Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls: Facebook, Apple, Netflix, Twitter, Tesla & more

Published Thu, Jul 15 20218:29 AM EDTUpdated Thu, Jul 15 202110:06 AM EDT

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Oppenheimer reiterates Citi as outperform Oppenheimer said after the company's earnings report on Wednesday that it was one of the most "compelling" large-cap banks. "Every new CEO seems to have some initiatives that they want to spend more money on, and Citi's Jane Fraser is no exception, but in the grand scheme of things a ~5% bump in expenses is not such a big deal even in a weak revenue year." Morgan Stanley raises price target on Apple to $166 from $162 Morgan Stanley raised its price target on shares of Apple and said it had a "bullish skew" heading into the company's earnings report later this month. "We expect a stronger than forecasted F3Q and F4Q guide. Stock performance hinges on sustainability of recent trends where we have a bullish skew and raise our FY21 & FY22 iPhone forecasts on the back of supply chain data and share gains." Read more about this call here. Jefferies reiterates Microsoft as buy Jefferies kept its buy rating on the tech company and said it was one of the most well-positioned companies in a remote-work environment. "We believe MSFT is set up to flourish in a work from anywhere environment and see plenty of growth drivers leading shares to our $310 PT." JPMorgan reiterates Twitter as a top pick JPMorgan said the social media company is benefiting from a return to advertising strength. "But into 2Q earnings, we still do not believe TWTR shares are well-owned and healthy skepticism around execution remains. Industry checks suggest the online ad market remains strong — supporting an increasingly digital economy — and we believe TWTR is benefiting from the return of events and launches, brand advertising ramping and growth in mobile app promotion advertisers including in sports betting, crypto and investing." Raymond James upgrades Delta to strong buy from market perform Raymond James said in its upgrade that it was too hard to ignore at the current valuation. "While stocks such as ALK provide leverage to business demand recovery without the risk of further delays in long-haul (LH) international market reopenings, we find DAL too hard to ignore at current levels." Read more about this call here. Goldman Sachs initiates coverage of Weyerhaeuser as buy In its initiation of coverage, Goldman said the timberland company was a "unique" asset. We view WY as relatively more defensive, as we estimate its timberlands comprise ~75% of its enterprise value and are launching coverage with a Buy rating." Read more about this call here. Evercore ISI adds Visa and Mastercard to the tactical outperform list Evercore added the payment companies to the tactical outperform list and said it saw strengthening global travel. "Based on our most recent bi-weekly Global Air Travel Tracker for V, MA and AXP we are encouraged by the sharp improvement in our proprietary global stringency scores for V and MA, the best signal for strengthening global travel and a substantial boost to prospective growth for V and MA's long depressed cross-border revenue." UBS raises price target on Netflix to $620 from $600 UBS lifted its price target on the streaming giant and said it thinks Netflix will return to strong subscriber additions later this year. "We expect 2Q Netflix results to reflect a digestion period after consumers bulked up on streaming subscriptions during the pandemic – a theme we expect to play out across multiple sectors." Read more about this call here . Goldman Sachs reiterates CrowdStrike as buy Goldman kept its buy rating on the cybersecurity company and said it sees more upside for CrowdStrike. "A technology leader in the Endpoint Security market with a disruptive platform that we believe will enable it to penetrate core markets with a high level of efficiency." Jefferies raised its price target on Moderna to $250 from $170 Jefferies raised its price target on Moderna to a Street high of $250 per share but reiterated its hold rating on valuation. "We see 2021 guidance increasing to $21B from $19B and expect positive commentary around boosters in development (potentially delta next) and preparing for 2022 orders. Street debates boosters, and we assume YY decline in jabs, though co adamant stockpiling can be higher in 2022." Bank of America reiterates Facebook as buy Bank of America said it was bullish on the social media giant as a content creator. "We think Facebook' s massive audience and war chest could be a strong draw for content creators targeting users aged 30 or over. While older users may be less apt to use apps for user generated content, ad supported TV time remains ripe for disruption and the migration of time spent toward user generated content on YouTube and TikTok is an opportunity for Facebook." Credit Suisse reiterates Chipotle as outperform Credit Suisse said same-store-sales trends remain strong ahead of the company's earnings report next week. " CMG continues to be one of our favorite near-term and long-term stocks as a rare compounding growth story positioned for double-digit top-line and margin expansion over the years to come.' Seaport initiates coverage Plug Power as buy In its initiation of coverage, Seaport said the hydrogen fuel cell company was a "best-positioned technology provider." "Given the world's gathering wave of projects and increasing number of governments adopting supportive policies, the low-carbon hydrogen economy finally seems to be incipient, and we believe PLUG is the best positioned technology provider for its emergence." Mizuho raises its price target on Nvidia to $900 from $710 Mizuho lifted its price target on the multinational tech company and said it saw robust PC trends. "With better than expected 2H21 PC trends and strong Gaming demand, despite cryptocurrency volatility with bitcoin and ethereum pricing down, we are raising NVDA estimates/PT." Evercore ISI reiterates Amazon as a top pick Evercore ISI kept Amazon as a top pick and said it saw "materially more upside" ahead of the company's earnings report later this month. "After trading sideways for seven months, AMZN shares have rallied almost 20% since early May. The AMZN Unlock is upon us. And we see materially more upside." Mizuho reiterates Square as buy Mizuho kept its buy rating on shares of the payment company and said buying the stock today is like buying shares of JPMorgan in 1871. "We believe Cash App may be en route to becoming the ultimate neo-bank and the money center bank of the future. This could make buying SQ analogous to buying JPMorgan in 1871." Read more about this call here . Morgan Stanley reiterates Tesla as overweight Morgan Stanley kept its overweight rating on Tesla and said thought the automaker would enter the aviation market at some point. "In our view, the chance that Tesla does not ultimately offer products and services to the electrical vertical take-off and landing/urban air mobility market is remote. The potential skills transferability and network adjacencies are too strong to ignore." UBS reiterates Peloton as sell UBS reiterated the fitness company as sell and said it was concerned about slowing subscriber growth. "What the demand curve looks like for PTON connected fitness business in a post-Covid world remains a key debate for investors looking into 2022-2023." Bank of America initiates coverage of Green Plains as buy In its initiation coverage, Bank of America said the ethanol company is emerging from the pandemic with new intellectual property and technology. " GPRE one of the world's largest corn-based ethanol producers, was once dismissed as a victim of the struggling ethanol industry but is now emerging from its COVID and trade war-induced lows with new capital, new intellectual property and technology, and a new vision that is expected to grow EBITDA at a 100+% CAGR through 2023 with several significant growth drivers beyond 2023."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends an opening ceremony for Tesla China-made Model Y program in Shanghai, east China, Jan. 7, 2020.

Ding Ting | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: