Here are Wednesday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Starbucks, Tesla, Foot Locker, Spotify & more

Published Wed, Jan 6 20218:27 AM EST

Key Points

Deutsche Bank named Bank of America a top pick.
Barclays upgraded Wingstop to overweight from neutral.
Citi upgraded J.B. Hunt to buy from neutral.
Barclays named Starbucks a top pick in 2021.
Bank of America upgraded Mastercard to buy from neutral.
RBC named AbbVie a top pick in 2021.
Piper Sandler downgraded Beyond Meat to neutral from overweight.
Bank of America upgraded Hershey to buy from neutral.
Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Tesla to $810 from $540.
Piper Sandler downgraded Kellogg to neutral from overweight.
Deutsche Bank downgraded Coca-Cola to hold from buy.
Wedbush upgraded Zillow to outperform from neutral.
Baird named Foot Locker a fresh pick.
Bank of America raised its price target on Spotify to $428 from $357.
Wells Fargo named Home Depot and Lowe's as top picks for 2021.

(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.) Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Wednesday: Deutsche Bank named Bank of America a top pick Deutsche Bank named the banking giant a top pick and said it had "strong" capital return and "solid" cost control among other things. "Our positive view on BAC shares reflects, 1) our positive outlook on bank stocks in general (and BAC is considered a bellwether of the group), 2) we are most positive on bank stocks with the most cyclical leverage (and BAC has more rate leverage than any other big bank we cover)." Barclays upgraded Wingstop to overweight from neutral Barclays upgraded the chicken wings restaurant franchise and said it saw a buying opportunity due to the recent stock pullback. " WING offers what we view as an attractive combination of outsized fundamental (i.e. comp & unit) growth within our preferred franchised model. While we continue to have a value bias, the impressive pandemic performance coupled with the recent stock price pullback lead us to upgrade." Citi upgraded J.B. Hunt to buy from neutral Citi upgraded the transportation shipping company and said it sees robust earnings growth for J.B. Hunt in the years ahead. "We believe we are entering a multi-year earnings growth cycle, most similar to 2012-2015, which could see ~80-100% EPS growth over three years as a solid freight cycle drives its established segments, while its emerging segments swing to profitability and power out-year growth." Barclays named Starbucks a top pick in 2021 Barclays said Starbucks was a top pick for 2021 and said it had a "best in class" digital platform. "We believe SBUX is a premier, large-cap, high-growth, global consumer company, with a dominant US retail & consumer product platform, significant int'l growth led by China, and a best-in-class digital platform. We expect all segments will ultimately exceed prior peaks. We believe few other names offer proven, industry-leading growth at scale, with scarcity value to provide valuation support." Bank of America upgraded Mastercard to buy from neutral Bank of America upgraded the payment company operator and said it sees an "attractive" risk/reward. "Shares of MA have traded about flat over the past four months. In our view, with vaccine distribution expected to expand significantly through 1H21, the potential for re-acceleration in economic growth, consumer spending and mobility/travel this year is not adequately discounted in shares. The pandemic has also hastened the long-term/secular displacement of cash in favor of electronic payments." RBC named AbbVie a top pick in 2021 RBC named the biopharma company a top pick and said AbbVie was one of the "best" growth stories. "We like the short-term set-up for 2021 upside into the first time guide with 4Q, while the 2023E+ growth post HUMIRA step-down is setting up to be one of the best growth stories in pharma. That should help the 25% discount to peers on 2023E P/E begin to close and potentially flip." Piper Sandler downgraded Beyond Meat to neutral from overweight Piper downgraded the alternative meat company and said it sees a "tough" near-term outlook. " Beyond is an early leader in plant-based meat, which we believe could be a $6-8B market by 2025. However, we believe its current retail momentum lags consensus expectations in 4Q20, and estimates may be at risk in 2021, too. Shipments vs. consumption suggests there is potential for another quarter of under-shipments in 4Q20, too." Bank of America upgraded Hershey to buy from neutral Bank of America said in its upgrade of the multinational food company that it sees room for "multiple expansion." "Since HSY's peak in early March, where HSY traded at a 46% premium to the market, we have seen a 6000bps decline. As we look to CY21, we believe there is room for multiple expansion as HSY has momentum in its underlying business and a clean balance sheet with opportunity for bolt-on M & A and/or share repurchases." Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Tesla to $810 from $540 Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock to a Street high and said it thinks the company can continue to outperform. "Despite the extraordinary run in the share price, we continue to believe that Tesla can outperform vs. our sector in 2021. In our opinion, Tesla is still the best positioned company in EVs and AVs under our coverage due to its people, its technology, business model and access to capital." Read more about this call here. Piper Sandler downgraded Kellogg to neutral from overweight Piper downgraded the multinational food products company and said it saw "uncertain" multiple expansion along with lagging earnings growth. "We expect Kellogg 's top-line and earnings growth trajectory to lag peers over the next 1-2 years. We expect moderating top-line momentum in 2021 coupled with higher expected spending, and we expect EBIT to decline in 2021 (admittedly against a tough comp)." Deutsche Bank downgraded Coca-Cola to hold from buy Deutsche downgraded the beverage giant on tax issues surrounding the company among other things. "However, the pacing of broader recovery (and secondarily, KO's execution) has always carried some uncertainty. And moreover, as we wrote in December, a November US Tax Court judgment stipulating that KO owes the IRS ~$3.3 billion in taxes (due to purportedly undercharging local affiliates for royalties associated with KO-owned trademarks and other intangible property for the years 2007-2009) is a material added setback." Wedbush upgraded Zillow to outperform from neutral Wedbush upgraded the online real estate company and said it was best positioned to benefit from the adoption of online technology. "We're moving from an era of technology adoption in residential real estate being informational in nature to transactional. Zillow is positioned to benefit from this accelerated transition both on the iBuyer side and the web portal side as it can more effectively tie together components of the home purchase transaction funnel, and better offer home buyers and sellers an end to end offering." Baird named Foot Locker a fresh pick Baird named the athletic footwear company as a fresh pick and said it was "tactically" more positive on the stock. "To add exposure to a potential 1H21 spending recovery (especially if more stimulus passes), we are highlighting FL given possible 1H21 estimate upside and valuation." Bank of America raised its price target on Spotify to $428 from $357 Bank of America raised its price target on the stock to a Street high and said it sees "healthy" underlying trends and strong upcoming earnings results. "We project SPOT 's 4Q20E results will reflect another quarter of healthy subscriber growth with sequentially improved avg. revenue per user levels—aided by price increases in 7 test mkts, primarily on family plans in Oct. (mid-single digits to low-teens), partially offset by modest gross margin declines related to podcasting inv. and geographic expansions." Wells Fargo named Home Depot and Lowe's as top picks for 2021 Wells Fargo named the home improvement retailers as top picks for for 2021 and said the setup looks "favorable." " HD / LOW posted among the strongest comps in our coverage in 2020 owing to heightened category demand, housing/macro tailwinds, and a confluence of pandemic-driven factors. ... .FY21 could be a bumpier year for LOW considering outsized DIY gains in 2020 and likely negative comps, but at 18x, shares trade at a 4x discount to HD, and we see increasing potential for this gap to narrow as incremental COVID costs lap, Pro business accelerates, and share gains continue." Evercore ISI downgraded Keurig Dr. Pepper and Pepsi Evercore IS downgraded the two beverage giants and said it was better aligning with the firm's macro view and that it preferred stock's like Coca-Cola. "We are downgrading PEP and KDP from Outperform to In Line, to better align our ratings with Evercore ISI's macro view, which calls for a strong cyclical-driven EPS recovery in 2021, continued US$ weakness and emerging market strength, and higher commodity prices."

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(This story is for CNBC PRO subscribers only.)

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Wednesday: