Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Exxon, Robinhood, Chevron, Tesla & more

Published Thu, Oct 21 20218:29 AM EDT

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: JPMorgan reiterates General Electric as neutral JPMorgan reiterated its neutral rating on shares of General Electric and said it sees no "positive fundamental narrative" and a "consensus collapse" heading into the company's earnings report on Oct. 26. "3Q and 4Q: no explicit guidance but consensus collapse is worst in class, with similar sized cuts to profit and EBITDA. Striking for a company for which there is 'no change', or even a positive fundamental narrative, is the degree of cuts on most fronts since the dust settled on 2Q earnings. Bank of America moves to no rating on Pinterest Bank of America dropped its neutral rating on the stock and moved to "no rating" after reports surfaced Wednesday that the social media company could be acquired by PayPal . "We think that, following recent sell-off in stock, the potential for Pinterest to be exploring its options is elevated, and stock is likely to trade on deal speculation vs fundamentals. We are moving our opinion to No Rating." JPMorgan reiterates Ford and General Motors as overweight JPMorgan kept its overweight ratings on the automakers and said it's bullish heading into earnings next week. "We are previewing 3Q21 automaker earnings by raising estimates considerably to forecast a large beat in the case of GM and by increasing our Ford estimates to more modestly above consensus from in line." HSBC downgrades Krispy Kreme to hold from buy HSBC said in its downgrade of the stock that it's concerned about a low operation margin profile. "As per our initiation report, we like the deleveraging story of Krispy Kreme and the shift in value from debt holders to equity holders over the medium term. We also like the omnichannel strategy driven by the hub & spoke model to grow scale by geographic expansion. However, the low operating margin profile for a capital-intensive business worries us as geographic expansion into an inflationary environment could lift capex." Read more about this call here. Truist upgrades Denny's to buy from hold Truist said in its upgrade of the restaurant chain that it's bullish on the company's expanded hours and limited cost pressure risk. "We are upgrading DENN' s shares to BUY, from HOLD, and increasing our ests. and PT to $18, from $17. We see upside to 3Q21 ests, given expanding operating hours and strength in DENN's key markets, and expect the impact of spiking cost inflation to be limited, due to DENN's highly franchised model. Our web scrape suggests that DENN has made progress restoring 24/7 operations, which is an encouraging feat, given staffing challenges." CFRA downgrades Home Depot to hold from buy CFRA said in its downgrade of the home improvement giant that it sees "seasonal softness" and supply chain concerns. "Supply chain challenges remain a worry, but its largest material, lumber, is not a supply risk. Lumber prices have fallen significantly from the parabolic price move earlier this year. HD' s PRO segment is seeing increased competition that may erode potential sales from contractors engaged with remodeling and other large transaction projects." Goldman Sachs reiterates Tesla as buy Goldman kept its buy rating on the automaker after its earnings report on Wednesday and said it was "another illustration of strong profit potential." "We maintain our Buy rating on the stock, and believe that Tesla' s record automotive gross margin (excluding regulatory credits) this quarter is a positive indicator for the company's forward earnings potential." Read more about this call here. Citi reiterates Microsoft as buy Citi kept its buy rating on shares of the tech giant and said "growth durability" should be on display when Microsoft reports earnings next week. "The set-up for MSFT shares thru FQ1 continues to look good, with our reseller survey pointing to an uptick in quota achievement levels (77% vs. 65% last Q). We expect to see a slight reacceleration in Azure revenue, driven by continued strength in cloud consumption models and intentions from our CIO survey." RBC downgrades Vale to underperform from outperform RBC double-downgraded the mining company and said it sees "mixed operational momentum." "The economic rebalancing in China away from property and fixed asset investment hits right at the core of VALE' s profitability driver: iron ore. The shares look inexpensive but following the recent operations update we now find ourselves 34% below consensus 2022 EBITDA and a business with mixed operational momentum." Morgan Stanley reiterates Exxon and Chevron as overweight Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients on Thursday that the two oil and gas companies have compelling valuations. "E & Ps have posted a warranted rally, underpinned by rising commodity prices and a strategic shift toward FCF & returns. Now, more stable oil majors CVX & XOM trade at FCF yields in-line with large cap E & Ps - a valuation disconnect that could support a catch up trade for these two Big Oil stocks." Mizuho reiterates Alphabet as buy Mizuho raised its price target on the internet giant to $3,100 from $3,000 and said cloud revenue expectations are too conservative heading into earnings next week. "Although 4Q is facing some uncertainty due to rising shipping costs and inventory constraints, we expect holiday promotions will start earlier to manage logistics constraints. At the same time, Google is pushing out more local inventory ads to meet consumer demand." Bank of America names Exxon a top idea into earnings Bank of America named the oil and gas giant as a top pick heading into what the firm expects will be a solid earnings report next week. "With that said there is one catalyst we believe can hasten a return of confidence to 'old energy' – an expected increase in XOM dividend, the first since 2019 and in our view resetting expectations of value as defined by a modest dividend discount growth model..." Bernstein reiterates Tesla as underperform Bernstein kept its underperform rating on the automaker after its earnings report on Wednesday and said the company is still overvalued. "Our biggest contention with underlying bullish assumptions on substantially higher levels of profitability for Tesla (and potentially other EV makers) longer-term is the sustainability of higher pricing and margins." Read more about this call here. Mizuho reiterates Robinhood as buy Mizuho reiterated its buy rating on the stock and trading app company but said its survey checks show investors are cautious heading into earnings next week. "We benchmark HOOD vs. Square which we view as the best comp, given the dominance of its Cash App and HOOD's endeavors to morph into a single money app. For our base case, we apply a slight discount vs. SQ amid less business diversification and higher revenue volatility, resulting in a PT of $68. Citi reiterates Goldman Sachs as buy Citi raised its price target on the investment bank to $480 from $440 and said it sees multiple expansion after the company's earnings report last week. "Once again, GS had a top-line beat across the business lines and the stock reacted in kind (up 3.8% vs. BKX up ~1.4% on the day it reported earnings). GS laid out its playbook in January 2020 and while they have clearly benefited from a constructive market backdrop, the execution against its targets has been very impressive ranging from market share gains in Global Markets, to impressive growth in Transaction Banking deposits, and very strong fundraising in Asset Management."

Michael Wirth, CEO of Chevron.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday: