Here are Wednesday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Tesla, Netflix, Penn, General Motors & more

Published Wed, Jan 20 20218:27 AM EST

Key Points

Oppenheimer raised its price target on Tesla to $1,036 from $486.
Deutsche Bank added catalyst call buy ideas on Ford and General Motors.
Credit Suisse initiated Penn National Gaming as outperform.
UBS upgraded Netflix to buy from neutral.
Wells Fargo upgraded Netflix to overweight from equal weight.
BTIG downgraded Beyond Meat to neutral from buy.
Morgan Stanley downgraded Kroger and Albertson's to under weight from equal weight.
Stephens initiated Hostess Brands and Utz as overweight.
Morgan Stanley upgraded DraftKings to overweight from equal weight.
Bernstein initiated Coca-Cola and Keurig Dr Pepper as outperform.

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Wednesday: Oppenheimer raised its price target on Tesla to $1,036 from $486 Oppenheimer raised its price target on the stock to a Street high and said it expects the company to be a leader in autonomous vehicles among other things. "Given TSLA stock doubling again since November, we believe investors are grappling with where shares go from here. We believe bulls are betting on TSLA leading commercialization of autonomous vehicles technology." Deutsche Bank added a catalyst call buy idea on General Motors Deutsche initiated a short-term buy call on the stock and said it thinks the company will soon give more details on its rollout of an electric vehicle. "We are adding GM to our short-term Catalyst Call Buy List, as we believe the company could initiate better than expected 2021 guidance in the $6.00-$7.00 range vs. consensus $5.92, boosted by strong full size truck pricing/volumes/mix, ongoing structural cost savings, and non-repeat of $1.2bn Takata recall charge, partially offset by higher commodity prices and roll-off of COVID austerity measures." Deutsche Bank added a catalyst call buy idea on Ford Deutsche added a catalyst call short-term buy idea on shares of Ford and said it was bullish on the company's upcoming earnings report in early February among other things. The firm kept its long-term hold rating on the stock. "We see potential catalysts occurring in the coming months, including a solid 2021 outlook on its 4Q earnings call (2/4), the launch of a number of key models under its new executive leadership team, and Capital Markets Day in the spring where Ford could reboot its redesign program and present a new EV strategy." Credit Suisse initiated Penn National Gaming as outperform Credit Suisse initiated the operator of casino and racetracks and said it sees "margin upside and topline returns." "Our Outperform rating is based on four key factors: (1) upside from pandemic-related savings and recent acquisitions as the topline returns, (2) upside to targeted cost savings, (3) better-than-expected margins in sports betting, and (4) PENN 's potential leadership in iGaming." UBS upgraded Netflix to buy from neutral UBS said in its upgrade of Netflix after the company's earnings report that it now sees a "compelling" risk/reward. "While recent qtrs. & fwd commentary remains volatile on the prospect of sub growth in a post-COVID-19 envt, we think the main messages from the Q4'20 EPS were continued strong global sub growth, continued levels of content invtmt & a multi-yr margin & FCF narrative that is more explicit from mgmt comments and which is likely to attract interest from investors ready to marry growth & valuation multiple." Read more about this call and Netflix earnings here . Wells Fargo upgraded Netflix to overweight from equal weight Wells upgraded the streaming giant after its earnings report and said it sees better margins and cash returns going forward. "We've gone from a historical bear on NFLX to a card-carrying bull. The pandemic supported stronger subscriber acquisition, but what has really impressed is how unit economics are coming through. Getting into the weeds of customer lifetime value (CLV) we see better margins and cash returns that justify a structural re-rating based upon $1,300+ 20-year CLV. NFLX's leadership position gives it ample flexibility, now including buybacks." BTIG downgraded Beyond Meat to neutral from buy BTIG downgraded the alternative meat company and said it was concerned about limited sales growth among other things. "We are downgrading shares of Beyond Meat to Neutral from Buy as we believe growth through the retail channel will not be enough to sustain the growth rate and hefty trading multiple in 2021. While we continue to believe in the long-term trend toward plant-based meats in the grocery and foodservice channels, we expect restaurant operators will remain focused on throughput over menu innovation, limiting adoption and sales growth through the foodservice channel this year." Morgan Stanley downgraded Kroger and Albertsons to under weight from equal weight Morgan Stanley said in its downgrade of Kroger and Albertson's that the sector is "out of favor" right now and will likely "comp negative" in the coming quarters. "Many Hardline/Broadline/Food retailers have benefited from the COVID environment and are better positioned for the future. At the same time, many of these mature businesses 'overcomped,' now have peak margins/valuations, and will likely comp negative in coming quarters, a typical recipe for underperformance." Stephens initiated Hostess Brands and Utz as overweight Stephens initiated Utz and said the food company was the only attractive "pure play" in the salty snacks category. The firm also initiated the maker of Twinkie's and said it sees margin improvement and continued de-leveraging. " Hostess is well positioned to achieve double-digit EPS growth in 2021, driven by sustained top-line growth, margin improvement and continued de-leveraging. ... . Utz is the only public pure play in the attractive Salty Snacks category, which has been growing 4%+ over the past 5 years Morgan Stanley upgraded DraftKings to overweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley upgraded the fantasy sports content and betting operator and said it was a "pure play" as states continue to legalize gambling. "As a result of all the new states and higher TAM, we expect DKNG revenue to beat 2022-25 consensus by > 25%, with 4Q20 revenue also looking like it's tracking ~10% ahead of consensus. We also expect DKNG to start to talk about profitability in NJ, as FanDuel did, countering the bear thesis that the industry will never be profitable." Bernstein initiated Coca-Cola and Keurig Dr Pepper as outperform Bernstein initi