Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Tesla, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft & more

Published Thu, Apr 22 20218:14 AM EDT

Key Points

Goldman Sachs downgraded Fisker to sell from neutral and Lordstown Motors to neutral from buy.
Deutsche Bank added a catalyst call buy idea on Ford.
Benchmark upgraded AutoNation to buy from hold.
Jefferies reiterated Callaway Golf as a top pick.
Cowen reiterated Chipotle as a top pick.
Citi reiterated its sell rating on Tesla.
Goldman Sachs reiterated its buy rating on Microsoft.
JPMorgan named Amazon as a top idea.
Wolfe upgraded Ford to outperform from peer perform.
Piper Sandler downgraded Planet Fitness to neutral from overweight.
Jefferies raised its price target on Alphabet to $2,700 from $2,400.
Barclays upgraded SolarEdge to overweight from equal weight.
LightShed Partners initiated Pinterest as buy.

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Goldman Sachs downgraded Fisker to sell from neutral and Lordstown Motors to neutral from buy Goldman downgraded Fisker and Lordstown and said it was concerned about increasing competition in the electric vehicle space among other things. "While we appreciate the steps that the company is taking to try to differentiate its upcoming products we are incrementally concerned about what we believe is the company's late time to market as competition increases. ... .Finally, Lordstown Motors will also be subject to the increasing industry competition, including in pickup trucks." Read more about this call here. Deutsche Bank added a catalyst call buy idea on Ford Deutsche Bank added a short term buy rating on the auto maker and said it sees a "large" first quarter earnings beat. "We are adding Ford to our short-term Catalyst Call Buy List once again, as we believe favorable vehicle mix/pricing, combined with a robust product cycle, improved warranty performance, and restructuring savings could result in a large 1Q21 earnings beat." Read more about this call here. Benchmark upgraded AutoNation to buy from hold Benchmark said in its upgrade of the auto retailer that it was a beneficiary of the acceleration in used car demand. " AutoNation 's stock is up four-fold from the lows during the virus shutdown last year, but we believe there is more upside. We have upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy and set a price target of $120 per share. AutoNation, like the rest of the Dealer Group, has benefited from an acceleration in US new and used vehicle demand, positive pricing, and cost improvement." Jefferies reiterated Callaway Golf as a top pick Jefferies reiterated Callaway as a top pick and said its recent checks show the golf business "getting closer and closer" to returning to normal. "We recently visited 4 Topgolf locations in Las Vegas, Atlanta, & Columbus and walked away impressed by strong traffic (independent of the day in the week or time of day), and wide demographic draw (varying skill levels of customers). Our sense is this biz is getting closer and closer to normal and expect venue revenues could track above 2019 levels sooner than anticipated." Cowen reiterated Chipotle as a top pick Cowen reiterated the Mexican restaurant chain as a top pick after its strong earnings report and said the set up is "favorable" in the rest of 2021. "Within Chipotle's sales initiatives, we are still most bullish on digital sales growth, which is proving to be sticky. Indeed, the company's 50% digital sales mix continued through 1Q and into April, as dining room capacity restrictions eased." Citi reiterated its sell rating on Tesla Citi reiterated its sell rating on shares of Tesla and said the company's upcoming earnings report probably won't "settle, many, if any long term debates" about the stock. "We're updating our Tesla model ahead of Q1 results next week. Our 2021-23 EPS estimates rise mostly on the previously reported Q1 Model 3/Y delivery upside. ... .Still, we don't think the quarter is likely to settle many, if any, LT debates, and consensus Q1 estimates appear fairly reasonable to us. Goldman Sachs reiterated its buy rating on Microsoft Goldman Sachs reiterated its buy rating on shares of Microsoft and said the company is well positioned heading into earnings and that it could see "double-digit" revenue growth. "With a strong presence across all layers of the cloud stack, we see Microsoft as well positioned to capitalize on strong digital transformation spending and cloud adoption. We see a pathway for sustained double-digit revenue growth alongside margin expansion, particularly as Commercial Cloud continues to grow as a percentage of the mix." JPMorgan named Amazon as a top idea JPMorgan named the e-commerce giant as its "favorite FANG" idea ahead of the company's earnings report next week. "FANG" refers to Facebook, Netflix, Alphabet, and Amazon. " AMZN is our favorite FANG name into 1Q earnings. We expect upside to our 1Q revenue estimate of $105B on continued strong e-commerce trends (also helped by 2 rounds of stimulus), w/investor expectations for$106B+ based on our conversations." Read more about this call here. Wolfe upgraded Ford to outperform from peer perform Wolfe said in its upgrade of the automaker that it thinks Ford will experience a "significant re-rating" for many of the same reasons General Motors has. "GM experienced a significant re-rating starting in the fall of 2020, after the company provided the Street with clear reasons to gain confidence in the company's terminal value, and growth. We now believe that a similar phenomenon could drive Ford ." Piper Sandler downgraded Planet Fitness to neutral from overweight Piper downgraded the fitness gym company and said it sees a slower pace of member and earnings per share recovery for 2022. "We are downgrading shares of PLNT to Neutral, lowering our estimates and maintaining our price target of $87 following the 6th iteration of our Fitness survey over the last year. Our downgrade is based on the pace of member and EPS recovery for 2022, which now looks less certain from our survey results - and the emergence of at-home fitness options." Read more about this call here. Jefferies raised its price target on Alphabet to $2,700 from $2,400 Jefferies raised its price target on shares of the internet giant and said it sees a "favorable" set up heading into earnings next week. " GOOGL has outperformed major indices YTD as investor sentiment turned positive. Our checks have been broadly positive, indicating accelerating momentum in the ad business and sustained strength in Cloud. We raise estimates and PT." Read more about this call here. Barclays upgraded SolarEdge to overweight from equal weight Barclays upgraded said in its upgrade of SolarEdge ahead of the company's earnings report that it was "underappreciated" among other things. "Street numbers too low. Market share slight rebound. Potential for DC-coupled storage to take LG's share decline. ... .EnergyHub volume and price upside. All underappreciated by Street and investors, in our view." LightShed Partners initiated Pinterest as buy LightShed Partners initiated Pinterest with a buy rating and said it sees the company as a "growth story" with the reopening under way. "While Pinterest shares have certainly had a dramatic bounce off the bottom, we believe the growth story is just getting started. Reopening fears abound, but the accelerated shift to e-commerce and associated marketing spend is a secular change propelling Pinterest, especially as they attack the global monetization opportunity."

People walk in front of a Microsoft store on March 10, 2021, in New York.

John Smith | VIEW press | Getty Images

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: