Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Apple, Chevron, GameStop, Nike, Uber and more

Published Thu, Sep 9 20218:27 AM EDT

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: Bank of America reiterates Philip Morris as a top pick Bank of America kept its top pick status on the tobacco company and said it sees more upside in the stock. "We believe that PM has one of the strongest growth profiles among its tobacco and staples peers, with the potential for upside driven by its commitment of shifting smokers to potentially less harmful alternatives." Morgan Stanley downgrades Cisco to equal weight from overweight Morgan Stanley said it's staying on the sidelines ahead of the company's analyst day mainly due to the stock's valuation. " CSCO 's multiple has expanded to a level nearer to historical discount to the S & P 500, causing us to move to EW. While we remain confident in growth trajectory, achieving our bull case requires a stronger software growth trajectory, leaving us on the sidelines heading into upcoming Analyst Day." Read more about this call here. JPMorgan reiterates FedEx as overweight JPMorgan kept its overweight rating on the stock, but said investors should stay on sidelines ahead of the company's earnings report on Sept. 21. "We recommend stay on the sidelines into the FedEx F1Q22 earnings release on September 21. The significant underperformance since late May vs. the S & P 500 (-24%) and UPS (-8%) combined with negative sentiment are ingredients for a relief rally, but we don't see a clear catalyst until F3Q22." UBS reiterates Nike as buy UBS kept its buy rating on shares of Nike ahead of its earnings report later this month and said supply chain concerns are already priced in. "The pivotal Nike question is how much will Vietnam factory shutdowns negatively impact its FY22 guidance? The issue has caused us to revise our FY22 EPS estimate 3% lower, to $4.26 from $4.40. However, our conversations with investors suggest the market thinks the impact will be worse." Jefferies reiterates GameStop as hold Jefferies reiterated its hold rating on GameStop after its earnings report on Wednesday and said it's still waiting for more information about the strategic direction of the company. "We are closely monitoring 2 specific areas — infrastructure investments and clues as to the future scale of a digital business; and personnel changes, as a signal for changes in strategic direction guided by a new board and CEO." Baird reiterates First Solar as a top pick Baird said it sees a "bright future" for First Solar after a meeting with the company's management. "On Wednesday, we hosted CFO Alex Bradley and IR Mitch Ennis for a day of investor meetings. Thank you to both. We would characterize the tone as upbeat with continued reticence regarding short-term supply chain dynamics." Cowen raises price target on Lululemon to $520 from $476 Cowen raised its price target on the stock to a Street high after Lululemon's strong earnings report. "We have confidence that new product, integrated marketing, and online momentum combined with loyalty, a healthy high-end customer demographic, and athleisure fashion trends will yield traffic, improving conversion, and comps." JPMorgan initiates coverage of Blade Air Mobility as overweight JPMorgan said that it sees "strong growth momentum" for the urban air mobility company. " Blade may emerge as the leader of what can be considered 'ride-sharing in the skies' akin to Uber and Lyft on the ground in what is likely to become an enormous market over time." Read more about this call here . Cowen upgrades Macy's to outperform from market perform Cowen said in its upgrade of Macy' s that it sees a more "digitally led" company. "We upgrade M to Outperform as we forecast continued momentum from: more agile inventory and pricing management, data-centric loyalty and personalization actions, product innovation, and store-base reinvention on closures, digital integration + real estate monetization." Read more about this call here. Morgan Stanley reiterates Costco as overweight Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Costco to $500 from $425 and said it has "higher conviction" in the stock. "Raising near-term estimates on continued top-line momentum. Longer-term estimates move up on higher conviction in COST' s ability to compound post COVID. Morgan Stanley reiterates Uber as overweight Morgan Stanley reiterated its overweight rating on shares of Uber and said investors should "get to know" more about the ride-sharing company's freight business. "While investors often view Ube r Freight separately from the broader Rides and Eats ecosystem, UBER's presence in freight allows it to provide retailers and manufacturers with a bridge from first mile (Freight) to last mile (Delivery)." Stifel initiates coverage of Leslie's as buy Stifel rated the pool company a buy and said shares are undervalued. "We believe the shares currently undervalue the company's advantaged long-term growth profile with Leslie's poised to build upon its leading market share in the $11 billion pool and spa category." Barclays resumes Humana as overweight Barclays resumed coverage of the health insurer and said the upside case was "compelling." "In short, we still view the upside case on 2022 EPS as quite compelling (Street $24.55), and believe HUM continues to be well positioned for growth under a CMS-friendly Biden administration." Credit Suisse reiterates Chevron as outperform Credit Suisse said it's bullish heading into the company's energy event on Sept. 14. "On September 14, CVX will host its first Energy Transition spotlight event that will provide more details on how the company plans to lower carbon intensity in operations and grow its lower carbon businesses." Piper Sandler raises price target on Apple to $175 from $165 Piper Sandler said its survey checks show a "lack of interest" in Apple's upcoming iPhone 13 launch by consumers. "We recently surveyed 1,000 Americans, and only 6% plan to buy/upgrade to the iPhone 13 this fall/winter. In our eyes, we were a bit surprised by the lack of interest in the upcoming iPhone launch." HSBC reiterates Facebook as reduce HSBC reiterated its reduce rating on shares of the social giant, but raised its price target on the stock and said it sees litigation risk delayed. "Antitrust actions against Facebook keep flowing: the FTC is amending its complaint, acquisitions under scrutiny too …while in the meantime digital advertising market remains buoyant and Facebook the go-to place for advertisers. Lift TP to USD300 (from USD275) to reflect time delays in litigation risk, albeit not fading, retain Reduce." UBS initiates coverage of Regeneron as buy UBS said it sees "strong" topline growth for the pharmaceutical company. "In our view, REGN is well positioned grow topline and our PT reflects low teens revenue CAGR and continued opex investments." Citi opens a positive catalyst watch on Dow Citi said it sees an improved balance sheet for chemical company Dow. "Nonetheless, Dow is a big commodity company and should benefit from general tightness in various other chemical chains and derivatives.' Bernstein raises price target on Amazon to $4,000 from $3,525 Bernstein raised its price target on the e-commerce giant and said it will continue to take market share. "Sure, Amazon's headline retail revenues were on the softer side and the guide landed below investor expectations. But when compared against the broader landscape, Amazon was a net share gainer in US eCommerce up 340bps Y/Y from ~37% in 2Q20 to 40.5% this past quarter." JPMorgan reiterates Peloton as a best idea JPMorgan said it's bullish on Peloton's pipeline of products and upcoming Tread launch. "Well Positioned Post COVID-19, w/Home Fitness Here to Stay & Multiple Growth Catalysts. … Tread launch should be strong & has market potential 2-3x that of Bike. … Strong product pipeline w/potential for Strength product launch in FY22."

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, speaks on stage for the start of an Apple Inc product launch event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California, September 12, 2018.

Stephen Lam | Reuters

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: