy Bank of America said it’s standing by its buy rating on the oil and gas giant after it announced its 2023 capital budget on Wednesday. “All in, we see no surprises in the 2023 capex announcement, with headline allocations largely in line with expectations – keeping our focus on CVX core investment thesis of oil leverage and free cash flow.” JPMorgan upgrades Vulcan Materials to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said risks for the construction materials company are already priced in. “We are upgrading VMC to OW (from N) as it is not trading at a premium vs MLM anymore despite its larger aggregates exposure (highest amongst peers), while its geographic exposure is attractive and largely diversified.” Read more about this call here . Piper Sandler initiates JPMorgan Chase as overweight Piper said the bank is a high quality name. “As for our ratings, it was almost a toss-up as to our preference for BAC or JPM . Again, we think extraordinarily highly of both, they are both highly profitable, and we consider them both excellent companies for the long-term. We lean a bit more favorably on JPM.” UBS initiates Shopify as sell UBS said it’s concerned about increasing competition. “AMZN runs logistics at a loss, has deeper pockets given its cash and higher take rate, and has historically viewed other businesses’ profits as ‘its opportunity,’ which could impact SHOP’ s margins, both of which do not look to be incorporated in Street estimates.” UBS names PVH a top idea UBS said the owner of brands such as Tommy Hilfiger is an “underappreciated self-help stock.” “We met with PVH mgmt on Monday, December 5th in Boston. We came away from the meetings with increased conviction in our Buy rating.” Goldman Sachs reiterates Rent the Runway as buy Goldman said it sees margin upside for the online apparel company. “Longer term, we still see RENT as the leader in the subscription-based effort to drive the adoption of the sharing economy theme in the apparel sector.” UBS upgrades Hershey to buy from neutral UBS said it’s becoming bullish on the chocolate and candy maker’s long-term growth. “Against this backdrop, we believe Hershey will remain in a beat and raise cycle through 2025.” Read more about this call here. Barclays initiates Insmed as overweight Barclays said it sees a “robust” risk/reward for the biotech company. “We think Insmed has robust r/r with pipeline Brensocatib, a first-in-class drug that addresses a large bronchiectasis market.” Baird downgrades Salesforce to neutral from outperform Baird said it sees a tough macro environment hurting the stock. “We are downgrading CRM to Neutral as the macro environment remains challenged and recent executive departures concern.” Read more about this call here . Truist reiterates Amazon as buy Truist said it’s sticking with its buy rating on Amazon, but that this will be the weakest holiday season for e-commerce and digital advertising since 2009. “TD tracking of Holiday Season spend looks to be slightly ahead of expectations at AMZN, ETSY and W, with AMZN likely to claim ~47%share of US ecom.” Bank of America reiterates Lowe’s as buy Bank of America said shares of Lowe’s remain attractive. “Total shareholder return (TSR) has been > 2x the S & P500 over that time, and we continue to view LOW as one of the more attractive TSR stories in hardline retail.” Citi initiates Lockheed Martin as buy Citi said in its initiation of Lockheed that it likes the company’s diversification. “We recommend building positions in the company in light of our positive view on: 1) The 5%+ growth outlook we have for DoD’s weapons buying accounts through the end of the decade driven by US and allied focus on securing the tools of deterrence; 2) The diversified nature of the company’s capabilities across all domains, including air, sea, land and space, which should allow it to participate in industry growth.” Citi opens a negative catalyst watch on Intel Citi added the stock to its negative catalyst watch list due to ongoing market share loss. “We are opening a negative Catalyst Watch on Intel given market share loss in 4Q22.” Needham initiates DigitalOcean as buy Needham said in its initiation of the cloud infrastructure company that it sees compounding free-cash flow. “We are initiating coverage of DigitalOcean with a Buy rating and a $36 Price Target. We expect the company’s Consumption-based model and initiatives to land larger customers and better mine the market opportunity through Managed Services offerings to speed up Revenue growth over the medium-term.” Evercore ISI reiterates Visa and Mastercard as outperform Evercore s aid Visa and Mastercard are two “ports in a storm.” “For the two best businesses in payments, we see several compelling drivers of superior 2023 revenue growth and EBIT margin expansion potential, including: A) continued cash digitization; B) sustained rebound in cross border travel, particularly in Asia.” Goldman Sachs upgrades American Homes 4 Rent to buy from neutral Goldman said in its upgrade of the real estate investment trust that it’s a “cleaner story” compared to peers. “We upgrade AMH to Buy from Neutral. We remain constructive on the strong demand for housing amidst a shortage crisis, and single-family rental (SFR) is well positioned as homeownership continues to be very expensive, boding well for the long-term fundamentals.” Read more about this call here. Bernstein names Chipotle a top pick Bernstein says shares of the Mexican chain restaurant are “resilient.” “Attracting high-income consumers, leveraging a strong debt-free balance sheet to fuel growth, and with a track-record of growth stickiness during past recessions, CMG should compound even in softer macro conditions.” Argus upgrades AT & T to buy from hold Argus said it finally sees sustainable long-term growth for AT & T. “With the spinoff of WarnerMedia to Discovery, AT & T has finally moved past its long sad foray into the media business. The company has also moved past multiple other asset divestitures and a substantial dividend cut in the last year.”
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