Here are Wednesday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Amazon, Morgan Stanley, Apple & more

Published Wed, Apr 21 20218:38 AM EDT

Key Points

Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Apple to $158 from $157.
Goldman Sachs upgraded Norwegian to buy from neutral.
Mizuho named Twilio a top pick.
UBS initiated MetLife as buy.
Rosenblatt initiated Coinbase as buy.
Citi added a positive catalyst watch on Microsoft.
Berenberg upgraded Morgan Stanley to buy from hold.
Oppenheimer named Amazon a top large cap pick.
Jefferies initiated Bally's as buy.
Stifel upgraded Netflix to buy from hold.
Berenberg upgraded Mattel to buy from hold.
Deutsche Bank added a catalyst call buy idea on United Airlines.
Bank of America downgraded Rocket Companies to neutral from buy.
Citi downgraded Procter & Gamble to neutral from buy.
Bank of America downgraded AutoZone to underperform from neutral.
Bank of America initiated Archer-Daniels-Midland as buy.
Goldman Sachs reiterated its sell rating on Apple.
UBS upgraded Pepsi to buy from neutral.
Argus upgraded UnitedHealthcare to buy from hold.

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Wednesday: Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Apple to $158 from $157 Morgan Stanley reiterated its overweight rating on shares of Apple ahead of the company's earnings next week and said its portfolio strength puts it on a "path to re-rate." "We expect the strength of Apple 's broad portfolio of products & services to help re-rate AAPL shares, amplified by today's product launch event. We forecast Product growth of 43% Y/Y and Services growth of 19% putting us at $80.2B in revs and$1.03 in EPS for the March Q, 4-5% ahead of consensus Read more about this call here . Goldman Sachs upgraded Norwegian to buy from neutral Goldman upgraded the cruise company and said it sees a "positive catalyst path" as cruising ramp up again. "We upgrade NCLH to Buy from Neutral given 1) industry leading capacity growth; 2) exposure to more aspirational consumers; and 3) the longest liquidity runway with the lowest leverage on fully recovered EBITDA." Read more about this call here. Mizuho named Twilio a top pick Mizuho named the cloud communications platform company as a top pick ahead of earnings and said it sees a favorable setup given the recent "underperformance" in the stock. "We continue to see upside in software as a service as the economy continues to recover, enterprise spending opens up, and favorable trends continue, all of which should drive outperformance. On the whole, we see upside remaining in company-specific growth stories likely to play out this year; in that vein, we highlight AVLR, RNG and TWLO as our top picks heading into March quarter results." UBS initiated MetLife as buy UBS initiated the life insurance company with a buy rating and said it was a top pick with the "best strategy to generate value." "We are expanding coverage of the US Life sector with Buy ratings on EQH and MET, and Neutral ratings on AFL, LNC, and PRU. We prefer stocks with clear paths to portfolio simplification, which we see as the best strategy to generate value in this macro-sensitive, capital intensive and highly regulated sector." Rosenblatt initiated Coinbase as buy Rosenblatt initiated the crypto company and said it was a "long-term category leader." "We are bullish on the long-term upside of COIN as it benefits from the growing adoption and acceptance of cryptocurrency, while our short-term view is more cautious as the stock faces downside risk from a drawdown in the price of crypto." Citi added a positive catalyst watch on Microsoft Citi opened a positive catalyst watch on the stock and said it's the "best positioned megcap" in software. "We are opening a positive Catalyst Watch on MSFT ahead of Q3 results. The combination of our reseller survey and our channel checks gives us incremental confidence that MSFT can drive revenue upside across key three segments." Berenberg upgraded Morgan Stanley to buy from hold Berenberg said in its upgrade of Morgan Stanley that the stock was "increasingly attractive." "First, a growing proportion of earnings are generated from wealth and investment management. Second, its investment bank has consistently taken market share over the last few years. Third, we believe capital return is likely to exceed consensus expectations given the company's strong capital buffer." Oppenheimer named Amazon a top large cap pick Oppenheimer raised its price target on the stock to $4,200 from $4,100 and said it was bullish on the company ahead of its earnings report. "We are raising our Amazon Web Services revenue estimates ahead of 1Q results. Our non-AWS estimates remain unchanged. Post 1Q earnings focus will continue to be on AMZN's investment plans, as it recorded $11B in one-time COVID-19-related costs in 2020." Jefferies initiated Bally's as buy Jefferies initiated the casino company with a buy rating and said it had a "transformative" portfolio of assets. "Our initiation with a Buy rating is based on the formative stages of the business