Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls of the day: VMware, Micron, Pfizer & more

Published Thu, Feb 6 20208:38 AM EST

Key Points

Bernstein upgraded VMware to outperform from market perform.
Raymond James upgraded Micron to strong buy from market perform.
Mizuho initiated AbbVie & Pfizer as buy.
Bank of America downgraded Funko to underperform from buy.

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.) Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Bernstein upgraded VMware to 'outperform' from 'market perform' Bernstein upgraded the cloud infrastructure & digital workspace technology company and said it expects earnings to "outperform." " VMware has been a controversial stock as investors have had concerns over the Dell overhang and if/ when Server Virtualization business could decline. To understand the upside /downside, we have broken down each of VMware's businesses and their growth potential which has led us to increase our revenue and earnings expectations above consensus. While we continue to have long-term concerns, we believe that the downside risks are baked into VMware's stock price while the upside opportunities are not and therefore, we expect VMware earnings to outperform expectations." Raymond James upgraded Micron to 'strong buy' from 'market perform' Raymond James upgraded the computer memory and data storage company and said it sees supply/demand conditions "improving." "We are upgrading Micron to Strong Buy from Market Perform and initiating a $70 price target. Our more bullish view is no longer unique, as sentiment has improved sharply due to recent price increases. Those price increases, occurring in the seasonally weakest part of the year, indeed surprised us. Nonetheless, our analysis of conditions looking forward concludes that supply/demand conditions are highly likely to improve further as the year progresses. Memory capex has been in sharp decline for three quarters, which will keep a lid on 2H capacity." Mizuho initiated AbbVie & Pfizer as 'buy' Mizuho initiated coverage of AbbVie and Pfizer and said the the biopharmaceutical sector would deliver "real" and "remarkable" innovation. "Overall, we are bullish on the biopharma sector mainly because of the remarkable innovation we are seeing, including in areas such as neuroscience where innovation has historically been tougher to come by. In addition, while companies certainly need to deliver real innovation to have products supported by payers, we do not expect any fundamental change in the foreseeable future as to how drugs are priced in the US despite the ongoing headline risk around this issue. We also continue to see as a fairly robust environment for financings and M & A in biopharma, leading us to believe there are opportunities for investors to generate significant alpha." Bank of America downgraded Funko to 'underperform' from 'buy' Bank of America downgraded the manufacturer of licensed pop culture collectibles and said it saw momentum slower on sales of merchandise from Frozen 2 and Star Wars Episode 9. "While we believe certain 2020 properties from Disney+ (Mandalorian) and a more significant opportunity to monetize Pokemon are encouraging, we believe FNKO will be heavily reliant on evergreen properties through 2020. We also see risk as FNKO laps distribution expansion at WMT & FL and given that the U.S. is becoming a mature market which may not be fully offset by strong momentum in certain international markets."

A booth of Micron Technology at an industrial fair in Frankfurt, Germany.

Kai Pfaffenbach | Reuters

(This story is for subscribers only.)

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday:

Bernstein upgraded VMware to 'outperform' from 'market perform'

Bernstein upgraded the cloud infrastructure & digital workspace technology company and said it expects earnings to "outperform."

"VMware has been a controversial stock as investors have had concerns over the Dell overhang and if/ when Server Virtualization business could decline. To understand the upside /downside, we have broken down each of VMware's businesses and their growth potential which has led us to increase our revenue and earnings expectations above consensus. While we continue to have long-term concerns, we believe that the downside risks are baked into VMware's stock price while the upside opportunities are not and therefore, we expect VMware earnings to outperform expectations."

Raymond James upgraded Micron to 'strong buy' from 'market perform'

Raymond James upgraded the computer memory and data storage company and said it sees supply/demand conditions "improving."

"We are upgrading Micron to Strong Buy from Market Perform and initiating a $70 price target. Our more bullish view is no longer unique, as sentiment has improved sharply due to recent price increases. Those price increases, occurring in the seasonally weakest part of the year, indeed surprised us. Nonetheless, our analysis of conditions looking forward concludes that supply/demand conditions are highly likely to improve further as the year progresses. Memory capex has been in sharp decline for three quarters, which will keep a lid on 2H capacity."