Analysts continue to upgrade stocks on market rebound, including Intel, Micron, Goldman Sachs & more

Published Thu, Mar 26 202011:07 AM EDT

Key Points

Bank of America upgraded Micron to buy from underperform.
Berenberg upgraded Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo to hold from sell.
Bernstein upgraded Intel to market perform from underperform.
Goldman Sachs downgraded Beyond Meat to sell from neutral.
Atlantic Equities initiated Walmart as overweight.
KeyBanc initiated DuPont as overweight.
Argus upgraded Procter & Gamble to buy from hold.

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.) Wall Street analysts upgraded a bunch of stocks on Thursday as the market continued its rally for the third straight day. The upgraded stocks include Goldman Sachs , Intel , Procter & Gamble and more. Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Bank of America upgraded Micron to 'buy' from 'underperform' Bank of America double upgraded the stock after its strong earnings report and said it sees new growth opportunities for Micron after the coronavirus crisis passes. "The post-COVID-19 earnings turnaround could be much stronger than our estimate/consensus if 1H missing 5G phone demand could occur in 4Q20. We tentatively assume the COVID-19 situation will start improving from mid to late April vs already well controlled in China/Korea. Berenberg upgraded Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo to 'hold' from 'sell' Berenberg upgraded Goldman and Wells Fargo and said it sees "little absolute downside." "However, with many economies are in lockdown, we expect revenues to fall as rates remain lower for longer and demand for credit and fee-based products declines. Commensurate with the material reduction in our EPS expectations, we have reduced our price targets across our coverage, on average by 33%. In most instances, this reflects both lower expectations for earnings as well as a higher assumed cost of equity. Despite these material reductions, our ratings remain largely unchanged. In particular, we upgrade our ratings for Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo to Hold (from Sell)." Bernstein upgraded Intel to 'market perform' from 'underperform' Bernstein said it thinks Intel will "hold up better relative to peers" during the market turmoil and coronavirus crisis. "We have been negative on Intel's structural trajectory, noting manufacturing issues, potential for share losses, and margin compression. But while these concerns still exist, in the wake of COVID-19 they may not be the most important issues to focus on at the moment. And in the forthcoming storm we can see potential for Intel to hold up better relative to peers given a solid balance sheet, optically inexpensive valuation, possibility of near-term demand support (especially in notebook and cloud spending) and numbers that already incorporate a negative scenario into the 2H." Goldman Sachs downgraded Beyond Meat to 'sell' from 'neutral' Goldman Sachs downgraded the alternative meat company and said it's one of the "most directly impacted' by the coronavirus crisis. "Across our coverage, BYND represents one of the stocks that is most directly impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, with over half of its sales into the foodservice (primarily QSR) channel. Not only do we see traffic declines representing a substantial near-term sales headwind (with a pickup in retail as a partial offset), but we also see meaningful risk to further foodservice distribution gains in the near-to-medium term, with plant-based menu innovation a substantially lower priority for operators in the current environment, in our view." Atlantic Equities initiated Walmart as 'overweight' Atlantic Equities said Walmart was one of the "few retailers" to have "scale, growth and a solid balance sheet." "We see Walmar t as a core holding within portfolios, due to its dominant positioning with the US consumer and a strategy that has proven the company can be quick and innovative in the face of changing consumer behaviour. Walmart acts defensively through times of disruption and recessions, which is especially relevant at present. We expect the company to continue growing its store and online sales, which will lead to expanding operating margins over the next few years." KeyBanc initiated DuPont as 'overweight' KeyBanc said DuPont was a defensive and high-quality franchise. "Our positive call on DD is based on a less challenged near-term outlook relative to more cyclical chemical names in the short term. DD is facing a drop in demand related to the coronavirus's effect, compounded by FX pressure. We believe that the shares are currently priced at an unreasonably large discount relative to more cyclical commodity names, industrial conglomerates (ITW, HON), and specialty and ag peers." Argus upgraded Procter & Gamble to 'buy' from 'hold' Argus called Procter & Gamble a high-quality and financially strong name. "In this turbulent environment, Argus is recommending that investors dollar-average into existing long-term positions in the highest quality stocks. Investors may also consider initiating new positions at discounted prices, while being aware of the risks of future volatility in individual positions. Historically, periods of severe stock-market turbulence have proven to be good times for investors with a longer-term time horizon to focus on the highest-quality and financially strongest names.

A customer pays for her groceries after shopping at a Walmart store ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in Chicago.

Kamil Krzaczynski | Reuters

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.)

Wall Street analysts upgraded a bunch of stocks on Thursday as the market continued its rally for the third straight day. The upgraded stocks include Goldman Sachs, Intel, Procter & Gamble and more.

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday:

Bank of America upgraded Micron to 'buy' from 'underperform'

Bank of America double upgraded the stock after its strong earnings report and said it sees new growth opportunities for Micron after the coronavirus crisis passes.

"The post-COVID-19 earnings turnaround could be much stronger than our estimate/consensus if 1H missing 5G phone demand could occur in 4Q20. We tentatively assume the COVID-19 situation will start improving from mid to late April vs already well controlled in China/Korea.

Berenberg upgraded Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo to 'hold' from 'sell'

Berenberg upgraded Goldman and Wells Fargo and said it sees "little absolute downside."

"However, with many economies are in lockdown, we expect revenues to fall as rates remain lower for longer and demand for credit and fee-based products declines. Commensurate with the material reduction in our EPS expectations, we have reduced our price targets across our coverage, on average by 33%. In most instances, this reflects both lower expectations for earnings as well as a higher assumed cost of equity. Despite these material reductions, our ratings remain largely unchanged. In particular, we upgrade our ratings for Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo to Hold (from Sell)."