Here are Friday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Virgin Galactic, Intel, Pfizer, Tesla & more

Published Fri, Oct 23 20208:28 AM EDT

Key Points

RBC upgraded PulteGroup to outperform from sector perform.
Oppenheimer initiated Shake Shack as outperform.
DA Davidson upgraded Mattel to buy from neutral.
Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Tesla to $360 from $333.
Bank of America downgraded Intel to underperform from neutral.
Piper Sandler downgraded Fastly to underweight from neutral.
Morgan Stanley downgraded Citrix to equal weight from overweight.
Truist initiated AbbVie, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and Merck as buy.
RBC upgraded Whirlpool to sector perform from underperform.
Goldman Sachs initiated Virgin Galactic as neutral.
Oppenheimer downgraded Best Buy to perform from outperform.
Argus downgraded Phillip Morris to hold from buy.

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.) Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday: RBC upgraded PulteGroup to outperform from sector perform RBC upgraded the home builder after its strong earnings report and said it sees an "attractive" opportunity. "We upgrade PHM to Outperform from Sector Perform following strong 3Q results, as we believe the recent 14% pullback creates an attractive opportunity. PHM remains well positioned on land, margins, and mix to deliver a fourth straight year of > 20% return on tangible equity in '21 which should command a higher premium." Oppenheimer initiated Shake Shack as outperform Oppenheimer initiated the fast food company with a Street high price target and said Shake Shack's sales are well-positioned to rebound. "We believe SHAK holds unique optionality as its strong unit economics drive the industry's best unit growth story. Our work identifies catalysts for a bullish recovery in same-store-sales and we also highlight a path for margin-driven EBITDA upside vs. consensus through '22E." DA Davidson upgraded Mattel to buy from neutral DA Davidson upgraded the toymaker and said the company is well-positioned in to 2021 due to healthy shipments and inventories among other things. "We are raising our rating to BUY from Neutral because of the optimal set-up into 2021: POS growth is high and MAT is chasing demand, which means the company is likely to end 2020 with lean retail inventories and healthy shipments in 1H21." Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Tesla to $360 from $333 Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock after the company's earnings earlier this week and said it liked that Tesla had "continued access to cheap incremental equity capital." "Following very strong 3Q results featuring stronger than expected profit & cash flow and our revised (higher) global bottoms-up EV forecast, we raise our Tesla estimates & PT to $360 vs. $333 previously. Tesla defends its position as a 'must include' stock in a battery electric vehicles/sustainability portfolio." Bank of America downgraded Intel to underperform from neutral Bank of America said in its downgrade of the stock after the company's weak earnings report that Intel has too many manufacturing and competitive "headwinds." "We downgrade INTC to Underperform from Neutral since weak 2H results highlight three structural issues: 1) No plan/update to fix manufacturing challenges at next-gen 7nm, with continued low yields at current-gen 10nm process; 2) Mix pressure as demand moves to more competitive cloud/consumer markets away from INTC's profitable enterprise PC/server markets." Piper Sandler downgraded Fastly to underweight from neutral Piper downgraded the cloud computing network company and said it worries TikTok will become a "bigger issue" for the company. "We are downgrading shares of Fastly from Neutral to Underweight, and reducing our estimates and PT to $65 as despite the pullback in shares in the last week, the market is still not factoring enough risk. Our research affirms TikTok will become a bigger issue for Fastly over the next year than the market believes, as it is rapidly building its own content delivery network." Morgan Stanley downgraded Citrix to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley downgraded the multination software company and said it was moving to the sidelines until "better cloud momentum takes hold." "Despite a string of beats & raises on rev/EPS in recent qtrs, slower progress on cloud creates debate on the durability of LT growth which has weighed on shares. While we see seat penetration in the CTXS base moving higher, we move to the sidelines until better cloud momentum takes hold. Truist initiated AbbVie, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and Merck as buy Truist launched coverage of the major biopharma companies and said the risk/reward profile of the group is "compelling." "We are launching coverage on US Major Pharma, with Buy ratings on ABBV, LLY, MRK , and PFE , and a Hold rating on BMY. While investors may remain concerned about elections and other risks, we believe the risk/reward profile of the group as a whole is compelling and favors owning several of these names now as opposed to one or two. Our thesis is based on: 1) valuation, 2) dividends, and 3) optionality tied to pipelines and business development." RBC upgraded Whirlpool to sector perform from underperform RBC upgraded the stock after its earnings report and said it sees margin tailwinds among other things for Whirpool. "While we believe margins have likely peaked, tailwinds should continue to drive strong trends likely into 1H'21, making it tough to see significant near-term downside to the stock.We raise FY'20E Adj. EPS to $17.62 and FY'21E to $16.18 following a unique 3Q that unveiled far larger margin tailwinds as a result of supply constraints imposed by COVID than we or even bulls envisioned, despite disappointing NA sales trends that showed sizeable share loss." Goldman Sachs initiated Virgin Galactic as neutral Goldman initiated the spaceflight company as neutral and said it had long-term potential but too many "question marks" along the way. "Long-term upside potential could be substantial, if SPCE can capture the space travel and supersonic ﬂight opportunity. But the time to realization of the opportunity is very long, customer adoption and recurrence uncertain, and potential for competition not insigniﬁcant. Oppenheimer downgraded Best Buy to perform from outperform Oppenheimer said in its downgrade of the stock that the coronavirus recovery forecast was too "rosy." "Over the past few months, on the heels of strengthening underlying fundamentals and indications that the now digitally-enabled Best Buy business model is flexing well amid COVID-19 headwinds, BBY shares have climbed through our price target and to all-time highs. We stepped back and reviewed carefully our stance on BBY. While we remain encouraged with underlying structural enhancements to Best Buy's model, we fret somewhat that Street expectations for post-pandemic prospects for BBY have turned too optimistic." Argus downgraded Phillip Morris to hold from buy Argus downgraded the tobacco maker and said it had concerns about the company's balance sheet among other things. " PM appears to be losing market share in traditional cigarettes faster than it is gaining share in new heated tobacco products. We are also concerned about the company's balance sheet. We have lowered our financial strength rating to Medium from Medium-High to reflect PM's large debt burden and negative stockholders' equity. "

Elon Musk introduces the Cybertruck at an event on Nov. 21, 2019. The glass on the vehicle shows a couple of spiderweb patterns after a demonstration that was supposed to show breakproof glass did not go as planned.

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(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.)

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday: