Here are Friday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Home Depot, GE, Virgin Galactic, Sunrun & more

Published Fri, Aug 6 20218:29 AM EDTUpdated Fri, Aug 6 20218:58 AM EDT

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday: Oppenheimer downgrades Moderna to perform from outperform Oppenheimer downgraded the stock mainly on valuation. "However, with a ~$170B market-cap (largest biotech now) and up 300% YTD MRNA shares are fairly pricing a tremendous amount of future recurring revenues and pipeline progress. Given the non-COVID-19 pipeline still 2 to 3 years away from commercial and COVID-19 vaccines to start facing financial pressure as early as 2023, we move to the sidelines." Read more about this call here. Credit Suisse initiates coverage of Generac as outperform Credit Suisse said it sees "strong growth" and an attractive valuation for Generac . "Longer term, we expect a convergence of back-up power and solar+storage offerings for growth in distributed energy markets. Our Outperform rating is based on strong growth in backup power needs due to extreme weather events, growth in new verticals with investments in disruptive distributed solar+storage markets, and attractive valuation." Citi reiterates Beyond Meat as buy Citi kept its buy rating on the alternative meat company and said Beyond Meat's second-quarter sales growth was better than feared. "We think BYND is an early-stage growth company, and we expect we will continue to see a lot of lumpiness across channels, products and regions from quarter to quarter. We like that 2Q had better sales growth than feared, and we believe that for now, that is enough to support our bullish stance on the stock. Jefferies initiates coverage of Petco as buy Jefferies said that the pet retailer is differentiating itself with diverse services. " Petco is among retail omni-channel leaders with 83% of digital fulfilled-from-store, key for lowering cost and faster delivery.' Deutsche Bank upgrades ViacomCBS to hold from sell Deutsche said in its upgrade of ViacomCBS that the stock's valuation is now more reasonable. "There are still overarching questions as to whether the business model shift for traditional video entertainment companies will translate into net EBITDA and [free cash flow] growth over time, or if, instead, margin compression driven by ever increasing content and marketing costs will offset the incremental top line growth from streaming." UBS reiterates GE as buy UBS said General Electric' s free cash flow inflection remains "underappreciated." "Maintain Buy and $136 PT as FCF inflection on track: Power thesis sticks out. We reiterate our Buy rating and $136 PT driven by above consensus FCF estimates over the next 24 months." JMP downgrades Expedia to market perform from market outperform JMP said in its downgrade of the online travel website company that the coronavirus is still a risk to travel demand. "We downgrade shares of Expedia to Market Perform from Market Outperform as COVID-19 continues to impact case counts, marketing efficiency gains appear to be limited from here as Expedia makes significant investments in brand marketing, COVID-19 continues to represent a risk to travel demand, and the travel rebound benefit is already priced into shares, in our view." Baird downgrades FireEye to neutral from outperform Baird said in its downgrade of the cybersecurity company that it sees a "lack of near term visibility." "We are downgrading FEYE to Neutral given heightened execution risk amidst the model transition and a significant lack of near-term visibility. While we continue to appreciate the strategic rationale behind the divestiture, we are more comfortable waiting on the sidelines for now until we see the company prove its ability to drive success with the standalone business." Stephens reiterates Papa John's as overweight Stephens reiterated the pizza chain company as overweight and said it's bullish on the company's future unit growth. "We remain firm supporters of PZZA coming out of a strong F2Q where the NA comp beat the Street, net unit growth outperformed, and development guidance was increased. … The next big catalysts in our view include the possibility for better 2H comp growth with potential for menu/LTO (limited time offers) innovation and potential announcements of U.S. development agreements with new/existing franchisees." Goldman Sachs names NRG Energy a top pick Goldman Sachs named the energy company as a top pick and says it's a "robust" free cash flow generator. "Despite headwinds earlier this year related to Winter Storm Uri, coming quickly after NRG's purchase of Direct Energy, another large competitive electric/gas retailer, we still see a path for multiple expansion moving forward given NRG 's strong free cash ﬂow generation, beneﬁts and synergies from the Direct Energy acquisition, and capital allocation via share buybacks." Read more about this call here. Bank of America upgrades Leslie's to buy from neutral Bank of America said in its upgrade of the pool company that the stock's valuation is "attractive." "We are upgrading LESL to Buy from Neutral after the company's strong 3Q21 earnings results and raised FY21 outlook. We view valuation as attractive for the industry-leading retailer in the growing U.S. pool supplies retail industry." Read more about this call here. Canaccord reiterates Virgin Galactic as buy Canaccord kept its buy rating on Virgin Galactic after its earnings on Thursday and said it was well positioned to ramp up EBITDA and free cash flow. "While the push to the right of additional customer spaceflights is somewhat disappointing, we view the company's new focus on improving the efficiency of the existing spaceships and scaling up the Delta-class fleet as a prudent strategic decision. 2022 was likely to feature only a token number of customer spaceflights anyway." CFRA upgrades Penn to buy from hold CFRA upgraded the operator of casinos and racetracks after its strong earnings report on Thursday and said it sees "multiple avenues for growth." " PENN also announced the acquisition of theScore, a leading digital media and sports betting company with strong in-house technology, for about $2B in cash and stock. … We think this deal makes strategic sense as it complements Barstool Sports and helps PENN build a more complete sports media ecosystem, integrating sports, media, gaming, and technology to create multiple avenues for growth." Oppenheimer reiterates Plug Power as outperform Oppenheimer kept its outperform rating on the hydrogen fuel cell company after its earnings report on Thursday and said Plug Power is executing well and has multiple catalysts for growth. "With PLUG delivering upside to 2Q21 revenue expectations and raising 2021 revenue guidance, we believe the company is making sound decisions as it lays the foundation for growth of hydrogen as a transportation fuel." Stifel reiterates Carvana as buy Stifel kept its buy rating on the online used car company and said the company is "executing well" after its earnings report on Thursday. " Carvana reported impressive 2Q results with revenue, unit, and profitability metrics all well above expectations. … Carvana is executing well in an abnormal environment for used vehicles, with robust demand from consumers, rapidly appreciating prices, and limited supply." UBS reiterates Home Depot and Lowe's as buy UBS said the home improvement stocks remain "compelling." "Heading into HD & LOW' s 2Q prints, we believe the market has consternation on how home improvement (HI) trends will unfold in the near-term. Yet, we think investment case on HI remains compelling over the long-run." Citi reiterates Carnival as buy Citi reiterated Carnival as buy and said investors should buy the dip in the stock. "Following the recent share price pullback over concerns about the COVID delta variant, we see the current price as a great entry point and reiterate our Buy recommendation." Read more about this call here. Morgan Stanley reiterates Sunrun as overweight Morgan Stanley reiterated its overweight rating on Sunrun and said it sees faster growth than expected after the company's second-quarter earnings report on Thursday. "Encouraged by growth acceleration and higher cash flow ahead given very low cost of financing options. Lower subscriber value masks the benefit of stronger volume growth and adjusted customer economics remain attractive." BMO initiates coverage of Victoria's Secret as outperform BMO said it sees earnings upside for the lingerie retailer. " VS is finally selling less and charging more, and we see material and ongoing earnings upside from here. Buy the shares; $89 target price, with a path even higher."

A Home Depot location in Encinitas, California.

Mike Blake | Reuters

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Friday: