Analysts just upgraded a ton of stocks in the wake of the market plunge. Here are the details

Published Mon, Mar 2 20209:27 AM ESTUpdated Mon, Mar 2 20201:39 PM EST

Key Points

Oppenheimer upgraded Apple to outperform from perform.
JPMorgan upgraded General Electric to neutral from underweight.
Cowen upgraded Verizon to outperform from market perform.
Baird upgraded Western Digital to outperform from underperform.
Stifel upgraded Western Digital to buy from hold.
Piper Sandler upgraded JPMorgan to overweight from neutral.
Guggenheim initiated Casper Sleep as buy.
Stephens named Activision Blizzard as a top pick.
Argus upgraded American Express to buy from hold.
UBS downgraded SmileDirectClub to neutral from buy.
Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines to outperform from in line.
Evercore ISI upgraded Twitter to in line from underperform.

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.) The ongoing fear and market uncertainty is not stopping several Wall Street analysts from stepping in and picking a bottom in their stocks for clients. Analysts upgraded a slew of stocks on Monday morning including Western Digital, JPMorgan, American Express, Southwest Airlines and others. Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Monday: Oppenheimer upgraded Apple to 'outperform' from 'perform' Oppenheimer said in its upgrade of the stock that clients should buy the weakness and called the company a "recurring revenue machine." " Apple has mastered the art to turn technology into deeply personal and indispensable everyday objects from phones to Watch to AirPods. We believe Apple products and services will prove more resilient than competitive products in uncertain times. Additionally, Apple's strong balance sheet offers the company tremendous flexibility to keep the supply chain nimble as well as continuing to support its capital return plan. Given the late stage smartphone adoption and Apple's stronger resistance to competition, we expect temporary shifts of iPhone shipment between product cycles to have an immaterial impact on the stock." Read more about this call here . JPMorgan upgraded General Electric to 'neutral' from 'underweight' JPMogran upgraded the stock and admitted that its previous call was "wrong" saying that free cash flow was higher than the firm expected. "We are upgrading GE as the spread between our FCF estimate and consensus is narrower after a better than expected '19, helped by less de-risking at GECS than we had thought around which it would take a recession to influence, not our base case. The floor on FCF is higher than we expected, mostly timing, but we also see a ceiling set by simple EBIT, which missed, and where the trend is less positive. Lastly is variable risk, with every ~10% market move and 25 bps move down in rates adding > $10 B to net liabilities. We raise our PT to $8 with our estimates, and we upgrade to Neutral." Read more about this call here . Cowen upgraded Verizon to 'outperform' from 'market perform' Cowen upgraded the telecommunications conglomerate and said it was a "defensive" stock with many 2021 "catalysts." "We are upgrading VZ to Outperform and maintaining our $61 PT as we look to take advantage of the recent sell-off with the stock now trading at a dividend spread (vs. the 10-yr rate) not seen in 7+ years. We see low EPS risk considering its U.S.-centric utility-like wireless business and a well-covered dividend currently yielding 4.5% with outer year catalysts tied to "true" 5G and building FCF." Baird upgraded Western Digital to 'outperform' from 'underperform' Baird upgraded the computer hard disk drive manufacturer and data storage company and said it expected memory pricing to remain "resilient" throughout the year. "DRAM/NAND flash pricing positive outlooks remain unchanged despite current demand weakness in China, as supply chain is holding onto inventories in the face of supply disruptions and PCB DRAM module shortages. We expect memory pricing to remain very resilient throughout this year. Server demand remains strong. ... Western Digital should also benefit from improved mix in HDDs and continued strength in data centers." Stifel upgraded Western Digital to 'buy' from 'hold' Stifel said in its upgrade of the stock that it sees an "attractive" entry point. "With the recent market sell-off due to the concerns related to the coronavirus situation, we are upgrading shares of WDC and increasing our target price to $73 (from $63), which reflects 10x our FY21 (June) pro-forma EPS of $7.30. While we clearly acknowledge that the current coronavirus situation could impact near-term estimates (which we have adjusted accordingly), we believe our fundamental outlook for 2020 remains intact." Piper Sandler upgraded JPMorgan to 'overweight' from 'neutral' Piper upgraded the stock after last week's sell-off and said it sees an "increasingly attractive" valuation. "If the macro-environment proves to be more resilient, we would still expect relative outperformance given JPM's leverage to businesses that would benefit (e.g. investment banking) and market share gain potential from market leadership and scale across businesses. Upgrading JPM from Neutral to Overweight. After last week's sell-off we find JPM's valuation increasingly attractive with shares trading at 1.9X TBV versus an 18%+ ROTCE, 10.8x our 2020 EPS estimate and offering a 3%+ dividend yield. Our EPS estimates and 12-month price target remain unchanged." Guggenheim initiated Casper Sleep as 'buy' Guggenheim upgraded the e-commerce sleep products company and said it saw an "attractive" risk/reward. " Casper has yet to report a single quarterly result as a public company but is perhaps the biggest 'show me' story in U.S. retail already. Over the past decade, consumer investors have shunned stories hinging on brick-and-mortar success, with little e-commerce prospects; over the past 12 months, investors of all types have rejected money-losers, however young and disruptive. ... We believe the risk/reward is quite attractive at these levels, with ample negativity priced in, and initiate coverage with a BUY rating and $15 PT." Stephens named Activision Blizzard as a 'top pick' Stephens named the company as a top pick and said it saw an "attractive" buying opportunity. "We are changing our 2020 Best Idea to Activision (from Zynga). With Activision shares off 10% from their recent high of $64.53, we believe this is an attractive buying opportunity ahead of the rumored Call of Duty Warzone (battle royale mode), potentially launching in the next week." Argus upgraded American Express to 'buy' from 'hold' Argus upgraded the financial services company and said it sees a more favorable entry point after recent weakness in the stock. "We acknowledge that 1Q EPS is likely to be weaker than the current consensus, and are lowering our estimate by 7%. We are also lowering our full-year estimate to $8.85 from $8.98, at the low end of the company's recently issued guidance range of $8.85-$9.25. We look for growth in spending volumes to resume in subsequent quarters as coronavirus concerns dissipate, along with continued jobs and wage growth, the ongoing secular tailwind of cash payments to digital, and AXP -specific growth efforts. In addition, we note that, unlike most banks, American Express is liability-sensitive and thus benefits from lower interest rates and borrowing costs." UBS downgraded SmileDirectClub to 'neutral' from 'buy' UBS downgraded the teledentistry company on a more "balanced" risk/reward. "We are downgrading SDC from Buy to Neutral, as we believe the company needs to show that it can sell its clear aligner products in a model that can generate profits and cash flow for the company and shareholders. We believe SDC has the scale, brand awareness and desire to become a dominant clear aligner manufacturer in the US. However, until we see an economic model that works, we believe the risk reward is balanced given incremental sales growth only puts strain on the balance sheet at this point in the company's development." Evercore ISI upgraded Southwest Airlines to 'outperform' from 'in line' Evercore upgraded Southwest Airlines and said the company had "domestic staying power" after what the firm called a "vicious" sell-off in airlines. "The vicious sell-off in Airlines accelerated last week as the novel flu spread regionally. Safe havens across Airlines and other cyclical sectors sold off just as hard/ even harder than higher risk names suggesting gross exposure reduction. Tough headlines likely to continue in the near-term but we offer some thoughts on the game plan ahead: capacity cuts, balance sheets + margins framework." Evercore ISI upgraded Twitter to 'in line' from 'underperform' Evercore upgraded the stock and said it sees a more balanced risk/reward. On Friday CNBC reported that Elliott Management founder Paul Singer was looking to replace CEO Jack Dorsey. "Conviction in our short thesis is diminished, as Elliot's involvement will likely focus investors' attention on Twitter 's potential strategic value, and the risk/reward is more balanced following last week's dramatic market selloff."

