Wall Street analysts see buying opportunities amid more market volatility in Thursday's analyst calls: Dollar Tree, PayPal, PNC & more

Published Thu, Mar 19 202010:31 AM EDT

Key Points

Morgan Stanley upgraded Tesla to equal weight from underweight.
Bank of America downgraded Beyond Meat to underperform from neutral.
Credit Suisse downgraded Clorox to neutral from overweight.
Wells Fargo upgraded PNC to overweight from equal weight.
Macquarie initiated PayPal as buy.
Deutsche Bank initiated a catalyst call buy idea on Dollar Tree.
Citi upgraded Blackstone to buy from neutral and added a 90-day positive catalyst watch.
Bank of America downgraded Tilray to underperform from neutral.
JPMorgan downgraded Estee Lauder to underweight from overweight.
Credit Suisse named Diamondback Energy a top pick.
Loop Capital upgraded Roku to hold from sell.

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.) With Wall Street in the midst of one of its worst months since 1987, analysts say there are still plenty of buying opportunities to bolster your portfolio. In Thursday's calls of the day, companies getting upgrades include PNC, Blackstone, and Tesla. Also, Macquarie has initiated coverage of PayPal as a buy. Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Morgan Stanley upgraded Tesla to 'equal weight' from 'underweight' Morgan Stanley said in its upgrade of Tesla that it believes the company has enough cash and liquidity available to get through any near-term disruption related to the coronavirus. "We reset our FY20 deliveries to 420k to include our estimate of 1 month of lost production at Fremont. We believe Tesla has sufficient liquidity and access to capital during this time. The stock now trades below our revised $460 target and a more balanced risk-reward drives the move to Equal-weight." Deutsche Bank initiated a 'catalyst call buy idea' on Dollar Tree Deutsche Bank initiated a catalyst call buy idea on the stock and said Dollar Tree would be one of the few companies to hit its "original 2020 earnings per share plan." "We believe both of the company's banners ( Dollar Tree and Family Dollar) are experiencing elevated sales volumes this quarter, driven by demand for cleaning supplies, food, and household essentials. In addition, we think both businesses will benefit on an ongoing basis as consumers continue to shop at convenient locations and focus on basics during what could be a muted spending environment. Lastly, margin headwinds including tariffs, freight, category mix, and wages should subside after 1Q, leading to solid operating income growth into 2H20." Wells Fargo upgraded PNC to 'overweight' from 'equal weight' Wells Fargo said the company was one of the "highest quality" banks in its coverage. "During a time of flight to quality, we upgrade PNC from Equal Weight to Overweight as one of the highest quality banks and which has earned the nickname, "Bank of Steel". We continue to layer in bank exposure with more recommendations in a bank stock sell-off that, to us, ignore today's much stronger balance sheets. Despite lowering ests for PNC (below), we still forecast book value growth at a time when its price-to-book ratio is below the avg. level from the financial crisis." Macquarie initiated PayPal as 'buy' Macquarie said in its initiation of the company that it its e-commerce checks showed PayPal with "improving traction" over Apple and Google Pay. "Initiate PYPL as a high-conviction e-comm powerhouse Outperform. When the virus dust settles, long-term growth potential will be back in fashion. Proprietary e-comm checkout survey shows PYPL improving traction more than Apple or Google Pay. Honey & Pay with Venmo expand appeal to millennials." Bank of America downgraded Beyond Meat to 'underperform' from 'neutral' Bank of America said in its downgrade of the stock that it saw "significant slowing" in the global food service sector. " BYND 's exposure to the foodservice category compares to ~20% average across our food and beverage coverage. In particular, we expect significant slowing in the global foodservice sector as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, which is significant to BYND as it attempts to increase consumer trial of its product." Citi upgraded Blackstone to 'buy' from 'neutral' and added a '90 day positive catalyst watch' Citi said in its upgrade of the private equity and asset management firm that it was a high quality name. "We upgrade BX to Buy from Neutral. With the stock down ~26% YTD and ~37% from its 52-week high, we again see solid value, even after deepening our haircuts used in our SOTP valuation work. While we see broadening upside across the Alts, we think dipping an incremental toe back into BX is measured way to "average back in" and consistent with our strategy of adding high quality/liquid names as dislocations arise." Bank of America downgraded Tilray to 'underperform' from 'neutral' Bank of America downgraded the stock due to a lack of visibility and called the cannabis company a "show-me" story. "We downgrade TLRY to Underperform from Neutral, and lower our PO to $2.00 from $16, now based on 1.5x our CY21E EV/sales (was 6x), after a significant move in shares following (1) a Q419 miss, and, more importantly, (2) a surprising, very dilutive equity raise occurring amidst stock market turbulence which, while a cash boost, was a significant confidence hit, in our view. Big picture: we do not envision a scenario in which shares command a premium vs peers near term." JPMorgan downgraded Estee Lauder to 'underweight' from 'overweight' JPMorgan double downgraded the stock due to the deteriorating macro economic outlook and the coronavirus pandemic. "We are downgrading Estee Lauder to Underweight from our prior Overweight rating, as the duration of international travel restrictions, widespread store closures, and the outlook for a global recession will negatively impact sales for longer than we had anticipated. Adding to these concerns, yesterday after the market close, management withdrew its prior FY20 guidance citing that recent COVID-19-related store closures in North America and Europe are creating additional headwinds for the broader business." Credit Suisse named Diamondback Energy a 'top pick' Credit Suisse said the hydrocarbon exploration company was well-positioned to weather today's low oil price environment. "Recognizing sub-$40 oil does not work for any major producers in the long-term (including Russia and Saudi Arabia), we believe investors should be screening for E & Ps with low-leverage, no significant near-term maturities, and those low on the cost curve capable of funding maintenance capex and the dividend at $40-45 WTI. FANG screens relatively well on all these measures even under today's depressed futures strip prices." Loop Capital upgraded Roku to 'hold' from 'sell' Loop upgraded the stock mainly on valuation. "We are raising our rating on Roku to Hold from Sell as the shares have dropped in half in this risk-off market and now match our price target. Overall, we assume Roku's platform revenue will be less impacted by the coronavirus than most media companies. Nonetheless, we are also lowering our platform revenue estimates for the company based on channel checks and the view that advertising will decline due to the sudden stop of the economy."

