Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls: Johnson & Johnson, Cisco Systems, Microsoft & more

Published Thu, Dec 19 20199:13 AM EST

Key Points

Barclays upgraded Johnson & Johnson to overweight from equal weight.
Barclays upgraded Cisco Systems to overweight from equal weight.
Needham initiated The RealReal as buy.
Bank of America upgraded Elanco to buy from neutral.
Bank of America downgraded Colgate-Palmolive to neutral from buy.
Citi raised its price target on BlackRock to $565 from $500.
Bank of American raised its price target on Microsoft to $200 from $162.
Pivotal raised its price target on Netflix to $425 from $400

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Barclays upgraded Johnson & Johnson to 'overweight' from 'equal weight' Barclays called Johnson & Johnson a defensive pick for investors. "We think JNJ checks a lot of boxes heading into 2020, leaving risk/reward skewed to the upside. We think the Consensus outlook is achievable (p.s. there's an extra week so it helps the top-line growth rates, bottom-line less so). We don't expect Medicare-for-All. The market has been in an extended upswing and investors looking for defensive names can find value here." Barclays upgraded Cisco Systems to 'overweight' from 'equal weight' Barclays said it sees multiple product cycles coming for the company and that key product areas should improve in 2020. We are more constructive on CSCO shares following the lowered valuation and new product announcements. We see some fundamental shifts, and the stock has typically done well after guidance corrections. Multiple product cycles coming. CSCO has a diversified revenue stream, but a few key product areas should improve for CSCO and the industry over the next year. Needham initiated The RealReal as 'buy' Needham said in its initiation of the online luxury consignment shop that it is making progress towards achieving profitability. "We initiate coverage on The RealReal with a BUY rating and $23 price target. REAL is an online resale marketplace connecting luxury consigners with consumers seeking premium brands at a value. We're bullish on the outlook for the resale industry and consider it to be in an early growth stage, analogous to off-price in its early days. We see REAL benefiting from growth in the circular economy, the luxury industry, and digital commerce. Additionally, its model aligns well with consumers' growing emphasis on sustainability." Bank of America upgraded Elanco to 'buy' from 'neutral' Bank of America said it sees significant upside as revenue growth accelerates for the animal health company. "We upgrade ELAN to Buy from Neutral, and raise our PO to $34 (from $30). The upgrade is largely driven by a more constructive view on the 'NewCo' Elanco following the completion of the Bayer acquisition, which we still expect to close in mid-2020. In our view, while 2020 itself is likely to be a challenging year for Elanco due to underlying market conditions in select pockets of the Animal Health space, as well as company specific issues (Rumensin, Ractopamine, Trio share losses), we think this year will mark 'the bottom' and we see significant upside as revenue growth and EBITDA growth reaccelerates, bolstered by the contribution from Bayer Animal Health." Bank of America downgraded Colgate-Palmolive to 'neutral' from 'buy' Bank of America downgraded the stock and said it thinks 2020 will be more challenging. "Our prior positive view on 2019 was predicated on a turnaround; through Q3, CL has improved organic sales growth, launched meaningful innovation in its two most important categories, toothpaste and pet, and rerated by 3pts. While we continue to view CL as one of the higher quality names in Cons Staples, with dominant market shares, low private label exposure, geographic depth, and a more aggressive stance in driving growth, struggles to stem share losses in toothpaste and tough comps drive our concern that conditions will be more challenging next year, potentially necessitating another year of outsized investment." Citi raised its price target on BlackRock to $565 from $500 Citi said it liked the global investment management company's "technology differentiation" within the wealth management ecosystem. "Updating our model, primarily for 4Q19TD net asset value's, and rolling our valuation basis to 2021, we raise our BLK price target to $565 from $500 and maintain our Buy rating. We continue to favor BLK 's Customization and Technology differentiation against further commoditization within the Wealth Management ecosystem." Bank of America raised its price target on Microsoft to $200 from $162 Bank of America named Microsoft a top pick in 2020 and said it saw artificial intelligence going mainstream. "We are increasingly selective on the sector given macro economists are calling for a late stage economic cycle with a tilt towards value, and concerns about a tech/trade war. ... Our multiple is driven by our view that high teen's growth is sustainable long term." Pivotal raised its price target on Netflix to $425 from $400 Pivotal said it remains bullish on the Netflix story in the face of rising competition. "As we anticipated, NFLX stock has climbed a wall of worry (and heavy short interest) into the launch of the launch of Disney + (which we viewed --and continue to view -- as complementary and a likely accelerant to traditional PayTV losses = positive for NFLX) and AppleTV+. Specifically, on Disney+ while the initial subscriber figures have been massive, we attribute much of that to the fact that it is free for ~20M potential U.S. households and usage by consumers that download the product has been anemic (unsurprising given the lack of original content)." Read more about this call here .

Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., pauses while speaking during a Microsoft product event in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019.

Mark Kauzlarich | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday:

Barclays upgraded Johnson & Johnson to 'overweight' from 'equal weight'

Barclays called Johnson & Johnson a defensive pick for investors.

"We think JNJ checks a lot of boxes heading into 2020, leaving risk/reward skewed to the upside. We think the Consensus outlook is achievable (p.s. there's an extra week so it helps the top-line growth rates, bottom-line less so). We don't expect Medicare-for-All. The market has been in an extended upswing and investors looking for defensive names can find value here."

Barclays upgraded Cisco Systems to 'overweight' from 'equal weight'

Barclays said it sees multiple product cycles coming for the company and that key product areas should improve in 2020.

We are more constructive on CSCO shares following the lowered valuation and new product announcements. We see some fundamental shifts, and the stock has typically done well after guidance corrections. Multiple product cycles coming. CSCO has a diversified revenue stream, but a few key product areas should improve for CSCO and the industry over the next year.