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., July 10, 2019.

Brendan McDermid | REUTERS

(This story is for subscribers only.)

The ongoing fear and market uncertainty is not stopping several Wall Street analysts from stepping in and picking a bottom in their stocks for clients. Analysts upgraded a slew of stocks on Monday morning including Western Digital, JPMorgan, American Express, Southwest Airlines and others.

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Monday:

Oppenheimer upgraded Apple to 'outperform' from 'perform'

Oppenheimer said in its upgrade of the stock that clients should buy the weakness and called the company a "recurring revenue machine."

"Apple has mastered the art to turn technology into deeply personal and indispensable everyday objects from phones to Watch to AirPods. We believe Apple products and services will prove more resilient than competitive products in uncertain times. Additionally, Apple's strong balance sheet offers the company tremendous flexibility to keep the supply chain nimble as well as continuing to support its capital return plan. Given the late stage smartphone adoption and Apple's stronger resistance to competition, we expect temporary shifts of iPhone shipment between product cycles to have an immaterial impact on the stock."

JPMorgan upgraded General Electric to 'neutral' from 'underweight'

JPMogran upgraded the stock and admitted that its previous call was "wrong" saying that free cash flow was higher than the firm expected.

"We are upgrading GE as the spread between our FCF estimate and consensus is narrower after a better than expected '19, helped by less de-risking at GECS than we had thought around which it would take a recession to influence, not our base case. The floor on FCF is higher than we expected, mostly timing, but we also see a ceiling set by simple EBIT, which missed, and where the trend is less positive. Lastly is variable risk, with every ~10% market move and 25 bps move down in rates adding >$10 B to net liabilities. We raise our PT to $8 with our estimates, and we upgrade to Neutral."