Analysts upgraded a slew of stocks in Friday's calls of the day as investors hope for signs of a market turnaround

Published Fri, Mar 20 20209:58 AM EDT

Key Points

Wells Fargo upgraded Uber to overweight from equal weight.
JPMorgan upgraded Oracle to overweight from neutral.
Bank of America upgraded Nike to buy from neutral.
Piper Sandler upgraded Gilead to overweight from neutral.
JPMorgan upgraded Tyson Foods to overweight from neutral.
Citi upgraded Lululemon, Ulta, and Ross to buy from neutral.
KeyBanc upgraded Dollar Tree to overweight from sector weight.
Deutsche Bank upgraded UnitedHealthcare to buy from hold.
Bank of America upgraded Cardinal Health to buy from underperform.
Wells Fargo upgraded Snap to overweight from equal weight.
Guggenheim upgraded Pepsi, Monster, Constellation Brands, and Molson Coors to buy from neutral.
Mizuho upgraded Lam Research to buy from neutral.
Bank of America upgraded Colgate-Palmolive to buy from neutral.

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.) Markets are on track for their worst week since 2008, but Wall Street analysts are still finding plenty of buying opportunities for clients. Analysts upgraded a slew of stocks on Friday including Uber, Nike, Oracle and more. Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday: Wells Fargo upgraded Uber to 'overweight' from 'equal weight' Wells Fargo said in its upgrade that it sees shares of the company as attractively priced. "With prices down 45% since Feb 6th (vs. -28% for the S & P 500 Index) we think UBER shares are attractively priced, warranting an upgrade to Overweight from Equal Weight. We think Uber's value remains tied to growth trends that will play out long after coronavirus-driven disruptions have subsided: (1) smartphone penetration (forecast ~231MM US users base by 2028), and (2) riders should continue to shift spend from personal car ownership to ridesharing (we forecast Uber + Lyft at only 6%-8% of US Transportation PCE by 2028)." JPMorgan upgraded Oracle to 'overweight' from 'neutral' JPMorgan said in its upgrade of Oracle that the company has "resilience" across cycles that's "underappreciated." "However, in our view everything that screens so "wrong" with this stock in a bull market or economic expansion flips around if we apply the different lens that is required for the different type of environment we might be entering into. Key Considerations: 1) The current valuation of ~10x CY21 Earnings has fallen toward the very low end of the usual range of 9-19x. Historically ORCL shares have spent very little time trading at < 10x earnings, even during the depths of the Great Recession. A more normal, more reasonable level appears to be low/mid-teens. At the current valuation we believe the stock is pricing in an earnings decline driven by a license and hardware miss, the latter of which we think is very widely expected and quite likely in the current environment." Bank of America upgraded Nike to 'buy' from 'neutral' Bank of America said in its upgrade that Nike has superior sourcing capabilities in times of distress among other things. "We believe current global athletic momentum favors NKE in both footwear & apparel (led by Sportswear) & believe an overall challenging environment could enhance NKE's global market share momentum. We believe NKE remains the key brand that wholesale customers shift orders to in times of distress and should also benefit from its superior sourcing capabilities, with a vertically integrated supply chain and more consolidated supplier base (see Chart 8-9). NKE is expected to report F3Q (ends Feb) on Tuesday and ahead of that we have made significant cuts to NKE's revenue outlook, including our new forecast for a 46% sales decline in F4Q that assumes s $2BB yr/yr sales drop in N. America and a $1BB sales drop in EMEA and China, respectively." Piper Sandler upgraded Gilead to 'overweight' from 'neutral' Piper said in its upgrade of the biotech company that it has the capacity to treat "tens of thousands" of coronavirus patients and sees a "multi-billion global opportunity." "Many important takeaways from the call are highlighted below, but if the data are positive, there will be tremendous pressure to approve the COVID-19 drug within days. President Trump's comments yesterday stating that it is 'close to being approved' supports that notion. Gilead has capacity to treat tens of thousands of patients now and are ramping towards millions. Again, the company doesn't expect to profit off of the ongoing, tragic pandemic, but if COVID-19 does recur year after year as we fear, we believe it could be a multi-billion dollar global opportunity and are therefore increasing." JPMorgan upgraded Tyson Foods to 'overweight' from 'neutral' JPMorgan said in its upgrade of the meat company that it's seeing outstanding retail demand. "We are upgrading the shares of TSN and SAFM to Overweight from Neutral. Based on our conversations yesterday with chicken processors, we now believe that outstanding retail demand for meat is more than offsetting soft demand at foodservice. In addition, because meat is a perishable product (and given limited freezer space in homes), the reversal of today's pantry-loading benefits should be relatively muted. Lastly, for TSN alone, (1) industry beef packing margins have been excellent and (2) recent Nielsen data have been supportive for the relatively high-margin Prepared Foods segment." Citi upgraded Lululemon, Ulta and Ross to 'buy' from 'neutral' Citi said in its upgrade of Lululemon , Ulta , and Ross that the companies have "long term earnings power" to come out "even stronger on the other side" of the coronavirus crisis. "And at this point it seems COVID-19 will be the curveball that causes the next consumer downturn, which is likely to exacerbate many of the pressures already being felt by many retailers. However, this curveball has caused many retail stocks to reflect an extreme level of uncertainty very quickly. Since 2/20/20, the S & P 500 has declined 29%, while 37 out of the 44 companies we cover have declined by 30% or more (it's been ugly). Against that backdrop, we believe it is time to take some swings on companies where long term earnings power is intact that we believe are going to come out of this even stronger on the other side." KeyBanc upgrading Dollar Tree to 'overweight' from 'sector weight' KeyBanc upgraded the discount retailer and said it thinks the company can perform well in the current macro environment. "In short, our call is partially predicated on weekly Key First Look Data, our belief that DLTR can perform well in this environment for the next six+ months, and our concern that a turnaround at BBBY will be more difficult with a softer consumer outlook on the horizon. Deutsche Bank upgraded UnitedHealth to 'buy' from 'hold' Deutsche Bank said in its upgrade of the stock that it was a high quality company and low risk. "In short, we see the potential for mid-single digit negative EPS revisions to the large MCOs in the next 12 months in what we call the severe flu scenario. In our more extreme scenario of higher care delivery costs and sharply rising unemployment, we see negative EPS revisions that could reach into the mid to high teens for some names. Given the low level of company specific risk we see, high quality and broad diversification, we are taking this opportunity to upgrade UNH shares to Buy." Bank of America upgraded Cardinal Health to 'buy' from 'underperform' Bank of America said in its double upgrade of the stock that drug distributors are some of the best-positioned companies during the coronavirus crisis. "We are upgrading our rating on Cardinal Health from Underperform to Buy and increasing our PO from $57 to $58 on slightly higher estimates. The drug distributors as a whole are one of the subgroups we see as best positioned to manage through the COVID-19 outbreak, as the need for taking prescriptions should not change (nor did it really move during the most recent recession in 2008-2009)." Wells Fargo upgraded Snap to 'overweight' from 'equal weight' Wells Fargo said in its upgrade of Snap that the company had lower international exposure to coronavirus that could insulate it, relative to peers. "We don't expect SNAP to be immune from COVID-19 impacts on ad budgets-though SNAP's strong direct response momentum, limited SMB exposure and lower international exposure could insulate SNAP somewhat relative to peers-but believe the outsized move in SNAP shares in recent weeks (SNAP has significantly underperformed the SPX-down 51% since the beginning of the Wuhan lockdown on 1/23, vs. the SPX down 28% over the same timeframe) has created an attractive entry point for long-term holders. While we believe volatility in SNAP shares could well continue in the days and weeks ahead, we would continue to add on incremental weakness." Guggenheim upgraded Pepsi, Monster, Constellation Brands, and Molson Coors to 'buy' from 'neutral' Guggenheim upgraded several beverage maker stocks mainly on valuation. "We are updating our views on how the coronavirus will impact our food and beverage coverage with some new thoughts on 1) timing of the confinement period, 2) magnitude of on-premise pressures for beverages, 3) impacts on at-home consumption for food and beer, and 4) headwinds from a potential global recession. In addition, we assess the risk of companies with high debt burdens such as BUD, KHC, and STZ. We think the pandemic will benefit food in the short-term, but we generally expect beverage stocks to rebound faster when the market stabilizes and food becomes a source of funds. We are upgrading PEP , MNST, STZ , and TAP to BUY and upgrading KHC to NEUTRAL – all largely on valuation." Mizuho upgraded Lam Research to 'buy' from 'neutral' Mizuho upgraded the designer and manufacturer of semiconductor processing equipment and said it saw a "solid long-term growth story." " LRCX noted 2023E target revenues at $15B, while noting share gains with 2023 WFE share at 25% versus 20% in 2019. LRCX also noted 2023 operating margin should improve to ~32.5% driving a ~$30+ EPS (versus cons. F21E/22E EPS at ~$20/$22 respectively). Overall, we believe LRCX has a solid long-term growth story with investors returning to fundamentals once the valid COVID-19 concerns subside." Bank of America upgraded Colgate-Palmolive to 'buy' from 'neutral' Bank of America said in its upgrade that the staples company was defensive and should continue to hold up better during the coronavirus crisis. "With the COVID-19 related developments over the last three weeks, we update our forecasts, POs and ratings. We make the following ratings changes to take a more defensive stance: Colgate to Buy from Neutral, and WW to Underperform from Buy. In a recession, we think defensives like Consumer Staples should continue to hold up better than the market, and our setup reflects this, while our updated views also consider management execution, cash/leverage positions, supply chain footprint, demand dynamics, and FX/commodities exposure, amongst other factors.

Workers install a Nike logo lamp outside the Wukesong Arena in Beijing, August 28, 2019.

Tingshu Wang | Reuters

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.)

Markets are on track for their worst week since 2008, but Wall Street analysts are still finding plenty of buying opportunities for clients. Analysts upgraded a slew of stocks on Friday including Uber, Nike, Oracle and more.

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday:

Wells Fargo upgraded Uber to 'overweight' from 'equal weight'

Wells Fargo said in its upgrade that it sees shares of the company as attractively priced.

"With prices down 45% since Feb 6th (vs. -28% for the S&P 500 Index) we think UBER shares are attractively priced, warranting an upgrade to Overweight from Equal Weight. We think Uber's value remains tied to growth trends that will play out long after coronavirus-driven disruptions have subsided: (1) smartphone penetration (forecast ~231MM US users base by 2028), and (2) riders should continue to shift spend from personal car ownership to ridesharing (we forecast Uber + Lyft at only 6%-8% of US Transportation PCE by 2028)."

JPMorgan upgraded Oracle to 'overweight' from 'neutral'

JPMorgan said in its upgrade of Oracle that the company has "resilience" across cycles that's "underappreciated."

"However, in our view everything that screens so "wrong" with this stock in a bull market or economic expansion flips around if we apply the different lens that is required for the different type of environment we might be entering into. Key Considerations: 1) The current valuation of ~10x CY21 Earnings has fallen toward the very low end of the usual range of 9-19x. Historically ORCL shares have spent very little time trading at <10x earnings, even during the depths of the Great Recession. A more normal, more reasonable level appears to be low/mid-teens. At the current valuation we believe the stock is pricing in an earnings decline driven by a license and hardware miss, the latter of which we think is very widely expected and quite likely in the current environment."