and the considerable value yet to be realized. We note that BALY is compiling a transformative portfolio of assets that should position the company for meaningful share in both landbased and digital markets, which warrants a higher value than the current 10X EBITDA." Stifel upgraded Netflix to buy from hold Stifel said in its upgrade of the stock after its earnings report that investors should accumulate shares on price weakness. "We are upgrading shares of Netflix to Buy from Hold with a $560 12-month TP, ~12% above the $500 after-hours share price level. Netflix is a globally dominant company in media distribution that should experience mid-teens intermediate-term revenue growth with rising operating margins and significant free cash flow generation." Read more about this call here. Berenberg upgraded Mattel to buy from hold Berenberg said in its upgrade of the toy company that it expects revenues to grow at a "healthy pace" in 2021. "We believe Hasbro and Mattel have both come through the pandemic stronger than they entered, and both have developed unique platforms and strategies capable of delivering sustainable growth over time; Reiterate Buy for HAS, Upgrade MAT to Buy." Deutsche Bank added a catalyst call buy idea on United Airlines Deutsche Bank added a short term buy call on shares of the airline and said it saw an "attractive" risk/reward. "As United is the most leveraged stock in our coverage universe to long-haul international and corporate travel, we believe an investment in the shares has an attractive risk/reward profile particularly as the recovery in demand for air travel gains momentum." Bank of America downgraded Rocket Companies to neutral from buy Bank of America downgraded the mortgage company and said it sees "increased" competition and margin pressure. "We believe a more cautious outlook on the mortgage origination sector is warranted and we are downgrading RKT to Neutral, and HMPT to Underperform. We think a less favorable interest rate backdrop and increased competitive intensity are likely to pressure margins prospectively." Citi downgraded Procter & Gamble to neutral from buy Citi said in its downgrade of the stock after its earnings report that the next couple quarters could be "bumpy." "While PG reported fiscal 3Q21 organic sales growth and EPS which exceeded our expectations, took its share repurchase guidance higher, and highlighted pricing plans in response to rising commodity costs, we came away from the call feeling that the next several couple quarters will likely see incremental pressure and that results could be bumpy." Read more about this call here. Bank of America downgraded AutoZone to underperform from neutral Bank of America said in its downgrade of the auto parts company that it was making a "tactical" call mainly on valuation. "We are downgrading shares of AutoZone to Underperform from Neutral, maintaining our price objective of $1,390. AZO's share price has risen 29% year-to-date, outperforming the S & P 500 by 18ppt and outperforming auto parts retail peers AAP, GPC, and ORLY by 8ppt on average." Goldman Sachs reiterated its sell rating on Apple Goldman reiterated its sell rating on shares of the stock ahead of its earnings report next week and said it expects the company to beat earnings but was waiting to see "how." "As we approach earnings we believe that how Apple beats numbers this quarter is more important than whether it beats. In our opinion, current high levels of both iPad and Mac demand are unlikely to be sustainable as the world re-opens so another beat driven more by these areas may not be enough to drive the shares further." Bank of America initiated Archer-Daniels-Midland as buy Bank of America initiated the multinational food processing company and said estimates were "too low." "While we recognize valuations now reflect heightened expectations, we believe consensus estimates are too low and ADM' s Nutrition business is undervalued." UBS upgraded Pepsi to buy from neutral UBS said in its upgrade of the beverage giant that it sees "clear levers" for the top and bottom line. "We upgrade PEP to Buy from Neutral as we believe PEP is only at the mid-point of an investment cycle that will yield a sustainable improvement to top and bottom line growth. Investments in beverage margins and global snacking scale support our above Street outlook for 2021-23E sales growth of +5.7% and EPS growth of +10.0%." Read more about this call here . Argus upgraded UnitedHealthcare to buy from hold Argus upgraded the health insurance company and said it saw an "upbeat" outlook and "robust membership growth. "We are raising our rating on UnitedHealth Group to BUY from HOLD and setting a $450 price target. Reflecting robust membership growth in its managed care businesses and a solid backlog in the Optum segment, UNH has raised its 2021 guidance."

Coinbase signage in New York's Times Square during the company's initial public offering on the Nasdaq on April 14, 2021.

Robert Nickelsberg | Getty Images

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Wednesday: