Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Micron, Walmart, Best Buy, Deere & more

Published Thu, Aug 13 20208:13 AM EDT

Key Points

Oppenheimer upgraded Estee Lauder to outperform from perform.
Citi raised its price target on FedEx to $235 from $170.
Deutsche Bank downgrade Micron to hold from buy.
JPMorgan reinstated Ceasars as overweight.
JPMorgan downgraded Deere to underweight from neutral.
Deutsche Bank downgraded BJ's to hold from buy.
Goldman Sachs initiated Penn National Gaming as buy.
Stephens raised its price target on Walmart to $160 from $140.
Piper Sandler raised its price target on Best Buy to $127 from $112.

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.) Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Oppenheimer upgraded Estee Lauder to outperform from perform Oppenheimer said in its downgrade of the stock that it sees "rapid" recovery primarily driven by the Chinese consumer among other things. "Based on our work, we are upgrading EL shares to Outperform and again establishing the name as a top pick. We see a more rapid profit recovery than previously envisioned driven by the Chinese consumer, a resilient skincare category, and accelerated online growth. EL and CHD again rank equally as our top consumer staples picks." Deutsche Bank downgrade Micron to hold from buy Deutsche downgraded the computer memory and data storage company and said its checks on Micron show supply-demand issues for the memory sector over the "next several quarters." "Following WDC's lackluster guidance on August 5th, we did extensive checks with the supply chain and came away more negative on the supply-demand balance for the memory sector over the next several quarters. Inventory accumulation at cloud data center customers appears more acute than we originally anticipated, while demand from other end markets, including enterprise, mobile and PCs are all weakening." Citi raised its price target on FedEx to $235 from $170 Citi raised its price target on the stock to a Street high and said it sees a "more powerful than expected" fundamental backdrop and that the company could play a role in the delivery of the coronavirus vaccine. "As we highlighted back in June, we believe the fundamental landscape is turning positive for FedEx, but what we didn't predict then was that the stars were beginning to align for what could be a more powerful than expected fundamental backdrop. Currently, we see an ecommerce volume surge, nascent price improvement, new industry leadership and the optionality of an urgent vaccine trade all coming together to provide a potentially sharp positive tailwind for FedEx and UPS." JPMorgan reinstated Ceasars as overweight JPMorgan reinstated coverage of the gaming company and said it liked the stock due to the "attractive" growth potential of the U.S. gaming market among other things. "We view CZR as a high-risk, high-reward stock (35% upside) for investors seeking exposure to (1) the recovery of the US regional gaming market which has a permanently lower operating expense structure that should yield higher than historical margins, and (2) the attractive growth potential of the US sports betting/iGaming industry, a segment that likely will be broken out/separated from land-based casinos sooner rather than later—a potential catalyst for valuation multiple expansion and an opportunity we believe is worth $17 per share, or ~46% of the current share price." JPMorgan downgraded Deere to underweight from neutral JPMorgan said in its downgrade of the stock that it sees "limited growth" and stretched valuation among other things. "We are downgrading DE from Neutral to Underweight; current valuation looks a stretch, in our view, with limited growth potential in NA ag in FY'21+ vs. other end markets harder hit by COVID-19 this year. That said, we expect DE management to report strong FQ3 results next week." Deutsche Bank downgraded BJ's to hold from buy Deutsche said in its downgrade of the stock that its checks show a "notable deceleration in trends" in recent weeks. "We downgraded shares of BJ 's Wholesale to Hold from Buy with strong 1H20 results priced in and the stock likely range-bound as investors focus on the pace of deceleration over the coming months. Year-to-date, BJ is one of the best performing stocks in our coverage universe up 83%, meaningfully outperforming essential retail peers and the S & P 500. We credit management for strong execution throughout the pandemic and have raised our SSS and EPS estimates for 2Q, accordingly, that said, our channel checks suggest notable deceleration in trends over recent weeks." Goldman Sachs initiated Penn National Gaming as buy Goldman said in its initiation of the gaming company that it sees "upside" to consensus and that it believes Penn can "quickly take share" in the firm's iGaming and sports betting models. " PENN sits at the cross-section of a rapidly rebounding regional casino space and inflecting growth in sports betting. ... .Moreover, we believe Barstool Sports' embedded customer base and content creation engine will drive one of the lowest customer acquisition costs in the sports betting industry, allowing PENN to quickly take share within our proprietary iGaming and Sports Betting models." Read more about this call here . Stephens raised its price target on Walmart to $160 from $140 Stephens raised its price target on the stock to a Street high and said it expects the company's valuation to change as ecommerce continues to scale but thinks the company should see more "solid growth" going forward. "Ecommerce Has Clearly Accelerated, COVID Offers Glimpse Into The Future & WMT Well Positioned To Drive Solid Growth. ... .COVID also drove a clear acceleration in ecommerce revenue growth, with 1Q21 WMT U.S. ecommerce revenue growth of 74%. ... .As the ecommerce business continues to scale, we think the valuation discussion on Walmart is likely to change as well." Piper Sandler raised its price target on Best Buy to $127 from $112 Piper Sandler raised its price target on the stock to a Street high and said it sees many catalysts which could propel shares higher including the 5G iphone among other things. "We reiterate our OW rating and are raising our PT to $127 as we see both near- and long-term positive catalysts for BBY fundamentals. Near-term, we see likelihood of a very strong Q3/Q4 as (1) Back to School spending on consumer electronics has potential to be strong, (2) Home theater (TV) cycle this Fall looks very likely, and (3) New product cycles w/ the 5G iPhone and new video game consoles in early Q4 can be significant sales drivers (continuing into 2021)."

Stephen Nellis | Reuters

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.)

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday:

Oppenheimer upgraded Estee Lauder to outperform from perform

Oppenheimer said in its downgrade of the stock that it sees "rapid" recovery primarily driven by the Chinese consumer among other things.

"Based on our work, we are upgrading EL shares to Outperform and again establishing the name as a top pick. We see a more rapid profit recovery than previously envisioned driven by the Chinese consumer, a resilient skincare category, and accelerated online growth. EL and CHD again rank equally as our top consumer staples picks."

Deutsche Bank downgrade Micron to hold from buy

Deutsche downgraded the computer memory and data storage company and said its checks on Micron show supply-demand issues for the memory sector over the "next several quarters."

"Following WDC's lackluster guidance on August 5th, we did extensive checks with the supply chain and came away more negative on the supply-demand balance for the memory sector over the next several quarters. Inventory accumulation at cloud data center customers appears more acute than we originally anticipated, while demand from other end markets, including enterprise, mobile and PCs are all weakening."