Here are Monday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Apple, Pinterest, Lululemon, Best Buy & more

Published Mon, Aug 24 20208:12 AM EDTUpdated Mon, Aug 24 20208:45 AM EDT

Key Points

Needham initiated Sprout Social as buy.
Susquehanna raised its price target on Lululemon to $426 from $360.
Raymond James raised its price target on Best Buy to $135 from $100.
Citi downgraded Pinterest to neutral from buy.
Evercore ISI added Medtronic to its core ideas list.
Bank of America upgraded Deere to buy from neutral.
Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Apple to $520 from $431.
Susquehanna downgraded Churchill Downs to neutral from positive.

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.) Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Monday: Needham initiated Sprout Social as buy Needham said in its initiation of the social media management and optimization platform for brands that it sees an "attractive" entry point. " We see Sprout Social as an excellent way to invest in the explosive growth of the large, lightly penetrated, $25B+ TAM social media market. SPT offers a highly differentiated platform that serves the hot Customer Experience Management space, and benefits from favorable unit economics and strong secular growth. As such, we believe the stock, priced at an EV/revenue multiple of 10x our FY21 estimate, trades at an attractive entry point for growth investors." Susquehanna raised its price target on Lululemon to $426 from $360 Susquehanna raised its price target on the stock to a Street high after the company's acquistion of fitness start-up Mirror earlier this summer. The firm said the acquisition provides an "incremental revenue stream" that will grow "significantly." "Underlying momentum continues to build faster than most peers as headwinds from the crisis slowly abate. Further, MIRROR adds another piece to LULU 's already best-in-class customer engagement arsenal as well as another leg of growth. The acquisition provides an incremental revenue stream that will grow significantly over the next 3-5 years, in our view. Coupled with whitespace opportunities in geographies & categories for both the underlying business and MIRROR, we believe the stock will grow into its high valuation." Raymond James raised its price target on Best Buy to $135 from $100 Raymond James raised its price target on the stock to a Street high ahead of the company's earnings report on Tuesday and said the company is well-positioned in the coronavirus crisis. "We are raising our estimates ahead of F2Q21 earnings well above the consensus view. We believe Strong Buy rated BBY 's best-in-class fulfillment capabilities, high mix of essential items, and well positioned peer services/GreatCall initiatives should propel Best Buy to gain further market share during the COVID-19 induced retail shakeout. Further, we believe BBY has ample liquidity to more aggressively make investments in the near-term to drive future market share opportunities over the long-term." Citi downgraded Pinterest to neutral from buy Citi said in its downgrade of Pinterest that it was more "cautious" on social media and that valuations were not as "compelling." "During 2Q20, digital outperformed traditional ads. And, within digital, social media grew while many non-social ads (including search and display) contracted. We don't think there is anything magical about social media's ability to grow during this recession (direct response growth notwithstanding). Social media's ability to generate positive topline growth in 2Q20 stems from social media's faster rate of growth prior to the recession." Evercore ISI added Medtronic to its core ideas list Evercore ISI added the medical device company to its core ideas list and said the company's new management could act as a catalyst for the stock. "New CEO ushering in cultural change + enhancing research and development productivity: At times CEO changes can be a precursor for multiyear stock outperformance – within our coverage, we cite BSX & BAX as examples highlighting this. We think new CEO Geoff Martha could act as a similar catalyst for MDT shares – he is making sweeping changes in the organization, incentivizing sales force / key leaders to win in their categories." Bank of America upgraded Deere to buy from neutral Bank of America said in its upgrade of the stock that earnings "momentum" is cearly building after the company's "strong" third-quarter report. " Deere more than doubled FQ2 consensus, and raised its earnings and cash flow outlook fairly materially for FY20, leaving it on solid footing into FY21 LINK. The company is finally delivering the type of margin performance in Ag & Turf that had been elusive, and it's coming at a low point in the grain cycle. We are not bulls on agriculture, but earnings momentum is clearly building into next year on the back of a strong fiscal third quarter. Deere's precision agriculture leadership and ESG merits should help drive sustained multiple expansion, in our view." Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Apple to $520 from $431 Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock to a Street high and said it thinks the stock is still inexpensive and believes it will continue to "outperform" peers. "We don't see significant risk to App Store take rates and view our long-term 11% EPS CAGR as conservative. At 25x FCF, AAPL trades at a discount to both tech platforms and strong consumer brands. ... .We believe that AAPL can continue to outperform peers and the S & P 500 in the near-term as Apple approaches two key catalysts - a 4-for-1 stock split on August 31st, and the launch of Apple's first 5G iPhone in October. Susquehanna downgraded Churchill Downs to neutral from positive Susquehanna downgraded the thoroughbred racetrack company and said it saw "limited upside" after the company's announcement that it would not have spectators at the Kentucky Derby due to the coronavirus. "At current levels of $174/share and CHDN 's announcement on Friday post-close that it would NOT have spectators at the KY Derby (we estimate a result of both a ~10% COVID positivity rate in Louisville vs. ~2% statewide and the continued impact of the social unrest in Louisville), we see limited upside beyond our PT. In particular, CHDN's valuation is largely geared now to its online division's outperformance this year and we expect that to continue in 2H20 with revenue growth of ~46%"

John Deere tractors sits on display at Klein Equipment, a John Deere dealership, in Galesburg, Ill.

Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.)

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Monday:

Needham initiated Sprout Social as buy

Needham said in its initiation of the social media management and optimization platform for brands that it sees an "attractive" entry point.

" We see Sprout Social as an excellent way to invest in the explosive growth of the large, lightly penetrated, $25B+ TAM social media market. SPT offers a highly differentiated platform that serves the hot Customer Experience Management space, and benefits from favorable unit economics and strong secular growth. As such, we believe the stock, priced at an EV/revenue multiple of 10x our FY21 estimate, trades at an attractive entry point for growth investors."

Susquehanna raised its price target on Lululemon to $426 from $360

Susquehanna raised its price target on the stock to a Street high after the company's acquistion of fitness start-up Mirror earlier this summer. The firm said the acquisition provides an "incremental revenue stream" that will grow "significantly."

"Underlying momentum continues to build faster than most peers as headwinds from the crisis slowly abate. Further, MIRROR adds another piece to LULU's already best-in-class customer engagement arsenal as well as another leg of growth. The acquisition provides an incremental revenue stream that will grow significantly over the next 3-5 years, in our view. Coupled with whitespace opportunities in geographies & categories for both the underlying business and MIRROR, we believe the stock will grow into its high valuation."