Pedestrians walk past a Dollar Tree Inc. store in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.

Sean Proctor | Bloomberg | Getty Images

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.)

With Wall Street in the midst of one of its worst months since 1987, analysts say there are still plenty of buying opportunities to bolster your portfolio.

In Thursday's calls of the day, companies getting upgrades include PNC, Blackstone, and Tesla. Also, Macquarie has initiated coverage of PayPal as a buy.

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday:

Morgan Stanley upgraded Tesla to 'equal weight' from 'underweight'

Morgan Stanley said in its upgrade of Tesla that it believes the company has enough cash and liquidity available to get through any near-term disruption related to the coronavirus.

"We reset our FY20 deliveries to 420k to include our estimate of 1 month of lost production at Fremont. We believe Tesla has sufficient liquidity and access to capital during this time. The stock now trades below our revised $460 target and a more balanced risk-reward drives the move to Equal-weight."

Deutsche Bank initiated a 'catalyst call buy idea' on Dollar Tree

Deutsche Bank initiated a catalyst call buy idea on the stock and said Dollar Tree would be one of the few companies to hit its "original 2020 earnings per share plan."

"We believe both of the company's banners (Dollar Tree and Family Dollar) are experiencing elevated sales volumes this quarter, driven by demand for cleaning supplies, food, and household essentials. In addition, we think both businesses will benefit on an ongoing basis as consumers continue to shop at convenient locations and focus on basics during what could be a muted spending environment. Lastly, margin headwinds including tariffs, freight, category mix, and wages should subside after 1Q, leading to solid operating income growth into 2H20."