Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls of the day: Amazon, Costco, Home Depot, AMC & more

Published Thu, Nov 4 20218:38 AM EDTUpdated Thu, Nov 4 202110:26 AM EDT

Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls on Wall Street: Oppenheimer reiterates Costco as a top pick Oppenheimer reiterated Costco as its top pick and said the company is firing on all cylinders after reporting strong comps Wednesday. "Two-year adjusted comp trends accelerated again to +28.1% from +26.2% in September and +25.2% in August. This now represents the fourth consecutive month of acceleration. We believe higher levels of inflation, a strong consumer backdrop, market share gains from foodservice distributor challenges, and relative advantages on the supply chain front are contributing to the robust performance." Loop reiterates Amazon as buy Loop reiterated its buy rating on Amazon after the company's earnings report last week and said the e-commerce giant has several levers to improve profitability. " Amazon's 3Q 2021 results and 4Q 2021 guidance came up short of our expectations, particularly from a profitability perspective. That said, we believe top-line growth deceleration was largely expected given the "normalization" of global consumer shopping and spending patterns, and note the company has several levers to pull to improve profitability." Goldman Sachs upgrades Qualcomm to buy from neutral Goldman said in its upgrade of the stock that it sees "better high end Android momentum" after the company's strong earnings report on Wednesday. "We are upgrading Qualcomm to a Buy rating (from Neutral) after it reported a strong beat and raise quarter and proceeded to indicate > 20% EPS growth in FY'22. The EPS growth indication was double our ~10% forecast as Qualcomm called out expected better high end Android momentum as well as broader based positive expectations in other business lines." Read more about this call here. Wells Fargo reiterates Nvidia as overweight Wells Fargo raised its price target on the stock to a Street high price target of $320 per share from $245 and said it's bullish on the company's Omniverse which is an "open virtual platform that allows creators to collaborate in real-time physically accurate simulations/3D renderings." "We see NVIDIA Omniverse as a key enabler/platform for the development of the Metaverse across a wide range of vertical apps—industrial, manufacturing, design & engineering, autonomous vehicles /robotics, etc." Piper Sandler names Qualcomm a top pick Piper named the chip company a top pick after its earnings report on Wednesday and said it's well positioned in the near and long term. "We are making Qualcomm our top large-cap pick due to its exceptional positioning and strength in the Android market. We feel the company is extremely well positioned both near and long term, and we see the Android handset strength helping to offset any risk from Apple moving away." BMO upgrades Sealed Air to outperform from market perform BMO said in its upgrade of the packaging cushioning company that it's bullish on the Sealed Air's move into automation. "We think the medium-term story around SEE is breaking positive. They're executing well and returning value to shareholders. More importantly, automation will create multi-year improvement in their growth trajectory." Goldman Sachs downgrades American Water Works to neutral from buy Goldman said in its downgrade of the utility water company that it sees limited upside potential. "We downgrade large-cap regulated water utility American Water (AWK) to Neutral from Buy, as we view limited upside potential to absolute and relative valuations after outperformance, with the current price implying double-digit years of above-average earnings and dividend growth." Baird upgrades Maxar Technologies to outperform from neutral Baird said in its upgrade of the space technology company that it now sees a solid entry point for Maxar. "With the stock haven fallen over 20% since the last delay, we see significant upside while retaining our $39 price target, with further expansion as progress is made toward the improved financial outlook." Mizuho reiterates Microsoft as buy Mizuho reiterated its buy rating on shares of Microsoft and said it's well positioned for even "greater success" in the cloud space. " MSFT is also formally entering the highly topical metaverse space. Looking forward, we continue to believe MSFT is positioning for even greater success in the cloud." Bank of America downgrades Qorvo to neutral from buy Bank of America said in its downgrade of the radio frequency semiconductor company that it sees "decelerating demand" for Qorvo. "All-in, we believe 5G smartphone adoption will likely get down to more normalized levels in the next two years, which coupled with rising competition could limit growth reacceleration" Read more about this call here. JPMorgan upgrades Capri Holdings to overweight from equal weight JPMorgan said in its upgrade of the fashion company and owner of Michael Kors that it sees a favorable risk/reward. "We are upgrading CPRI to Overweight raising our Dec '22 price target to $77 given the combination of MK (Michael Kors) Stability + Versace Growth: mid-20's MK operating margin today and long-term post wholesale distribution reset to 20-25% with Versace tracking to ~2B revenues and 20% EBIT margin by FY25, [and] Healthy Accessories Sector Backdrop." Read more about this call here. UBS reiterates Home Depot and Lowe's as buy UBS kept its buy rating on shares of the home improvement retailers ahead of earnings later this month and said the long-term outlook still remains favorable. "While expectations have moved up heading into HD and LOW prints, we believe the retailers are poised to meet or beat the bars. Plus, we expect forward estimates should rise following the results, supporting their valuations." Deutsche Bank adds a catalyst call buy on Nio Deutsche added a catalyst call buy idea on shares of electric car company Nio and said it sees several positive catalysts coming up for the stock. "We see 2-3 potential catalysts that should help change the narrative on the stock. 3Q21 earnings on 11/9: management will provide 4Q guidance that shows large step-up in volume recovery for Nov/Dec and while official consensus is likely too high, we believe buy-side expectations have already been reset." Citi downgrades Zillow to neutral from buy Citi downgraded the digital home-buying website after it said it was exiting its Offers business, which buys and flips homes. "We are updating our model to reflect Zillow's surprising exit from its iBuying business due to challenges in accurately forecasting housing prices." Wedbush downgrades AMC Entertainment to underperform from neutral Wedbush said in its downgrade of the movie theater chain that the retail investor crowd will eventually move on from the stock. "We downgrade shares of AMC to UNDERPERFORM on our assumption that ultimately the majority of retail ownership will eventually cash out and move on. We remain optimistic about the exhibition industry as attendance begins to rebound. Q3 attendance began to meaningfully pick up once top-tier titles were released to theatres after extended delays, and Q4 quarter-to-date box office has been very encouraging." Argus downgrades Starbucks to hold from buy Argus said in its downgrade of the coffee chain that it sees increased competition and supply chain issues. "We are lowering our rating on Starbucks Corp . to HOLD from BUY. Our downgrade reflects the impact of rising labor costs, supply-chain challenges, and increased competition."

Megan Leonhardt | CNBC

Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls on Wall Street: