Here are the biggest analyst calls of the day: Alphabet, Apple, PayPal, Intel & more

Published Fri, Jan 24 20209:01 AM ESTUpdated Mon, Jan 27 20204:57 AM EST

Key Points

KeyBanc raised its price target on Alphabet to $1,769 from $1,546.
Rosenblatt raised its price target on Apple to $250 from $150.
KeyBanc raised its price target on Facebook to $263 from $240.
Citi upgraded Deckers to buy from neutral.
UBS downgraded Comcast to neutral from buy.
Evercore ISI downgraded JetBlue to in line from outperform.
MKM downgraded Take-Two to neutral from buy.
Oppenheimer initiated Madison Square Garden as outperform.
Oppenheimer upgraded Generac to outperform from perform.
Credit Suisse initiated PayPal as outperform.
Credit Suisse initiated Square as outperform.
Loop Capital downgraded Intel to sell from hold.
Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Disney to $170 from $160.

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday: KeyBanc raised its price target on Alphabet to $1,769 from $1,546 KeyBanc raised its price target on Alphabet to a Street high and said the company's growth prospects remain excellent. "We believe this is justified by our view of improving margin and FCF outlooks, growth prospects that remain excellent, and overall multiple expansion in the market. Even at these new higher target multiples, we believe the high quality of the underlying businesses and profit growth potential would make FB and GOOGL attractive." Rosenblatt raised its price target on Apple to $250 from $150 Rosenblatt raised its price target on Apple but kept its sell rating on the stock and said expectations for the 5G cycle were too high. "Expectations for the 5G upgrade cycle in 2020 being too high. We believe the higher prices for 5G smartphones and 5G services will slow the upgrade cycle. New services, such as music, news, streaming, TV, being regional services compared to global services. We are waiting to see if there are 5G applications that will drive mobile platforms to generate more content or service revenue for smartphone original equipment manufacturers." Read more about this call here . KeyBanc raised its price target on Facebook to $263 from $240 KeyBanc raised its price target to a Street high and said it expects the company to report solid fourth-quarter earnings on January 29. "We expect Facebook to report solid top-line growth with potential for upside to our and consensus revenue estimates. We believe the Company continues to drive solid growth in total ad volume with like-for-like pricing trends that remain positive. We believe demand for Stories ads continues to grow, and is being aided by an increasing use of Facebook's publisher automation system, which helps Facebook balance demand across the platform and increase returns for advertisers." Citi upgraded Deckers to 'buy' from 'neutral' Citi upgraded the footwear designer and said it sees the company's brand Hoka as a "hidden value" in the stock's share price. It is our view that Hoka, DECK 's fast growing running brand, which is on track to achieve over $400M in revenue next year, represents hidden value within DECK's current share price. On a stand-alone basis, we believe Hoka could be valued at ~$2.8B, which would imply the rest of the DECK portfolio (mainly UGG) is trading at ~5.6x EV/EBITDA (an attractive value in our view). From a stock perspective the UGG brand must continue to perform well for the stock to work, and our checks and industry data point to another strong holiday for the UGG brand. UBS downgraded Comcast to 'neutral' from 'buy' UBS downgraded Comcast and said it sees free cash flow decline in 2020. "We see 2020 as an investment year, with increased capex, investment in Peacock/Sky and other working capital drags causing a decline in FCF. While the cable business remains strong (especially broadband), we expect EBITDA growth to decelerate for the next 2 years given programming renewals. With a valuation similar to pure-play cable peers despite the FCF decline and ~34% exposure to non-US cable, we see a more balanced risk-reward at the current price." Evercore ISI downgraded JetBlue to in 'line' from 'outperform' Evercore downgraded the stock after the company's earnings report and said it sees a "more balanced risk/reward." "We are still waiting for the quarter that proves out our cost hopes – now increasingly 2H weighted. Revenue execution may continue to be two-steps forward, one-step back with low-cost and network carrier competitive incursions. As such, we view risk-reward on JBLU as far more balanced at current levels. There is no change to our '20 EPS estimate of $2.40 per share." MKM downgraded Take-Two to 'neutral' from 'buy' MKM downgraded the game maker and said it was waiting for "improved visibility" on the stock. "We continue to view Take-Two as the best run publisher in the video games space with a strong base of "must-own" titles. However, we have increasing concerns about FY21 and the lack of visibility into the company's content pipeline which has caused us to take a less constructive stance toward Take-Two shares. More specifically: (1) with FY21 likely shaping up as a transition year because of the new console cycle and Take-Two seemingly being set up for a "below-average" volume of new releases, we believe consensus estimates are too high; and (2) the game development pipeline is expanding but visibility into the timing for these titles remains in question." Oppenheimer initiated Madison Square Garden as 'outperform' Oppenheimer said the owner of the Knicks and Rangers was an interesting investment opportunity. "With the impending spin-off of MSG Entertainment, we believe Madison Square Garden Company represents an interesting investment opportunity. MSG Sports holds two of the nation's most recognizable sports franchises (the Knicks and Rangers) and will be one of the only pure-play ways for public investors to own a set of American sports franchises." Oppenheimer upgraded Generac to 'outperform' from 'perform' Oppenheimer upgraded Generac and said it expects solid revenue growth for the maker of power generators. "Long-term organic investment into the home standby category (product, channel development, iPad-based dealer selling tool, marketing), with improving dealer sophistication and more mainstream awareness, has clearly decoupled core home standby from reliance on major outage events. ... GNRC's combined solutions will allow homeowners to alternate stored energy, live solar, and grid draw, and interface with utilities' rate structures. Credit Suisse initiated PayPal as 'outperform' Credit Suisse said in its initiation of the stock that it sees the company gaining "massive" share in the fastest growing areas of payments. "Our bullish outlook on PayPal is rooted in our expectations for continued share gains within a massive total addressable market composed of many of the fastest growing areas of payments. ... We constructed a detailed total addressable market model inclusive of global eCommerce, online travel, eFood delivery, eTicketing, online charitable donations, ride-sharing, crowdfunding, mobile gaming, and streaming subscriptions, which provides us confidence in the persistence of growth (often underappreciated in payments) and annual compounding." Credit Suisse initiated Square as 'outperform' Credit Suisse said the stock has an attractive set up for 2020. The intersection of software & payments is a powerful one, particularly when combined with best-in-class product innovation (i.e., 50%+ adjusted revenue via products launched in the past five years). It is this ability to launch and quickly scale new offerings that leads to Street estimates consistently being too low, almost by definition. Further, after a transition year in 2019 (sentiment reset vs. euphoric levels of 2017-2018), we believe Square has an attractive set up for 2020 with its initial guide out of the way, $75mm in marketing investment in the cost base, two recent pricing actions, and a March analyst day (first since 2017) to bridge the gap until we begin to see benefits from re-investment. Loop Capital downgraded Intel to 'sell' from 'hold' Loop downgraded the stock after the company's earnings report and said it sees growing challenges through 2020. "After a strong end of F2020 and an equally positive 1Q outlook, we are downgrading our rating on Intel's shares to a Sell from a Hold, but are increasing our target price moderately from $50 to $59, which is driven by higher estimate revisions. Intel unarguably finished 2019 with a solid performance, topping revenue of $20B in the quarter for the first time. Additionally, the company's 1Q guidance is for sales to be better than normal seasonally, with a 6% sequential decline in 1Q and an anticipated 18% annual growth." Read more about this call here . Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Disney to $170 from $160 Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Disney and said it sees the company's brands continuing to resonate in 2020. "The popularity of Disney intellectual property combined with the global consumer shift to streaming, we estimate, is leading to Disney Plus scaling more quickly than previously expected. While expectations for F1Q ending paid subs may already be robust, that does not change the long-term conclusion that early traction suggests Disney's strategy is working, the product resonating, and the popularity of its IP unmatched across Entertainment."

Sundar Pichai, Alphabet CEO

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday:

KeyBanc raised its price target on Alphabet to $1,769 from $1,546

KeyBanc raised its price target on Alphabet to a Street high and said the company's growth prospects remain excellent.

"We believe this is justified by our view of improving margin and FCF outlooks, growth prospects that remain excellent, and overall multiple expansion in the market. Even at these new higher target multiples, we believe the high quality of the underlying businesses and profit growth potential would make FB and GOOGL attractive."

Rosenblatt raised its price target on Apple to $250 from $150

Rosenblatt raised its price target on Apple but kept its sell rating on the stock and said expectations for the 5G cycle were too high.

"Expectations for the 5G upgrade cycle in 2020 being too high. We believe the higher prices for 5G smartphones and 5G services will slow the upgrade cycle. New services, such as music, news, streaming, TV, being regional services compared to global services. We are waiting to see if there are 5G applications that will drive mobile platforms to generate more content or service revenue for smartphone original equipment manufacturers."